Have You Played… OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood?

As the 21st best player of OlliOlli 2 (on PlayStation 4), it is my duty to inform you of its pleasing qualities. I have already spoken about OlliOlli the first, a skateboarding game that relies on the flicking of a dual stick and judicious taps of the “land” button. And I was hesitant to adapt to the sequel, but I have evidently come around. It improves on everything. It is good enough to play for the rest of your natural life. It adds manuals and grind-switching and reverts. It offers levels with multiple routes. It leaves OlliOlli 1 in the dirt. Really. The character from the first game is buried in a mineshaft level.

You will never beat me, of course. I can do 360 colaflips. I regularly perform plopslides, and 720 bellysnaps. But you should try because it is very fun. It recently came out on Switch too, as part of a two-for-one package with the first game. But this is a PC site, so pretend I did not say that. On the PC it is cheaper, I think. But you will want to use a PS4 controller if you can. The Xbox controller’s trigger buttons are like gravel under the wheels.

There is also the inviting possibility that this may not be the last OlliOlli. A recent Eurogamer interview with the developers at Roll7 ends with a speculative ellipsis regarding the possibility of a sequel.

"When we finished OlliOlli 2 we were like, no more skating games ever," one of the devs tells Eurogamer. "But then things percolate over time..."

This could mean anything, but if a new skateboard ‘em up from these flipping good boys is announced this year, I will do a 540 gumptwist in celebration. They also say if they did repeat the skateboard game, they would make it easier. I’m fine with this. Welcome to Olliwood was harder than a bunch of nails melted down and smithed into one bigger, harder nail. An easier game would make it more welcoming to all those who have not yet performed a beautiful krumpgrind.