Rocket League review: A multiplayer classic in the making

Multiplayer online gaming is one of the biggest aspects of modern video games. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a game that does not include some sort of multiplayer component in today’s games. Even the single player offerings are incorporating multiplayer elements in some fashion similar to Dark Souls and Watch Dogs. The problem is that a lot of popular modern multiplayer games, like Call of Duty, Battlefield and League of Legends, require the player to invest a lot of time and practice into a game in order to fully enjoy it. Rarely can a player pop in a multiplayer game a month or so after first playing it and enjoy the experience due to perk and levelling systems that give players who spend more time with the game a big advantage over players who do not. Thankfully for us multiplayer dabblers out there, Psyonix’s Playstation 4 and PC vehicular sports title Rocket League gives us something that’s easy to pick up and play.

 

Rocket League is essentially soccer with cars; that is the best way to honestly describe this game. The game consists of choosing a vehicle, hitting a soccer-esque stadium, and competing against the opposing team in attempt to knock a giant ball into a goal. Two goals sit on opposite ends of the field and two teams of four battle for control of the ball. The amount of players can be customized too, allowing matches of one vs one, two vs two, and so on. Luckily the game is a little deeper than just ramming a ball with a car and include a few features that makes things a bit more interesting.

Once the game is booted up for the first time, players can select a vehicle of their choice. Vehicles resemble RC cars complete with antennas and over-proportioned bodies. Only four cars are available at the start while more can be unlocked by playing the game, earning experience and unlocking more cars in the process. The player can also customize their car by adding paint effects, antenna ornaments, decorations and rocket boosting effects. All of these categories of items will expand once the player continues to level up and earns more unlocks.

 

As soon as the player equips themselves with their car of choice, a number of games modes are available that range from multiplayer offerings to single player bot matches. Season mode allows players to set up a season similar to a standard Sports sim that will act as a tournament. The player can select how many matches they want to play in the season, create their own team, select a logo, and choose a difficulty for the CPU opponents. Once the player completes all matches in the season, they will be rewarded with in-game items and achievements/trophies for their platform of choice.

 

Exhibition matches allow the player to play a single match against CPU bots or friends. This is ultimately a fairly standard mode but it will allow 4-player split-screen local multiplayer for couch play with buddies. Local multiplayer is sort of a dying feature and I’m thrilled to see it included. Online multiplayer is the meat and potatoes of Rocket League and will be where the majority of players spend most of their time playing the game. Players can form teams with online friends or hop in matches with random players to battle it out for stadium supremacy.

One thing I love about Rocket League is how it feels like a throwback to classic car combat and racers from previous generations. Think of Rocket League and Re-Volt mixed with Twisted Metal. A few racers in the N64/PSX generation, like Re-Volt, had a similar multiplayer mode where players could play soccer with cars. Rocket League feels like a modern evolution of these small modes while even keeping the local multiplayer intact. The game also feels similar to Electronic Arts’ EA Big series of extreme sports titles from the past like SSX and NBA Street. Unlike these games from the past, Rocket League plays a bit deeper than a retro gamer would expect.

 

Instead of simply driving around and hitting the ball with a vehicle, players have a bit more control available to them that make matches more interesting. Typical vehicle controls exist such as gas break, reverse, handbrake and turbo boost; however, Rocket League has a jump button as well. Tapping the X button on a Playstation 4 gamepad allows the car to hop off of the ground, while double tapping makes the car perform a double jump. Combining jumps with the turbo boost button will allow the car to rocket off of the ground while the analog stick can be used to twist and turn the car into different directions. When a giant ball is flying at the player, utilizing these jump and boost skills can allow the player to pull off some cool maneuvers that resemble the kicks and headbutts found in a soccer match.

 

Rocket League controls beautifully thanks to tight controls and simple button commands. One match in Rocket League is enough for the player to feel like an expert at controlling their vehicle. In order to aid the player, a camera control button exists that allows the player to toggle a ball-tracking camera in case the player likes to keep their eye on the ball at all times. The visuals are detailed, colorful and surprisingly includes some killer grass textures. Team colors and goals are easily distinguishable as well. Thanks to the simplicity of the game and the 5 minute match times, Rocket League is a great pick-up and play game for gamers who want something quick to play in order to kill some time.

The wonderful pick-up and play nature of Rocket League translates to the multiplayer as well. While the player will gain performance badges, experience and level up, the only advantage the player has at a higher level is more customizable parts for their vehicle. All of the unlockable parts offer little to no boost in performance and are mostly cosmetic, so players who dump tons of time intro Rocket League are no better than the player who just picked it up for the first time. Rocket League can be played skillfully by mastering the jump techniques and playing defense as well as offense, yet everyone still feels like they’re on a level playing field without anything creating artificial skill, thus making the game extremely refreshing for a modern multiplayer game. Not to mention Playstation 4 and PC players can play together since the game uses dedicated servers online and supports both platforms at once.

 

Psyonix has crafted a little gem of a title here that could easily become an e-sport if the gaming community grasps onto it. The game is a ton of fun to play, the replays are generally entertaining to watch after a goal is scored, and matches in general are fun to spectate and observe. If Psyonix released some cool DLC like fantasy tracks and spectator tools, Rocket League could become a multiplayer phenomenon. The only downfall is the rather sparse single player content and the dream of playing this game with much larger teams. Thanks to the small asking price of $20, the simplistic gameplay, tight controls and multiplayer that welcomes all players with open arms, Rocket League is not a game to miss.

Final Score: 9/10

Pros:

• Extremely entertaining multiplayer
• Caters to all players very well
• Customizable vehicles are fun

Cons:

• Single player content is limited
• Bigger teams would be nice