If you’re familiar with the popular Trials franchise and are looking for something to satiate the same feeling, then Rolling Adventure might be the missing piece of your puzzle.
Rolling Adventure is a deceptively difficult puzzle platformer where you control a lively red monster truck as it traverses a rolling platform in the sky. The platform is gradually built on a moving conveyer belt as you play, so keeping your truck steady and having patience is key here. Too fast, and you’ll end up with an instant game over as you fly off the edge; go too slow, and you’ll roll to your demise in the opposite direction.
With 30 stages to complete and master, there is plenty of platforming to be done here, and every level is completely unique. Each stage has three star collectibles within it, usually blocked or obstructed by an obstacle that you need to figure out how to manoeuvre around. If you collect all three stars within a stage and reach the finish line, you’ll have perfected the level. Be wary of obstacles though! You also have a three-heart counter which depletes by one every time you run into some spikes on the conveyor or are hit by an object. Patience is key here—it isn’t a race.
The controls are as simple as platformer controls can get: back and forward, jump, boost forward. Despite the simplicity, these controls are extremely well implemented, perhaps some of the best platformer controls I’ve ever played with. Rolling Adventure also boasts full controller support too, so completing these levels is made even easier if you prefer using a controller over a keyboard and mouse. The movements are still as robust with a controller too, so whichever way you like to platform, either is a win-win with Rolling Adventure.
As one would expect, the further you progress with each level, the harder the next one becomes—this is no different with Rolling Adventure. For me, it began to get difficult around level 13 or so. These levels will absolutely require more than a few tests to learn the level before you’re able to fully three-star it—unless you’re a secret platforming genius and manage to complete them first try. If that’s the case, then truly congratulations, because that is pure skill. Once the muscle memory of the obstacles and stars sets in with the levels after a few tries, it does become a case of patience and practise. The levels are not impossible, just challenging, which is a good thing. No one wants an easy platformer.
One minor nitpick about Rolling Adventure would be the completion of the levels. It progresses like a mobile game would, and whilst this isn’t such a big deal for me personally as someone who is used to games like that, if you’re not fond of the no-plot-purely-game style, you may find it off-putting.
As for the levels themselves, the length of each level is perfect. They don’t drag on forever, nor are they far too short to even produce a real challenge. As already mentioned, each level is completely unique and each brings its own challenges in the form of spikes, barriers, gaps to boost over and hidden stars that require some quick puzzling skills to get. They can get frustrating at times, but I see this as a sign of a good platformer. The music is exactly what you’d expect and fits well with the vibe of the game, but admittedly it can also get rather repetitive if you’re replaying a level to perfect it.
Overall, Rolling Adventure is a fun puzzle platformer that employs its own unique twists to keep the genre of platformers interesting and exciting to play. With tons of replayability, achievements to collect and 30 levels to master, Rolling Adventure is a great game to practise your skills and patience with. Just remember—keep your pace, it isn’t a race!
