OlliOlli 2: Welcome to OlliWood

There’s essentially no limit to how good you can get at OlliOlli 2. Just when you’ve mastered beating levels in a single combo and timing every single grind and manual perfectly, there are a host of other mechanics to integrate into your skating to bump that high score even further skyward. It’s an impressively layered game, and does a great job of tapping deep into the skater psyche, where an obsession with tricks and effortless style intersect.

While Roll7's newly built “Skate Park” does show beginners how to use each maneuver in an isolated, obstacle-free environment, it doesn't teach newbies how to string together the many elements of a high-scoring run. ...Essentially, the developers have failed to recognize the fact that, while lots of people can walk into Guitar Center and strum a couple of chords, or stumble through several scales, not many people can put together a smooth, spotless guitar solo.

I had an overabundance of mellow to harsh, though, because OlliOlli 2 distributes the stuff generously. It has a feel that no other game really captures, and a flow that's hypnotic within mere seconds of starting up a new track. Every single drop of OlliOlli 2's aesthetic and every single one of its mechanics is built around accentuating that experience, and it never stops working, from your first push-off to your final, exhilarating landing.