Rocket League

Rocket League
Welcome to the high-powered hybrid of arcade-style soccer and vehicular mayhem!
Genre(s): Sports Platform(s): Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One macOS Linux Nintendo Switch PlayStation 5. Release: July 7, 2015 Engine: Unreal Engine 3 Developer(s): Psyonix Publisher(s): Psyonix Country: United States Predecessor: Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars

Rocket League is a vehicular soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix. This was first released on Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 back in July 2015. In June 2016, 505 Games began distributing a physical retail version for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment taking over those duties by the end of 2017. Rocket League is just soccer but with rocket-powered cars. Up to eight players are assigned to each of the two teams using rocket-powered vehicles to hit a ball into their opponent's goal and score points over the course of a match. The game includes single-player and multiplayer modes that can be played both locally and online including a cross-platform play between all versions.

Why It's Fueled In Rocket Power

1. Psyonix learned from their previous mistakes from making SARPBC (mainly the lack of marketing), and managed to address fan criticism and fan input from their previous efforts. As a result, tons of things were vastly improved in Rocket League, such as:
   • The title. Instead of an overly long and tedious title like Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, which Rocket League's Design Manager called "the worst game name of all time", this game's title is simple, just two words: Rocket League. The previous game's title sounded more hardcore and mature, whilst Rocket League sounded more casual and fun. Speaking of which.
   • The gameplay as a whole has been tweaked to be less hardcore. In SARPBC, the gameplay relied more on individual player skill than team play. One good player could easily dominate a 3v3, which isn't the case with Rocket League, where teamwork is more effective than individual skill (at least in all the modes outside of simple 1v1's).
   • The user interface has been improved. In SARPBC, said user interface looked questionable and lacking and had visuals that felt rather cartoony and childish, especially with the main font. The UI is now more stylish with more modern visuals, whilst still keeping above the overly childish barrier.
   • The camera has been vastly fixed from SARPBC, no longer being bad and disorientating, and is able to customize the presets to your camera settings.
   • In SARPBC, the controls could not be remapped at all, which was shocking for a racing game, so if you weren't used to the default controls, tough luck. Here, you're not only able to change and remap your controls but also your camera, visual, audio, and dead zone settings to make it the perfect Rocket League experience for different types of players.
   • Following on from the controls, in SARPBC they were clunky, with the extremely short dodge delay, in particular, being infuriating to deal with for newcomers. Here, they are much more refined.
   • Lag is less of an issue here in Rocket League, no longer being rampant and frequent, just an occasional mild annoyance at worst.
2. The tried and trusted gameplay style of being easy to learn, but hard to master is exceptional in this game. There are no different levels, no gear, no advantages, and nothing but the user skill which determines the skill ceiling.
   • As a result, Rocket League is a game that implements SBMM (Skill-Based Match-Making) really well, making it highly accessible and approachable for new players. To get to higher ranks in this game all revolve.
3. The graphics here look incredible and colorful. From the stages to the vehicles alone. The good graphics also have some beautiful details and visuals on the game such as the car boosting or when you make a goal. Even the stages look gorgeous.
4. The controls for this game are responsive. It may take time to get used to, but you will learn how to control the vehicle.
5. You can collect many different awesome vehicles, player anthems, avatar borders, decals, wheels, goal explosions, toppers, rocket boosts, player banners, paint finishers, antennas, and trails. They are so many different items that you can go to the Garage and customize your vehicle. There are a lot of options on what your ideal vehicle would be like so be ready to go all out.
6. Sometimes, content related to already existing media appears in the game in some way. These include NASCAR, F1, Super Mario, Metroid, Twisted Metal, Halo, James Bond, Ratchet & Clank, Rick & Morty, NBA, Fortnite, DC, Hot Wheels, Ghostbusters, Stranger Things, Fast & Furious, Gears of War, Jurassic World, etc.
   • Keep in mind that some of this content related to existing media is exclusive to some systems like the Super Mario and Metroid related content being Switch exclusive.
   • Despite this, Rocket League still has some original content not related to licensed media.
   • There are even real-life cars making it into the game, such as the BMW M240i, the Ferrari 296 GTB, several Ford cars such as the Bronco Raptor, the Mustang Mach-E 1400, and the 1965 Shelby GT350R, and most recently, the Honda Civic Type R (EK9).
     • There are more real-life cars to come such as the Nissan Z Performance (RZ34), the Lamborghini Huracan STO and the Countach LPI-800-4, and the McLaren 765LT and the 570S.
