Rollerdrome's Houston Mall will have you shopping... for death!

Houston Mall is Rollerdrome's first serious skill-check. Not that the previous levels were necessarily easy, but none of the previous challenges called for this level of precision. Those players looking to complete every challenge may find the time trial in particular to be a bit of a controller gripper.

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However, while there may be a sizable shift in the difficulty of some of these challenges, smooth skating, and skillful shooting will see you through. And worry not, we will give you all the information you need to complete the stage fast enough to beat the intense time-related challenge too!

Houston Mall is massive! It will be completely overwhelming at first. So, for starters, there is a rail that runs along the majority of the perimeter of the stage. There are three pyramid ramps that will have a multitude of Snipers and Warheads spawn on. Then there are two raised platforms that will feature Snipers during different phases of this mission. Near one of them there is an escalator which you can grind to reach the second floor. On the second floor are a number of grindable rails. Lastly, near the other platform, there is a quarter pipe. That is the basic layout. Needless to say, wherever you look you will be able to find surfaces to perform tricks on.

As we indicated in the introduction, Houston Mall has some genuinely pretty tough challenges. There are still a few challenges that seem to largely exist in order to test your retention of new concepts introduced in the tutorial section before this stage. However, a number of these challenges actually ask for a decent amount from the player. We strongly recommend that you compartmentalize them and not try to tackle them all in one go.

This is the sole gimme of the Houston Mall Challenges. Just hold the Acid Drop button as you fly into the stage. It is as easy as that. You don't even have to time it or anything…

This challenge is seemingly just showing you the best way to deal with the Riot Guard. Pump a few Slug Shots into them, and you will easily stagger them.

This is a lot like the Pike's Canyon challenge where you need to shoot missiles out of the air. But this time the mines are just sitting on the ground. You will have plenty of opportunities to take out five mines. For some bonus fun, try to aim for the mines that enemies are within the blast radius of.

There are a couple of great opportunities to get wallriding kills. However, our favorite is right at the beginning of the stage. Just head to your left and grind the rail. The rail itself bends upward at the end, and leads directly into a wall. This makes for a very easy wallride and, conveniently, there will be a Sniper to your right.

This is the first combo challenge that has teeth. Once you have a feel for Houston Mall, you will be able to easily shoot past a 15x combo. However, it is a large stage, and the Riot Guards can be a handful when you aren't used to dealing with them. For a quick road to the 15x, follow the route outlined in the "Finish in less than 2:35" challenge below. Following that route, while adding in some of the Combo Tokens along the way, will get you to where you need to go.

The token is hovering above and to the right of that giant glass wall in the center of the stage. To get up to it, just air over the half-pipe in the back corner (near the platform that Snipers like to pop up on). From here, jump toward the token while holding left, the grab button, and the spin button. Hold it all the way to the ground, and you will easily get a 540 rotation. Remember, you can't fail tricks in Rollerdrome, so there is no reason not to keep spinning right until you come in contact with the ground.

If you head to your left from the beginning of the stage, the first Combo Token will be hovering above a ramp. The second Combo Token is to the right, up against a wall. On the second floor, you will find another Combo Token hovering above the grindable structure that snakes throughout this section. There is also a Combo Token above the half-pipe in the corner of the stage. However, you won't be able to get it from the half-pipe itself. You need to grind the wall above the half-pipe. The final Combo Token is above the giant glass wall.

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Whoo boy, this is a rough one. Once you know the route, it isn't so bad, but it is going to seem damn near impossible initially. However, there is a coherent route that you can follow to make things considerably easier. Start by taking out the two Grunts at the beginning, then travel to the left by grinding the edge of the wall ramps. Once you see the Warhead, shoot the barrel near them while pumping them full of bullets. Now, hop up and take out the Sniper on the platform.

Wallride up to the second floor. Grind the structure up here. It will take you directly to another Sniper: Take them out and start grinding the handrail. To your right, there will be a Grunt with an explosive barrel beside it. Shoot the barrel. Now, when you reach the wall on the second floor. Shoot the wall, and it will flop down, becoming a ramp.

Shoot the exploding barrel with the two Grunts standing around it. Finally, tucked away in the back corner, on a platform, is a Warhead. Ride up the ramp and take him out. After you do, a gang of Grunts will appear alongside a Riot Guard. Just skate over to them and take them out. Make sure to dodge their shockwave attack the moment the indicator on the ground turns white; this is a Super Dodge, and if you enter into Reaction Time immediately afterward you will enter into "Super Reaction Time". This will make your bullets more powerful and is the key to taking Riot Guards (and everyone else) out quickly.

After you kill the Riot Guard, enemies will start rapidly appearing all around you on the ground floor. Snipers, Warheads, Grunts, and Riot Guards will start popping up in this general area. Just loop around the center of the stage and take them out as you see them. If you follow this route, you will absolutely be able to clear the stage in less than 2:35.

This is a tough challenge, we strongly recommend that you not worry about things like Combo Tokens. You definitely don't have time to double back for that stuff here. Your sole focus is on taking out enemies as quickly as possible.

We have, essentially, already covered the best route for clearing this score in the "Finish in less than 2:35" section. In order to get the highest score possible, you are going to want to follow the same route, where you are riding along the left section of the stage, loop around the level, and then start circling the center section near the giant glass wall; but you are going to make two big adjustments to your strategy…

Firstly, you are going to make sure to collect all the Combo Tokens along the way. They are all on that route, and you are going to make getting them a priority. Secondly, you are going to place a greater emphasis on tricks. When you are trying to get the quickest time, you aren't pulling off big tricks, nor are you concerned about squeezing every last point out of them. However, when looking for the highest possible score, that is absolutely going to be a core goal.

Also, you are going to want to keep a few more of those Grunts alive and wandering around. Being efficient with your time isn't that crucial here. Beating the level fast does give you a ton of extra points, but it pales in comparison to what a full combo will give you.

Next: Rollerdrome: How To Beat Every Enemy

James is a writer for TheGamer. He typically spends his time playing games, thinking about games, overanalyzing games, and sleeping. While he has an appreciation for all genres, he is especially interested in fighting games and RPGs. He also enjoys reading books and watching movies and will happily overanalyze those as well.