From dangerous delivering to skilful scrambling during this Tiny Teams. Released in April by Crayonix Games, Rollick N’ Roll takes the familiar concept of Screwball Scramble, using vehicles instead of marbles, and tasks the player with guiding them through each course. Thanks to Yogscast Games, I got a code for Rollick N’ Roll. Which has proven to be a very moreish puzzler.

Things start off very easy, as I’m guided through the first level with nothing but lifts and chains to worry about. The easy difficulty utilises one vehicle, the medium difficulty two, and the hard difficulty three. I’m timed on each of the difficulties, which will spur those who want the best times to try perfecting these levels. As will the time attack mode, which tasks me with getting the vehicles to the end in a specific time.

The next few missions introduce more of the obstacles that need to be tackled. Each assigned a colour and a prompt on the controller. Soon, I’m lifting and dropping pieces of track, twisting and sliding them into position, and even see-sawing vehicles to the next section. One vehicle is easy to handle, as there’s nothing else to be aware of. But when adding a second or even a third… That’s where the challenge lies. Especially as I progress to ever more deceptive challenges.

Take one of the levels just after everything has been introduced. Cone Zone has a lot to it, and is an easy one with just one vehicle. Add in a second, and while still easy, mistakes can be made. The start is a chain, so it’s possible to just release one vehicle at a time. But then there’s a lift. If I’ve been focused on just the one car, I might forget to lower the drawbridge down, since lifts and chains are tied to the same prompt. Add in a third vehicle, and now that’s twice it’s possible to mess that up.

So I try to plan around that, releasing cars earlier. But now I’ve got to make sure a vehicle can avoid the rotating magnet as I spin the bridge into position, as both are tied to the red prompt. Or accidentally forgetting to slide the blue track piece into position as I was focused on lowering the green drawbridge for the last of the vehicles, which also raises part of the track my second vehicle was on.

Once I get things right, having tested them through multiple quick restarts, it’s such a great feeling. And then I move onto the next puzzle, easily clearing it with just one vehicle, unlocking the next level and also the medium difficulty. Which I what I focus on, never moving onto the next level until all three difficulties have been won. No matter how long it takes.

When on a controller, the face buttons and sticks are the prompts shown, but heading into the menu and looking at the controls shows that it’s possible to use the shoulder buttons in place of the sticks and d-pad in place of the face buttons. These can be used at the same time, too. Which does come in handy when juggling a lot of the prompts. The colour that the prompts appear can be changed in this menu for those who need to do so.

Another nice accessibility option is changing the speed in which the game operates. Later levels can get tricky with precise timings, so to be able to lower that speed is very appreciated. It’s also possible to change the need to hold buttons down to just a toggle, along with what is showing inside the prompts. Whether the button needed to use them, the action they will perform, or nothing.

Rollick N’ Roll might look a simple game, but that simplicity provides a great foundation for its challenge. What seems easy at first ramps up in difficulty as you get nearer to that final level. Especially if, like me, you choose to complete all three difficulties of a level before moving on. Everything works as intended here, leaving any mistakes to be your own. As such, Rollick N’ Roll gets an easy recommendation from me.

Rollick N’ Roll is part of this year’s Tiny Teams, a week-long festival of celebrating games from small studios. With sales on games already released, new games and major updates for games releasing, and demos for games yet to release. Running all week from 6-13/August, check the Tiny Teams page on Steam, and maybe you will find a new favourite game from one of many small studios.

Images Taken From:
Rollick N’ Roll | PC