Evil flesh Katamari is fun?
Sometimes an idea is so obvious it’s a wonder that no one has ever thought of it before. ROLLA is an example of such an idea. Take the basic premise of Katamari Damacy, rolling a ball around to collect objects/people/buildings/etc. in order to increase your mass to collect bigger things, and mix it with classic B-movie monster design, in this case a big, fleshy ball with grabby tentacles, and let players cause assorted mayhem and destruction. On paper it’s an outstanding idea that should make for an entertaining game. In execution, it is a very fun game that is very, very close to being great.
In ROLLA you are a ball of angry, angry meat. Meat with tentacles, angry, grabby tentacles. Each stage, eight in total, starts with a tiny, almost cute, meat monster. As you roll through the area you grab small things first adding to your overall mass and racking up damage in dollars. The bigger you get the bigger the things you can eat, like a tank or a mall or drive-in theater, and the more the dollar amount ramps up. You have three basic actions at your disposal, roll, grab, dash. Grabbing fires out a few tentacles that grab nearby people and smaller objects. Dash gives you a quick boost out of danger or into a bigger object so you can break it apart and eat it. Both of these abilities are on a cool down.
MSRP: $7.99
Platforms: PC
Price I’d Pay: $7.99
Resistance to your rampage also ramps up the bigger you get starting with the local police force and eventually, if you can make it long enough, ending with a nuke. It’s a constant push and pull between growth from consumption and shrinkage from damage. Each level includes Tony Hawk style challenges, including spelling ROLLA, that players must complete in order to unlock the next area. There are also power ups that appear in the stages that give a temporary boost like absorbing or reflecting bullets. There is no “beating” a level though as you will eventually succumb to the damage you receive. (your taxes at work!) It’s all a heck of a lot of fun and really scratches that arcade style, one more run itch.
Graphically ROLLA is low poly on purpose which really adds to the B-movie vibes. There are a few options within the graphics, a cleaner look and a crunchier option, and either choice looks good. The art design is really solid too with the monster being appropriately fleshy and gross and the environments, enemies, and destruction all landing safely in the B-movie aesthetic. The newscast style presentation really fits as well and is a nice touch. The sound design is very good with a variety of screams, explosions, and mayhem layered over a super solid soundtrack. The fact that all of this work was done by a single developer makes it even more impressive. I played on an OLED Steamdeck and everything ran great.
There are a few hiccups though that keep ROLLA from being great though. The first level is a relatively empty desert town that doesn’t do a great job of getting players accustomed to the objective based gameplay. With goals ranging from eating a certain amount of people or causing X amount of damage, having wide open spaces with no one to eat or no buildings to destroy makes it a bit difficult. Some of the objectives also feel a bit unbalanced as the damage you take escalates very quickly and runs are in general very short. I do recognize that is sort of the point of this style of arcade action game, but it takes away a bit from the fun overall. The lack of permanent progression is also something I was missing during my time with ROLLA. Without the ability to enhance the monster, runs feel the same no matter what level you are on or how long you have played for and some of those challenge goals feel far too out of reach.
Overall ROLLA is an absolute blast in short spurts. This is the kind of game you play with friends, passing the controller back and forth to see who can get the highest score. With just a little bit of tweaking though, ROLLA could become a breakout hit.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.