Well, with Christmas literally around the corner and chances are, most of us will be spending quality time with our loved ones and extended family, if you're that lucky or not. But you're also a gamer and the holidays are always a good time for some uninterrupted play time. Here's how you can get the best of both worlds, and it's called Rocket League.
Rocket League is basically a soccer, sorry football game, don't want to end up triggering everyone not living in the US, and for the record it's called football. The only difference here is that, unlike Fifa where there are little men running around on a field, here we have racing cars and a massive ball, and the aim is to bash your car into the ball and by doing so try scoring a goal, just like in football. The first thing I thought when I saw this was, well someone basically just took racing and monster tucks and combined it with soccer, I mean football. It sounds like a rather silly idea right, but this little idea really did not do all too bad at the end of the day, with sales surpassing six million as of the beginning of 2018. I originally got this as one of those free PlayStation Plus downloads, but didn't bother playing because it looked a little too silly, and only played it months later after my brother told me to give it a go.
Players control a rocket powered sports car and then use it to hit a ball that is much bigger than the cars itself, towards the other team's goal area to score goals. Which is pretty much the exact same as a football game, with elements reminiscent of a demolition derby. To make things even more crazy and fun, the cars come equipped with super boosters and the ability to jump, which allows players to hit the ball while in mid-air. The glossy, brightly colored arenas also come with marked spaces on the field, where player can pick up speed boost, which really helps when you need to get to the other side of the field in a rush, either to score a goal or make a save.
At the game's launch, the content was a little lacking, only a few cars and two or three game modes, but as the fan base grew, so did the game. They brought some really fun alternatives to the standard game mode, like Hoops which is almost a basketball style game where you need to get the ball through the hoop, and the Snow Day hockey mode, where you get a massive sized hockey puck instead of the bouncy soccer ball. The developers also started bringing in famous cars from films and other games like, the Batmobile, the Back to the Future DeLorean, Mario/Luigi-mobile, Halo's Warthog, and even Sweet Tooth's ice cream truck. Another fan favorite was the improvement of vehicle customization, and adding trade-able cosmetic items, everything from customizable goal explosions to player banners, there are innumerable combinations that allow you to truly stand out, and almost all of it can be earned just by playing the game. There are also loads of loot crates which are earned from beating other teams and or players.
"Ask any racer. Any real racer. It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning's winning" - Dom Toretto
The load times are pretty fast and I didn't have to wait around too long when looking for matches to join. What I did notice now, compared to when I played this a year ago, was the mechanical differences between the free cars and the large assortment of paid downloadable cars, are fairly noticeable. It's not like you feel that those who have paid for better cars or gear have too much of an upper hand over you, unlike in other games, cough, cough EA.
All in all Rocket League is super fun game, and eventually it starts getting a little bit addictive, but in the good way. The game is colorfully absurd with cars playing sports concept, and works because the energy of its arcade gameplay that meshes really well with it's team based multiplayer and variety of different game modes. The best part is when you start playing Rocket League, and haven't gotten to grips with all the mechanics yet, it almost feels like the game is entirely based on luck, which is very welcoming for new players. Something fun to play over Christmas, even if it's with your grandpa.
Now I don't know these developers all that well, the only other games they have made has been Monster Madness back in 2008 for the PS3 and then ARC Squadron in 2012 which was a mobile game only available on Android and iOS.
Rocket League was first released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 in July 2015, and was then released the following year for Xbox One, MacOS, Linux, and Nintendo Switch. This game is actually a sequel to Psyonix's Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, a 2008 video game for the PlayStation 3, which received mixed reviews and was not a major success. The developers learned from this and went all out on both social media and promotions, including offering the title as a free download for PlayStation Plus members on release to market then game. In the end it really paid off, Rocket League saw over six million sales and 40 million players by the beginning of 2018. The game has also been officially adopted as an eSport game with professional players and competitions. You can pick this up for about $20 on the PlayStation Store, or at your local game shop.
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