Today marks the start of a new semi-regular competition for TSA which we’ve cleverly called TSA Challenge (genius, huh)? Every now and then – mainly when a game comes along that fits – we will have competitions and challenges for you to take part in. These games may sometimes be the latest PS+ offerings or just some other recent release but either way the challenges will be for games where competition comes naturally, so expect high scores and fast times.
We will also try our best to offer prizes for each of the competitions, so there should be more than just bragging rights up for grabs. The prizes we’ve got for this round are pretty cool too, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves there…
This month’s challenge
We are kick starting these competitions with OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood which released on PS+ last week. The challenge will be for the highest score achieved on the Career – Amateur 3 stage. Also known as the third Olliwood level, or the third level in the game.
How to enter
To enter this challenge you can play OlliOlli 2 on either PS4 or PS Vita.
1)Â Complete the level Career – Amateur 3 as many times as you like until you’re happy that the score you have achieved is the one you want to post.
2) Go to the leaderboard for that level (so we can see it’s you!) and take a screenshot using the PS4 or Vita screenshot functionality, or just take a picture of your screen if you’d prefer. Your entry should look a little like this:
3) Sign in to Twitter and tweet your screenshot, along with your TSA username to @thesixthaxis, or upload it to an image service such as Imgur and post in the comments of this post. Alternatively, send your TSA username and the image to [email protected].
4)Â You can enter as many times as you like but please don’t spam us with loads of entries! Try and wait until you’re confident you won’t beat the score you’ve got.
5)Â Closing date for entries will be Friday 20th March at 6pm GMT, giving you one week to enter. Any entries received after the deadline will not be counted.
6)Â Prizes will only be sent out to UK addresses due to the cost of postage, but you can try anyway for bragging rights!
Prizes
Thanks to the wonderful guys at Roll7 we have some cool prizes up for grabs including OlliOlli themed finger boards, t-shirts, and we’ve even got some PSN credit up for grabs. Here’s how you can win each of those:
- Players who finish in the top 10 will win an OlliOlli finger board.
- Players who finish in the top 3 will also win an OlliOlli t-shirt in addition to the finger board.
- The first place entry will also win £10 PSN credit in addition to the previous prizes.
If you’re wondering what the fingerboard is all about, here’s our model, Kris, with one to show you:
Yes, it’s a tiny skateboard. Yes, you want one. All that remains is to wish you luck, go get your grind on and set those high scores!
TSBonyman
I can see Kris must not have been using the correct safety equipment due to that ‘knee’ injury :P
Great to see another competition on the site but i’ll skip this one as i lasted about 2 seconds after completing the tutorial. Good luck everyone!
ashw92
I really, really want one of those finger boards. Looks like I’m going to have to start bringing the Vita to work again to endlessly play level 3 through my lunch break then.
Avenger
Such a shame that I can’t even get to level 3 for the terrible and unresponsive controls, and that this is another competition I cannot enter. I never seem to have a chance to enter on these close community events, maybe it’s just bad luck.
All the best to everyone’s efforts. I’m sure other people might wonder about this, but what are size of the T-Shirts for the top 3?
Stefan L
You can pick a size if you win, but mediums might be in short supply.
And I’d disagree with the controls, there’s a bit of a learning curve and it’s very cruel with needing precision and timing. Of course, they’re pretty unusual, so there will be plenty who just don’t get on with them.
MrYd
By “unusual” do you mean “completely broken, unresponsive and requiring timing that has nothing to do with what’s happening on screen”?
Yes, you could class that as a learning curve, but really, who wants to learn how to work around a broken game? Where’s the fun in that?
Forrest_01
I’m not great at the game, but even I can see that the game & controls are not ‘broken’. They just need a lot of learning & getting used to.
My main issue is that I try to treat it like skate & try to jump & then do a trick & it just doesn’t work like that.
I found that when I stuck to it though & actually put some effort into learning the right ways of doing things, it works rather well.
Avenger
I agree with MrYd’s comment. Played Blazblue on the Vita and that requires timing and precision, I’ve never had an issue and the Vita hasn’t let me down.
OlliOlli 2 on the other seems to have severe lag on controller input which makes the quick changes necessary in the game near impossible. I can understand that with time I may be able to think ahead of the lag, but as mentioned, where’s the fun in that.
Forrest_01
We talking Vita here then? As I’m afraid I cannot comment on that due to not having (or wanting) one.
Seem fine on PS4 though.
Avenger
I’m talking about Vita yes. I can’t speak for the PS4 version as I’ve not tried it. I’m not sure which version MrYd has tried though.
