Initially, this feels alien - like trying to write with your off-hand. This abandons the well-tread Tony Hawk style of trick execution thereвЂ™ll be no pressing a direction and a button to pull hardflips or mute grabs here. Once in the air, the shoulder buttons are used to add spins, and every trick has to be effectively landed with a timely press of the X button as you hit the ground. The ever-scrolling 2D setup frees the left stick up to do the heavy lifting, which involves holding a direction to load for a jump, and then rotating and releasing it for different tricks. With a soundtrack this excellent playing over them though, the net effect is authentic, and unmistakably representative of skater culture.ДЄctually playing it isnвЂ™t as immediately infectious as its tunes are, but at the very least, the elegance of the control scheme assured me that OlliOlli was slowly pushing towards a rewarding sense of mastery rather than a dead end of frustration. DonвЂ™t get me wrong, thereвЂ™s a painterly, understated quality to the multi-layered parallax backdrops, but on their own, theyвЂ™re just a tad too mild-mannered to be interesting.

Mellow mixtures of sax, piano and percussion made me feel like the places I was skating through had a story, even when the visuals didnвЂ™t have much to say. It immediately establishes an atmosphere that its workmanlike representations of junkyards and cityscapes would struggle to evoke on their own.

Right at the title screen OlliOlliвЂ™s soulful, eclectic soundtrack washed over me like a soft breeze on a hot city day.

Olliolli epic combo edition