Roller Drama Review: Balance the professional and personal aspects of being a coach
Roller Drama is an Indie, part sports management part visual novel where players take control over how the story unrolls. The developers, Open Lab Games offer great pliability to the players with the dialogue choices making the game have multiple different endings each depending on the choices you undertake during the course of the game. The game has a fitting title itself, as Roller drama offers much more than what a regular skating game would offer. The game takes you deep into the lives of the coach and the players where players will be making or breaking the relationships based on their choices. In our Roller Drama Review, we will break down the game and give an overall rating for the game.
The game makes you feel every emotion it can offer, players since the beginning are made to take the role of the coach by the name of Jeanne D’Arc. Before every match in the game, the coach will have a dialogue option with the players under their charge, where your choices will define if your squad is motivated or unnerved going into a match. The game is pretty engaging and really helps the players to get really attached to the characters in the game.
Embrace an engaging but linear storylineStarting off with the Roller Drama review, the game offers an in-depth but predictable storyline, there are not many surprises with the storyline making it a bit predictable sometimes. This however doesn’t make the game boring in any sense. It still offers a unique experience where players have to not only win games but also try to manage the personal relationships between the players while making dialogue choices that will shape the story ahead.
Image via Open Lab Games
The game starts with the players taking the role of the coach, Joan, living with a team of five skaters. These five skaters, all girls are your team around which the whole game would revolve upon. The five athletes are Anne, Lily, Portia, Cordelia, and Juliet. The game makes the players manage all personal aspects of their life, how they train, they play the sport, how they handle their friendships, love interests, and even the enemies they make.
Image via Open Lab Games
Hence it will be fair to say that this game is much more than just a Sports management sort of game, it allows you to narrate the story as you may like. The game is split between maintaining the balance between personal and professional lives, in order to keep winning matches. To make the story even more engaging, the developers have made sure that there are multiple endings to the game, each depending on the choices of dialogues you make within the playable course of the game.
Building team synergy is crucial for success in roller derby matchesContinuing with our Roller Drama review we would like to mention the fact that when it comes to the matches in the game, teamwork is the only way forward, and that is the sole reason the developers have provided the option for the players to have control over the personal life of the characters too. This allows the players to either build or demolish trust and coordination between the players through the dialogue choices present in the game. Your team synergy will work wonders for your team by building trust and teamwork.
Image via Open Lab Games
Matches require you to strategize the formation in the way your team will perform. The game is simple there are two jammers in the game one from each team, they are basically the skate runners, they do the laps around the track while the remaining members of each team form a barricade to not only stop the opposite team jammer slow down but also to protect the team jammer go through the barricade easily. Everything might sound a bit confusing in the beginning but it all comes along as you progress further.
Now the player’s job as the head coach is to control the team barricade and help the team jammer by giving them instructions which can be done by using the in-game interface there are different powerups that can be used at different times all according to the coach. Along with this, the coach also has to give instructions to the team barricade who has to balance breaking up the enemy defense, protecting their jammer, and slowing down the opposition jammer.
Image via Open Lab Games
The game is fun and engaging as it requires timing and strategies as to when boosting the jammer and when to use the barricade powerups to stop the opposition’s jammer. All this is done while maintaining the team’s energy levels so they don’t get exhausted before the match is over. This adds an extra sense of entertainment to the game where a proper team management experience is on offer, not to forget the relationship-building part of the game which happens off the field.
The game is all about immersive visuals with not-so-dark humorIn some parts of the game, the visuals of the game are pretty impressive. The game although having a lot of weird and confusing turn of events never seems to bore the audience. There are however some instances where some decisions and some outcomes were not properly explained in the main storyline making us wonder that the game could’ve been a bit longer than it is.
As soon as you will start the game, a disclaimer would pop up to make you aware of the “darkish humor” that the game will offer. This makes us extend just a friendly reminder from our side, to not venture into the game expecting great bants out of it. The game is not boring from any angle but it certainly doesn’t have any content worthy of a disclaimer.
Image via Open Lab Games
The most engaging and entertaining part of the game is definitely the derby matches. There is just so much to do and so much happening in the matches that it keeps you on the edge of your seats, thus adding to the fun. The rest is alright but a bit confusing at times. As far as the humor side is concerned it won’t make you cringe but it certainly won’t tickle you in the belly.
Final VerdictLet’s face it, the game is odd, but in a positive way. The game could’ve definitely been a bit longer because some aspects of the story are very random, for instance, Portia the team captain gets a boyfriend adding a twist to her love life is sudden and no past reference is there. Maybe it’s the way the developers wanted the players to experience the game, however, for me, a little background and explanation could’ve played nicely in some parts of the story.
Roller Drama is not bad at all, especially considering the fact it is a visual novel game. However when the price tag comes into play then the real question comes up, was it worth it? The answer is somewhere between maybe yes and a straight no. The story sometimes becomes so random that you get completely get lost and struggle to match things together in pieces. The UI makes it hard to even read at times what is written in the dialogues and the game’s interface in general.
The game however does offer a great narrative experience while offering almost 100 options while making crucial decisions with each offering different endings in the game. If you are someone who likes the storytelling experience, not to mention the in-depth sports management section of the game which is highly engaging and fun to play, then this might be the game for you.
Roller Drama is not bad at all, especially considering the fact it is a visual novel game. The story sometimes becomes so random that you get completely get lost and struggle to match things together in pieces. The UI makes it hard to even read at times what is written in the dialogues and the game's interface in general.
What are your opinions on the Roller Drama game and your review of it? Do let us know in the comments below!
For more Mobile Gaming news and updates, join our WhatsApp group, Telegram Group, or Discord server. Also, follow us on Google News, Instagram, and Twitter for quick updates.
The post Roller Drama Review: Balance the professional and personal aspects of being a coach appeared first on GamingonPhone.
* This article was originally published here
Comments
Post a Comment