Rolling (video game)
| Rolling | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
Cover art
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| Developer(s) |
Rage Software (Initial Development) Indy Games |
| Publisher(s) |
SCi (Europe) Rage Software Majesco Entertainment (cancelled GBA Version) |
| Designer(s) | Kristian Ramsay-Jones |
| Engine | RenderWare |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 Xbox |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) |
Single-player Multiplayer (PS2: max. 2 players Xbox: max. 4 players) |
Rolling is an extreme sports video game released in 2003 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Subsequent Game Boy Advance and GameCube versions were cancelled due to a declining interest in extreme sports titles. To date, it is one of the few other games depicting aggressive inline skating apart from Aggressive Inline and the Jet Set Radio series. It was originally developed by the now defunct Rage Software, who were aiming to create a more authentic recreation of the sport (the box art claims the game features 250 tricks), unlike Aggressive Inline which focused on exaggerated, fantasy-themed levels and high scoring, fairly unrealistic tricks.
Players can choose to skate as one of the twenty available skaters (excluding the twenty first, and hidden skater) and work their way through a progressively difficult "career mode" featuring a total of fourteen levels, gaining reputation, sponsorship deals, as well as unlocking new 'tricks' and videos of the pro skaters.
Rage Software announced the game just prior to the May 2001 E3 show, with the working title of Cesar and Fabiola's Inline Skate. Rage continued with development of the game throughout 2002, releasing more previews and screenshots of the game as it came to fruition under the new title of Rolling (Sk8). However, Rage Software began to suffer financial problems that year, and were forced to close in January 2003, before the game was released.
Following Rage Software's demise, SCi purchased the rights to publish Rolling, Darren Barnet of SCi stating that they were "extremely impressed by it and thought it would be an ideal title to add to our portfolio". SCi acquired a "very complete" version of the game and hired previous developers from Rage to add the finishing touches. The game was eventually released in October.
The game plays similar to the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series of video games, in that the user holds a button to increase their speed, and releases it to jump. Also, much like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, various 'tricks' can be performed by pressing one of the face buttons, including grabs, flips and grinds, while in the air or near edges of objects. While skating normally, the user can also 'cess slide' by using the shoulder buttons, and 'manual' by pressing the Up and Down directional buttons in quick succession. The choice of a similar layout is most likely due to the immense popularity of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games, whose control setup is almost becoming de facto within the genre (one of the few games to challenge this is Thrasher: Skate and Destroy). Similarly, the player can also change the button combinations of their skater's tricks to their liking.
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Wikipedia