OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood

Not long ago, Tony Hawk took to Twitter to announce the return of his Pro Skater video game series. As a fan of skateboarding games, this should have filled my heart with joy. But either I'm dead inside or the original Birdman failed to do his job, because I find myself only marginally interested in seeing what Activision does next. Why wait around for a new game starring some middle-aged has-been when you could be playing OlliOll2: Welcome to Olliwood on PlayStation 4 and PS Vita?

Released only a year ago, the original OlliOlli came out of nowhere and caught everybody by surprise. It managed to combine the sensibilities of a modern skateboarding game with a decidedly old school look. And best of all, it was somehow able to stick the landing. The game was so addictive that I spent every waking hour devouring the PS Vita original, only to do the whole thing over again when the PlayStation 4 version hit PSN.

After putting so much time into the first game, part of me doubted OlliOlli2 could improve on the theme. Boy was I wrong. As it turns out, adding manuals takes the series to a whole new level. This allows players to string together combos that can last the entirety of the stage. It's a substantial addition that will make players look at each stage in a completely different way.

While not as much of a game-changers as the manuals, this sequel also adds reverts, grind switching and revert manuals to the list of ways you can increase your multiplier. This adds a whole new layer of depth to a game already full of tricks to memorize. All of the new gameplay ideas are easy to pull off, and they fit seamlessly into the land of Olliwood.

Beyond the addition of a few new moves, OlliOlli2 plays almost exactly like the original. Players still use the left analog stick to perform increasingly complicated stunts, all of which require a well-timed press of the "X" button to pull off a perfect landing. Each level is full of gaps to find, railings to grind and big jumps to trick off of. But don't get too cocky, because all it takes is a single stumble to send our "sk8er boi" back to the start of the level.

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Much like the first OlliOlli, this sequel sees players tackling five challenging goals in each stage. Players will be tasked with pulling off a certain move, gapping a hard to find location, collecting a certain amount of floating objects, earning a lot of points in a single combo and a whole bunch of other difficult jobs. This feels a lot like the structure of the early Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games, and it gave me a reason to revisit each level. Once you've completed all five amateur level tasks, a brand new pro stage is opened up, complete with even more challenges.

The real stars of Olliwood are the new locations, which are substantially more exciting than what we saw in the first game. With the exception the movie back lot, each location is inspired by a different film genre. Players will skate through an old school western town, a futuristic city filled with giant robots and, my favorite, a broken down carnival that is infested with brain-hungry zombies. These stages are exquisitely designed and full of alternate routes and hidden areas. I couldn't wait to see what Roll7 was going to come up with next.

These movie-inspired locations are not only fun to skate, but they also look phenomenal. Although the original game looked good on the PS Vita, the visuals were a bit rough when it was eventually ported to the PlayStation 4. This sequel sports a new art style that really shines on both consoles. I love the way the sun beats down on Gunmetal Creek and the weather effects found in the Carnival of the Dead.

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And without fail, it didn't take long for me to get caught up in a lengthy OlliOlli bender. What could have been little more than a set of new tracks turned out to be a fully-realized sequel. Adding manuals was a stroke of genius and changes the series in important ways. It's hard to imagine an improvement more substantial than that, but I'm sure Roll7 is up for the challenge.

OlliOll2: Welcome to Olliwood is the best skateboarding sequel in years. It's overflowing with enough action and personality to make me forget all about whatever it is Tony Hawk is working on. I don't know where OlliOlli goes after this, but I can't wait to find out.