Arcade Archives Roller Jammer

Genre: Sports (Roller Derby)

Players: 1-2 Alternating (Local), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

Roller Jammer is a Roller Derby-inspired game released in 1984 in arcades. This modern release sees the game coming to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in 2022.

This game combines faux 3D racing-style gameplay with a different sort of goal – you’re not aiming to get to an endpoint within a time limit or before other racers. Rather, you’re trying to pass a specific number of opponents before time elapses. In addition to standard racing mechanics (which actually work better here than in most faux 3D Racing Games), you can jump and you can punch to either side.

Overall, I think the gameplay works here. The jump is mostly useless, but otherwise this game feels like it may be an early predecessor to the Road Rash games, and the unique gameplay mechanic of passing opponents rather than reaching a goal sets this apart from the crowd.

Unfortunately, this all falls prey to one issue – repetition. Apart from bonus stages, there’s not really much in the way of variety or nuance to the gameplay here. You’re just trying to pass other racers, usually by bashing into them with your fists to slow them down or outright knock them down. And while this is amusing at first, it gets old quickly.

This release of the game includes a new “Hi-Score Mode” that challenges players to score as much as they can in one run before seeing a game over screen. There is also a new “Caravan Mode” that does much the same, but with the limit being five minutes (assuming you can even manage to extend out your time that much). In addition, this release of the game includes various display options, sound options, challenge modifiers, button mapping, and online leaderboards.

Overall, I think Roller Jammer has a solid gameplay foundation for an interesting and unique game, but it doesn’t do enough to build on that foundation to make for a game that’s going to keep you around for very long. After winning a few races and bashing a bunch of heads, it will all start to feel too repetitive for you to be all that interested in continuing.

tl;dr – Roller Jammer is a Roller Derby-inspired game that combines faux 3D Racing Game gameplay with a goal of bashing your way past a set number of opponents in a limited amount of time. It’s unique and plays reasonably well, but gets repetitive far too quickly. Not bad, but not quite a “hidden gem” either.

Grade: C

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