Games like Mirror’s Edge, Assassin’s Creed and Dying Light have shown us how exhilarating parkour can be in a videogame. But those titles used it as a mean of effective traversal only, not as a Tony Hawk-esque trick system in itself. Enter Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game (sheesh, what a long name), which we reviewed on Xbox Series X – let’s hop on it with a somersault, shall we?
Human Parkour Flat
For some reason, since the very first movements I’ve done in Enter Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I was playing a weird middleground between a physics-based sandbox with objectives like Human Fall Flat, combined with a combo and trick system that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Tony Hawk Pro Skater title. And yet, it’s not quite that simple, nor that derivative. First of all, it doesn’t have Human Fall Flat’s full body control, where players use individual arm movement and grabbing to get around. Instead, much like in a skating game, players use simple button inputs to jump, flip and so forth.
Yet, the game does feature a physics model that sort of reminisces of those “meme physics” games after all. Overshooting a trick, narrowly missing a jump and so forth can result in our player character’s ragdoll body flopping around quite hilariously, with it laying motionless on the ground until we don’t decide to get back up onto our feet. Doing such a mistake completely murders our combo, too, so it is perhaps better to safely land that gnarly combo of yours to score something at times, rather than endlessly continue taking risks.
Make your own fun
Structure-wise, Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game is as simple as it gets. Either solo or with up to 3 other friends or foes online, you can enter one of the game’s 6 small open world levels. These are fully explorable areas, from abandoned warehouses to modern cities, each featuring ramps, railings, rooftops, poles and more to connect radical tricks in. There is no real plot, interaction with other characters or anything. It’s all about finding new paths, scoring sensational combos and completing challenges scattered across the maps.
These challenges, indeed, offer the only real structured element of the game. Across each map, the players can find specific spots where they can begin these mini-missions. These can be time trials, score attacks and so forth, and basically finally allow the players to test their might, as they’re very much their own teachers in these open-ended “make your own fun” maps. With bronze, silver and gold medals to achieve on each challenge, with the later often being pretty damn hard to get, mastering the rhythm of the parkour is crucial to finish these tasks.
Come on and jump with me
When playing with others, a handful of other options pop up for some extra fun: proper multiplayer competitive game modes, that is. Aside from competing for highest scores, players can shove their technical prowess in activities like capture the flag and tag, though I’ve only been able to test these out versus a single other player, as I was not able to find other players online in this pre-release window. I’d say that, however, whether you opt to free roam or to compete, the game can be quite exhilarating and satisfying, as the skill ceiling’s quite high up, allowing for some real gnarly combinations of tricks.
Of course, such a simple formula would immediately fall apart if the controls weren’t great, but I happily report that they’re reactive and quite logical after some practice. Our visually customizeable characters can jump, hop, climb, even stop to charge longer jumps, balance and more. The game doesn’t do a stellar job at explaining these things, but to be fair it’s hardly needed – within minutes, you’ll have figured out each of the game’s mechanics, after which it’s all about getting used to the physics and getting to feel the rhythm to excel.
You had one job… and you completed that
Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game is a simple, yet quite effective parkour title. With 6 open-ended maps to explore, do challenges on and play minigames with online folks with, the game’s intuitive yet challenging parkour and combo systems reward mechanical prowess and courage.
While there’s not really a meaningful structure, plot or anything to work towards, especially for solo players, the mere skill ceiling to climb towards is a satisfying enough loop to guarantee plenty of hours of parkour, with the game’s physics and mechanics properly keeping up with the expectations of such a precise formula. Hardly a revolutionary or particularly memorable game, but it aims to do satisfying parkour first and foremost and it succeeds there. And that’s perfectly fine.
Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game
Played on
Xbox Series X
PROS
- Satisfying parkour model
- Simple controls that are challenging to master
- Various fun online activities
CONS
- Lacks meaningful objectives for solo players
- The ragdoll physics can be a little frustrating at times
- Can feel a bit aimless for solo players
