Rocket League has been a perennial favorite with our writer Jonas for many years.
Studio: Psyonix Release: July 4, 2015 Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC Genre: Sports/racing game
It was a slightly rainy Tuesday evening in July 2015 that was to leave a lasting mark on my (gamer) life. On this day was namely Rocket League was released as part of PS Plus, which means “free”, so to speak. Without much thought, I downloaded the game and tried out a few first games, scored a few first goals, and actually liked everything about it.
7 years and several hundred hours of play later, I still play the same game regularly, with the small difference that I now feel that I have no skill at all and will never improve my rank even a little bit. If you’re not just looking for a new game, but for a whole new sport and you always wanted to fight against windmills, I have a recommendation for you.
Easy to learn, hard to master
This saying is certainly one of the most used when it comes to video games. But only very rarely can you find a game where this is as true as Rocket League. The peculiarity here lies mainly in the idea and the game design.
In case you don’t know it yet, I’ll briefly describe what Rocket League is all about: You can play in 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3 in a game of rocket powered cars Soccer and have to score more goals than the opposing team. So, that should be enough, now download it! Still not convinced? Well, let me tell you what makes Rocket League so great.
Jonas Herrmann @Jopartaix
When Jonas first heard about Rocket League, he was of course immediately interested as a soccer and racing game fan. However, he could hardly guess how deep the gameplay and tactics would actually be at first glance.
The controls
If you’ve ever played a racing game on a console – whether it’s Gran Turismo or Need for Speed, Forza Horizon or Mario Kart – then you’ll be able to control the cars from Rocket League. Gas, brake, drift, turbo boost, double jump… wait! Double jump? Yes, in Rocket League your cars can jump. For example, you can also jump into the ball with a forward flip and shoot. This is learned really quickly and the first successes are achieved in no time at all.
Rocket League – Gameplay trailer for the 2nd Anniversary Update
Until the first time someone flies almost 10 meters above you and mercilessly puts the ball into your net from there. Or until someone shoots the ball off the walls surrounding the arena, jumps after it, and clears you without a second thought while you’re still mentally preparing to jump off.
Rocket League is insanely competitive, and no matter how well you play, you’ll always find someone to wipe the floor with you. Watch pro matches, for example, and it’s hard to believe you’re in the same game.
What, it’s like that in every multiplayer title, you think? But there is one big exception.
A free game device
Similar to soccer, ice hockey, or other team sports, Rocket League has a free play device. This means that you can’t “secure” the ball in any way. By the way, even in FIFA or PES (RIP) the ball is not really “free”, but often tied to the animations.
In Rocket League, however, the ball is calculated independently. Depending on the speed and direction from which you hit it, its trajectory changes. This is simple physics, and you don’t depend on your striker’s completion value, field conditions, or luck. If you miss here, it’s simply your own fault.
Of course, this also means that you can attribute every successful action to yourself as well. This creates unique moments and narratives. I could fill several more articles with stories of thrilling catch-ups, spectacular saves, or decisive last-second hits.
This is where the entire motivation of Rocket League feeds. Due to the free ball, there are ultimately infinite possible game situations, which is why the title remains permanently exciting despite only a few new maps. There is new content for every – Season , but it is purely cosmetic. And that has a reason as well.
The perfect balance
Since the release, there has been exactly one update that changed the gameplay. A few years ago, the hitboxes of the different cars were standardized, so now there are basically only 6 different models, even though there are significantly more bodies in the game. However, in terms of speed and weight, all the cars are actually identical .
The game doesn’t need any other adjustments though, because the basic gameplay works. Since all cars are basically the same and there are no special abilities, there is no need for external balancing. The entire meta is created by the players. There are no hero combinations that work particularly well until they have to be generated.
Rocket League provides the base and for the past 7 years, ambitious players* have been getting more and more out of that base. Even though I’ve now played several thousand games that have thanks to crossplay and a good ranking system, most of them can be found in a few seconds, hardly any game feels as refreshing and as full of possibilities as this one. Oh, and it’s Free2Play, so you have no excuse. See you on the pitch!
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