MrYd
Haven’t tried the Vita version yet. Got too frustrated with the broken controls on the PS4 version.
Maybe as I’m not going to be near the PS4 for a couple of days, I might give the Vita version a go and see if it’s any less broken.
MrYd
Actually, I would give the Vita version a go, but the cross-save thing appears to be broken too. It thinks I’m not connected to the PSN.
Avenger
That settles it then. The controls are dodgy (or challenging, however people feel about it) on both consoles. I may try the game again in my usual stride of optimism (and a T-shirt), but the frustration may be to much.
Stefan L
There are plenty of people who are getting on fine with the controls. The game’s review scores speak to that, as does the BAFTA the first game got yesterday, the exceptional high scores that can be achieved in the game and on and on.
But it does need absolutes to get those scores. I can’t nail a perfect landing or grind each time, I’ll wipe out time and again etc. etc. etc. but I can play this competition’s level and get into the multi-millions when I hook it all up.
hunterstryfe
I’ve unlocked the first 5 levels of pro so I may give it a go. Rimjaw knows how bad I am, erm after getting a screenshot how do I email it considering it would be using the share button?
Stefan L
You can tweet it straight from the console or if you’ve not got Twitter, you can copy it to a USB stick then use a computer to email the file across.
camdaz
Never played the game but will give it a go after I’ve watched Lewis Hamilton win the Aussie GP.
Jim Hargreaves
Damn, look at those tiny boards :)
ClubberLang
It’s a tricky game to master (I’m far from having mastered it) But its not broken in any sense of the word. If it were simply broken then everyone would have the same issue. Not everyone can excel at every game…Maybe you’re just not very good at it. :-)
MrYd
Maybe some people can put up with the terrible broken nature of the controls and get good at it? Some of us can’t be arsed trying to work around that.
I quite like hard things. Especially when you don’t have to pay for them. And I’m more than willing to put the effort into handling them.
But in this case, the difficulty comes from the broken controls, not the skill involved in playing the game. It’s not like they’ve got the excuse of “deliberately stupid controls are hilarious”, like that surgeon simulator thing.
ClubberLang
I totally get where you’re coming from. The controls don’t work for you and that’s fine. We’re all built a little different. But because those controls don’t sit well with some people does not (in my my opinion) mean they’re “broken”.
Broken by definition means they don’t work. The fact that so many people like the game would prove that for many the controls aren’t broken.
I can’t use left handed scissors, not because they’re broke butterly because my brain and hands weren’t wired in a way that allows me to use them with the same ease as a right handed pair.
Tuffcub
I can;t play the game for toffee, but the controls are not broken. You’re just crap, like me.
Avenger
The controls aren’t broken, no (not if Roll7 intended it that way). However they’re shite for the fact that they are not responsive. If the most complex of button precision games (like fighter games for instance) can be accessible and have pin sharp controls, I don’t see why OlliOlli 2 cannot have them.
You could argue that the input lag is part of the game’s challenge, but then that just makes it shite even more for me. I think it’s unfair to say “we’re not good at it”. Give me sharper controls, and I’d be good at it. Does it really take that just to be good at something? Yes, because these are interactive games on a screen medium. Control is everything to execute timing and precision. It really is the most frustrating thing to do something, and the game do something completely different.
Tuffcub
A bad workman always blames his tools.
Avenger
A good workman can only do so much with bad tools.
Geffdof23
I want to try this game now, just to see what the controls are like.
Geffdof23
Tried it and its so difficult. But the controls are not broken. You are both just crap like me.
ClubberLang
The games scored over 80 on metacritic on both Vita and PS4.
I liked TurboDawg who has the AMAZING ability (judging from his reviews) to identify good games from bad from only 4 minutes of play. I can only imagine how vast his library must be with all those books he’s read (having just gleaned what he needs from the cover) :-)
Lieutenant Fatman
Cool competition, count me in! This game is pretty tough but I’ll see what I can do.
Tony Cawley
Hm, you should be banned from all competition after your ridiculous performance in the last comps! Of course I jest, but we might have to bring in some sort of rule, like the bosman ruling but instead called the fatman ruling!
Lieutenant Fatman
Aww, but I just want a tshirt!
Have to say, I doubt I’ll reach Blair’s score let alone beat it. That guy has some skills.
Tony Cawley
I have every faith in you fatman!
hunterstryfe
Well I’ve entered the comp now. Twitter handle is @HolyStryfe
Real name is John Williams (just in case). Score is in the 7 digits but please don’t judge :) (Yes R1M, I’m taling to you lol)