Room: ROCKET - Reviews
ROCKET LEAGUE – PS4 REVIEW
Excelling in sport means knowing when a moment is outside of your control and recognizing when an opportunity is there to seize. In Rocket League, both events occur countless times in any given match–not surprising for a game heavily inspired by soccer. It caters to the competitive realist who thrills in having sole control of the ball for a few seconds despite knowing it can be snatched at any time. The best part is that you get to kill opponents’ dreams and agonize in your own losses from the comfort of a very, very fast car.
Every moment in Rocket League demands split-second judgment. Are you the assertive type who takes control of the immediate situation at the risk of being in the middle of a chaotic, unpredictable scrum? Are you more of a long-term planner, one who watches your cohorts fight over a ball in a corner with the confidence that the ball will inevitably escape. When this happens, are you ready at the top of the penalty arc with the hope that the loose ball will roll between you and the goal? This echoes Wayne Gretzky’s words of wisdom: “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” Rocket League offers countless opportunities to be Gretzky–or Nostradamus.
Rocket League thrives on speed and momentum. This is best exemplified by the gravity-defying excitement of driving up the side of any of the game’s arenas. This ability is useful as well as thrilling. Without the curves along the edges of the pitch, cars would simply bang into the wall. Constantly having to reverse and make three-point turns over a five-minute match would be a disappointing series of momentum-ending buzzkills. Rocket League has none of these obstacles. The curved corners means you do not lose momentum. Your tires will smoothly caress these bends as you ride the walls horizontally, chasing the ball in parallel with rest of the cars on the pitch. Given that the ceiling is also fair game, every player will feel compelled to attempt a gravity-defying loop across the width of the roof. The game’s physics and your limited boost will prevent you from completing such a stunt, but you’ll attempt it anyway.
The ball in play is comparable to that perpetually bouncing beach ball you find at every music festival, only slightly less buoyant. It bounces and flies in unpredictable directions when touched by two parties at the same time. This is where fortune favors the Rocket League sportsperson who embraces chaos. Transcendence comes when you realize you don’t have to be in control of the ball at all times; you should chase it only when you think you can make a difference.
A goal scored ends the fleeting, yet fulfilled, existence of a ball. In its death, the ball’s life is celebrated with a literal bang. It’s a colorful, smoke-filled explosion that sends all the cars flying away at heights and velocities that would kill any human in real life. It is so spectacular that you can’t help but savor the blast, even if you weren’t on the team that scored. Rocket League is that rare kind of video-game sport where you’re compelled to play your best, even when you’re being blown out 5-1 and there’s only a minute left on the clock.
There’s no shortage of advanced ball handling in online multiplayer. In Rocket League, experience leads to tactical thinking. Tactical thinking leads to performing with finesse. You cannot open car doors to use them like arms; that would be the equivalent of a handball in soccer. Instead, you can spin your car forwards, backwards, and sideways, which is analogous to bicycle kicks and headers. Once you learn to use these moves to advance the ball, you are soon ricocheting shots on goal. Over time, you also discover that your chances of scoring are boosted by hitting the car closest to the ball rather than the ball itself. It’s all obvious highlight reel material, which is why the replay save option is so welcome. Learning and mastering these advanced moves makes playing Rocket League endlessly absorbing, even after you’ve logged over 50 matches.
Playing a single-player season in rookie mode is as useful a practice ground as the training mode itself. Without real-life competitors ruthlessly charging to the center of the field for the drop ball, you can practice making spectacular goals from midfield. The drawback is that imperfect A.I. applies to both teams, meaning that your computer-controlled squadmates will average at least one incompetent move per match, whether it’s taking the ball to the far side of your end of the field or blocking your path to the ball.
Rocket League’s replay value lies in the draw of constant participation, not in a progressive system of unlockable advanced abilities or shoehorned novelty modes. All the arenas are uniform and consistent in shape, without any bells and whistles like the terraces in its predecessor, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. The only variables are the team sizes, A.I. difficulty, and season lengths. This lack of flexibility adds legitimacy to the sport, mirroring the steadfast traditions within many professional sports, some of which are over a hundred years old.
This thoughtfulness extends to the studio’s crafting of a convincing world where Rocket League is the number one sport. You see it in the multi-tier, sold-out arenas and you hear it from the indistinct chants of allegiance from the fans. The crowd goes ‘Oooohhhh!’ or ‘Aaaaahh!’, whether it’s a goal or a key ball hit at midfield. These sprinkles of realism aren’t strictly necessary but are greatly appreciated; for instance, the pitch itself features blades of grass that all move independently. These manicured fields are best admired during the pre-match camera shots, but you can’t be faulted for staring at them in the middle of a game. They are complemented by the myriad customization parts, from wildly swinging antenna flags to neon-blue engine exhaust trails.
The joy of Rocket League rests on the countless plans that are conceived and discarded every other second in any given match. Trying to predict where and how the ball will bounce next is a game within the game. Despite the use of cars, Rocket League emulates the emotional surges typical of The Beautiful Game, such as the rush of an unexpected fast break or a well-timed header into a goal. With Rocket League, the promising concept of combining two wonderful things–cars and soccer–is equally magnificent in execution. You can’t say the same thing about, say, combining cake and fruit to make fruitcake, as the comedian Jim Gaffigan observed.
