Game Review
Rocket League
-Neowyld
When looking for new something to play, one might look to the huge names in gaming such as Activision, Blizzard, and Ubisoft for the typical twitch shooters, arena brawls, and in-depth strategy gameplay. Sometimes though, the community might need a taste of something they are not used to. Variety is the spice of life so Psyonix has brought about a different type of video game to satisfy that need and created a growing eSport in the process with the driving/sports/demolition derby simulator, Rocket League.
Rocket League and its far less successful predecessor Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars are unlike any other game. It is a sports game which ties together cars and soccer. The goal of the game is quite simple, and in fact literal: score more goals than the opposing team, but it has to be done in vehicles, sometimes referred to as battle-cars, that are enhanced with rocket boosts that are used to hurl the ball or player’s vehicle in the chosen direction. Along with the speed, the cars also have the ability to turn, dodge, and flip mid-air. One might describe these battle-cars as supersonic and acrobatic, and they need to be in order to score the larger-than-average soccer ball.
Terrible puns aside, the beauty of the game (like all addicting games) is that it is simple to pick up yet impossible to master. Someone playing for the first time might find himself in exciting games from the start, but he or she is soon to find out that with its simplicity comes hours upon hours of learning the mechanics and trying to climb to the skill ladder. The player will start with a basic game played on the ground just hitting the ball back and forth to being able to push the ball off the wall and carry it into the other team’s net. This progression comes simply from playing the game extensively and picking up on how to do things, making it less of a practice grind and more of a fun experience.
However, by no means did Psyonix simply create a game that just drops players in an arena to play the same game of bumper car soccer every time. They carried on the idea into a variety of different game modes. The normal modes which feature the base game of a ball, a map, and players that have to score into a grounded goal are the Solo Duel, Two vs Two, Standard (Solo), and Standard. Each of these has their own competitive settings to correspond to the casual ones as well as a multitude of different options which feature gimmicks or a crazy change to the game play. These options include Chaos, a four versus four mode; Rocket Labs, which features crazy maps that are used by Psyonix to test future normal maps; Hoops, a basketball variant of the game; Snow Day, the hockey version of the game; and the newest mode, Rumble, which features a myriad of different abilities that are given randomly to the player every ten seconds. Along with the pub play, there is a choice for custom and single player modes which can be selected. In custom game, modifiers can be added to enhance the game any way the host likes. He or she can do things like make the ball much larger or substantially increase the strength of rocket boosts. The single player modes feature gameplay against AI in a season or exhibition match. The last sections of game modes are the training modes. Here players can hone their skills in a set of different situations or just play with the ball freely. This is excellent for increasing the skill of the player base and allowing players to get comfortable with the mechanics outside of games.
Finally, there is an extensive set of personalization options. Players can choose from different car bodies, toppers, antennas, boosts, and decals that they can unlock either through playing the game or buying keys. Another great feature is trading. If a player plays his or her cards right, no keys would be necessary for those rare and exclusive items.
After the player decks out the vehicle and trains to the max, only then can he or she begin to master the simply lain out yet elaborate Rocket League. The good news is that the game is a blast right from the beginning and that mastery is totally unnecessary when it comes to having a fantastic time killing a few hours with your friends. At the risk of sounding like an old Parker Brothers commercial Rocket League is fun for the whole family and is well worth downloading even if it is just something you plan on playing as a break between rounds a game you take more seriously.
Rocket League and its far less successful predecessor Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars are unlike any other game. It is a sports game which ties together cars and soccer. The goal of the game is quite simple, and in fact literal: score more goals than the opposing team, but it has to be done in vehicles, sometimes referred to as battle-cars, that are enhanced with rocket boosts that are used to hurl the ball or player’s vehicle in the chosen direction. Along with the speed, the cars also have the ability to turn, dodge, and flip mid-air. One might describe these battle-cars as supersonic and acrobatic, and they need to be in order to score the larger-than-average soccer ball.
Terrible puns aside, the beauty of the game (like all addicting games) is that it is simple to pick up yet impossible to master. Someone playing for the first time might find himself in exciting games from the start, but he or she is soon to find out that with its simplicity comes hours upon hours of learning the mechanics and trying to climb to the skill ladder. The player will start with a basic game played on the ground just hitting the ball back and forth to being able to push the ball off the wall and carry it into the other team’s net. This progression comes simply from playing the game extensively and picking up on how to do things, making it less of a practice grind and more of a fun experience.
However, by no means did Psyonix simply create a game that just drops players in an arena to play the same game of bumper car soccer every time. They carried on the idea into a variety of different game modes. The normal modes which feature the base game of a ball, a map, and players that have to score into a grounded goal are the Solo Duel, Two vs Two, Standard (Solo), and Standard. Each of these has their own competitive settings to correspond to the casual ones as well as a multitude of different options which feature gimmicks or a crazy change to the game play. These options include Chaos, a four versus four mode; Rocket Labs, which features crazy maps that are used by Psyonix to test future normal maps; Hoops, a basketball variant of the game; Snow Day, the hockey version of the game; and the newest mode, Rumble, which features a myriad of different abilities that are given randomly to the player every ten seconds. Along with the pub play, there is a choice for custom and single player modes which can be selected. In custom game, modifiers can be added to enhance the game any way the host likes. He or she can do things like make the ball much larger or substantially increase the strength of rocket boosts. The single player modes feature gameplay against AI in a season or exhibition match. The last sections of game modes are the training modes. Here players can hone their skills in a set of different situations or just play with the ball freely. This is excellent for increasing the skill of the player base and allowing players to get comfortable with the mechanics outside of games.
Finally, there is an extensive set of personalization options. Players can choose from different car bodies, toppers, antennas, boosts, and decals that they can unlock either through playing the game or buying keys. Another great feature is trading. If a player plays his or her cards right, no keys would be necessary for those rare and exclusive items.
After the player decks out the vehicle and trains to the max, only then can he or she begin to master the simply lain out yet elaborate Rocket League. The good news is that the game is a blast right from the beginning and that mastery is totally unnecessary when it comes to having a fantastic time killing a few hours with your friends. At the risk of sounding like an old Parker Brothers commercial Rocket League is fun for the whole family and is well worth downloading even if it is just something you plan on playing as a break between rounds a game you take more seriously.