A pair of rollerblades. Four weapons. Seven enemy types. Eleven arenas. Countless ways to succeed. Or die trying. A lot.

Rollerdrome is essentially a mix of the popular extreme sports sub-genre of the early 2000s (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater in particular) and third-person shooters (Max Payne, I'm looking at you). Add tiny bits of Wipeout - minimalistic menu screens and icons, funky electronic music - sprinkled on top, wrap it in retrofuturistic, cel-shaded aesthetics and now you have a slight understanding of what this game is about: score points by doing tricks (also refills your shared ammo reserve - things are layered beautifully like this), extend your combo meter by eliminating foes and keep going until there's none left. What might come as a surprise to some is that such a unique concept does not simply work but turns out to be a rather enjoyable (albeit often teeth-grindingly difficult) experience. If you're looking for a fresh new challenge, look no further!

What can I say? It's THE game of my youth, I've played it obsessively and there was a time when I knew its streets better than that of my hometown. Every ramp, every shortcut, the spawn points of every power-up, weapon and vehicle. (This was before broadband internet connections have become widespread and commonplace, mind you.) I've created elaborate scenarios in my head, how I would utilize this knowledge during a police chase to outsmart and ultimately shake my pursuers. (Of course, the police AI is nowhere near sophisticated enough for such a situation to occur, but it was immensely fun just to fantasize about it.) To this day, it remains one of the Greatest Video Games Ever Made and the best GTA in my eyes. It's a shame it got delisted from here because of a lazy attempt to cash in on its legacy (they could've put in some real effort to make the so-called "Definitive Edition" at least half-decent, getting rid of the original still wouldn't have been okay) and due to that writing a recommendation feels kinda pointless now, but I owed it as much.