ROCKET LEAGUE – XBOX ONE REVIEW
“Rocket League is a rare example where the execution of a simple, absurd idea is so strong and so engaging that it doesn’t need a ton of extra features around it. The rush of ripping across the pitch at full turbo to deny a shot on goal with a clutch bicycle-kick is enough to bring me back time and time again for just “one more match,” even without meaningful progression systems. Rocket League is a great, goofy, easy to learn and difficult to master action-sports game which demands that you grab a few friends and play a few rounds.”
Six months after its initial release, developer Psyonix’s, feel-good, easy-to-pick-up, impossible-to-put-down, breakout success has finally arrived on Xbox One. This new port of Rocket League packages the same fast-paced action along with new Xbox-exclusive themed cosmetic items, and three of the previously-released downloadable content packs, making it the best value for first-time buyers who want to go all in on Rocket League and its extra content.
The special formula that makes Rocket League so good has made the jump to Microsoft’s console completely intact. Hitting pitch to tumble through the air to make impossibly angled shots, and pull off clutch saves is as exhilarating as ever, and the constant stream of unlockable cosmetics and vehicles – including the Halo and Gears-of-War-themed machines – mean even in a loss I still felt like progress was made.
ROCKET LEAGUE – PC Review
Let’s not waste energy exploring why soccer should replace its paper chain of squalid billionaires with cars, and accept it as fact. A fact which Rocket League proves with simple and immediate ease.
I’ve never played a game that needed a tutorial less. Association football, soccer, wendyball; whatever you want to call it, it’s that, but on wheels. Drive car at giant ball; hit ball into net; score points. Rocket League’s competitive core has existed for centuries, and this helps make a preposterous concept feel primal. This, in turn, is a laughable way of describing a game which would be called moto carball if it actually existed.
Like dry martinis and penises scribbled in an unattended notebooks, Rocket League is a celebration of simplicity. Driving is delicious. Cars ease around like butter in a heated pan, but always feel under your control. You accumulate boost by driving over markers on the arena floor and unleash it is a thunderous rush that fires you across, over and around the pitch. Because matches take place in smooth, enclosed spaces, you can drive up walls and across ceilings. Cars can also jump and dodge, both of which can be used defensively and offensively. The weight of the cars, as well as your ability to apply unruly boost to jumps, adds a pleasingly haphazard element; like athletic footballers leaping to header high balls, but with less shirt-pulling and zero chance of flattening a $2000 hairdo.
Vehicles feel light and buzzy—somewhere between Micro Machines, and those swift, slidey remote controlled cars which only seem to appear on Christmas Day. This contrasts nicely with the fat, beefy bounce of the ball, which gormlessly invites impact like a punchable cousin. And that’s it. I feel almost guilty reducing a review to ‘ball’ and ‘car’, but there are only ever those two things in the field of play, and crucially, they both feel great. It’s helped by a crisp, intuitive camera. You can focus on the ball, effortlessly whizzing around with it always in view, or switch to the standard camera – very useful for rushing back to defend your goal, or smashing into other vehicles. There are no weapons, but certain markers fill your boost and let you obliterate other players. Mercifully, it’s the generous, instantly-respawning type of obliteration. Destruction is the only conspicuous deviation from clean business of driving around and scoring goals, but in most of the games I played it was a rarity—certainly never frequent enough to be irritating.
Destroying other vehicles is one of many actions which accumulates points; imagine Burnout, but with awards for skill not speed. You receive points for things like clearing the ball from your goal line, spectacular saves and overhead bicycle kicks—named so because the more literal ‘quadracycle wheel-nudge’ is a senseless stew of words. Giving everything a points value means it’s about more than scoring goals. The most valuable players I encountered were workmanlike wingers who selflessly chugged along the the flanks, crossing the ball for greedy goalhunters like me. It stops players from clustering in the same spots and reinforces the concept that Rocket League is a team game.
Except, of course, when it’s not, such as when you’re duelling against a single opponent. Alternatively, you can set teams of four against each other, in matches which become so frantic that they’re less like footy, more like a lost, confused beach ball bashed between bumper cars. Playlists of duels, doubles, standard 3v3 matches and the appropriately named Chaos 4v4 mode are all available online, with ranked playlists limited to duels, doubles and 3v3. There’s a reason why online play is the first option on the menu: Rocket League is designed to be played with actual people, and this is absolutely where it thrives. My experience was marvellously robust. I rarely had to wait long for a game, and if players dropped out mid-session they were immediately replaced by AI bots. Best of all, it’s refreshingly simple to get back into another game, so very little time is spent lingering in lobbies.
If playing online isn’t your thing, there are exhibition matches and full seasons you can solo. The length and difficulty can be altered, and while it doesn’t offer much in the way of depth—cars and football, remember?—I still found myself bonding with pretend teammates. Whether online or offline, playing games randomly unlocks new cars and upgrades. These range from simple things like fresh coats of paint and shiny wheels, to pointy hats for your wizardmobile. Upgrades are purely cosmetic, but volume, variety and the promise of driving around with bubbles frothing from your exhaust should be enough to keep you coming back.
The offline modes do reveal the game’s minor inadequacies, however: team AI can be flaccid and unreliable, especially against tougher opponents, and the same simplicity which makes Rocket League immediately playable can cause things to get repetitive when played alone; a criticism that only becomes apparent precisely because it’s so damn addictive. It’s a simple thing done brilliantly well, kept interesting by the thrill of competition.