7. When it was updated, there was new content coming to the game like modifying core rules and adding new game modes including those based on ice hockey and basketball.
8. Ever since September of 2020, the game became free-to-play so you won't have to pay to play the entire game. However, it did come with some conditions ever since September 2020. Either way, Rocket League is now free!
   • Speaking of which, that right there prevents players to have the console subscription services like PlayStation Plus or Nintendo Switch Online. In other words, you don't need those subscriptions to play Rocket League.
9. Players who bought the DLC before it became free will still have the DLC! No worries, right?
10. Even though the game was removed from Steam and instead moved to the Epic Games Store, players who had the Steam version were still able to download, update the game, and play it with cross-play with other platforms.
11. Ever since August 2019, the loot boxes (known as Crates) were removed. This goes to show you how loot boxes are just too randomized and reliant on luck. Instead, you get Blueprints which will show players what item you can create from it for a set price. When Keys were removed due to the Crates, you will be able to convert Keys into the in-game currency with the Crates being turned into Blueprints.
12. There is a feature called Rocket Pass where you can level up and get more stuff. Especially when you have the premium version.
13. They got a lot of game modes to play within this game. They can range from the casual mode (3v3, 2v2 Doubles, 1v1 Duels, and 4v4 Chaos). Extra modes of gameplay exist as well like Rumble (which allows power-ups), Hoops (basketball), Snow Day (ice hockey), Custome Games (use custom maps), and Dropshot (breaking hexagonal floor panels to which the ball can fall).
    • Tournaments exist in the game. You can compete in daily scheduled tournaments with players of your rant. Based on how you finish, you can earn tournament credits to unlock new items in the rewards tab. Every week, your top 3 finishes will grant you Tournament credits bonuses. A good thing about this is that it allows you to get second chances. If you are late for the tournament, or lose the first round, you can join the Second Chance Tournament.
14. Awesome soundtrack. The game has a variety of songs from a huge variety of artists. You can go to the playlist and listen to the songs. You also have the option to listen to the songs when you are playing the game!
15. In the settings, you can decide how you want the game to be to your own taste. It can range from the camera, controls, interface, and gameplay.
16. Weekly challenges are present here. If you complete certain challenges, you will get some rewards like XP and Drops. Want to challenge yourself? You are in for a treat.
17. The arenas are well-designed and come with different themes. You got Utopia Coliseum, a Wasteland, Neo Tokyo, Aquadome, Forbidden Temple, Neon Fields, Arctagon, the basketball court, Champions Field, you name it. Some stages can have day and night variants.
18. The prices for getting credits are not that bad and instead reasonable. Getting 500 credits costs $4.99, 1100 credits costs $9.99, 3000 credits costs $24.99, and 6500 credits costs $49.99. Also, keep in mind that the microtransactions are only used for vehicle customization and you can still win with any vehicle.
19. Some items are free so you won't have to pay. Some examples include the Rick and Morty cosmetics, the NASCAR hat, the LGBT-themed wheels called Love ISLV, the Moonpaw wheels, X Games board, a dreidel, and a banner related to the 80th birthday of the late soccer legend Pelé.
    • When the game became free-to-play, players with "legacy status" who already had the game received all of the old Rocket League-branded DLC items at no cost.
20. Drops are a free-to-play version of the Crates. They provide more free rewards that can contain whatever is there. Compared to crates, the Drops can only be found on the Challenge tab as well as the free tiers of the Rocket Pass.
21. The Trade-In System can let players trade non-crate items and blueprints of the same rarity to receive one randomly drawn item of the next-highest rarity. For instance, five uncommon items that are traded in can get one random Rare item. If you are willing to trade in for something cool, it's your will.
22. As expected, it has a fun and unique gameplay that involves you competing in a game of Rocket League. You can do some tricks to win and show off like somersaults, barrel rolls, or bicycle kicks.
23. Each item in the shop has credit values that will show the item's cost. The best part about this is that the game does not rely on RNG!
    • Another shop exists in Rocket League called the Esports Shop. Since December 2020, the Esports Shop no longer rotates, and instead, the shop offers items for the available teams ALL THE TIME. If you see an Esports team you like and you want those cosmetics? Go on ahead!
24. Supports Cross-platform play.
25. Rocket Labs seen in the game are mostly used as experimental maps. These maps are there to gauge feedback and interest in a map before adding it to the game's standard map playlist!
26. Overall, this game is obviously an improvement of Psyonix's Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars proving that even the successors can outshine the predecessors

Bad Qualities

1. Despite good controls, the physics engine takes some time to get used to since it's basically just vehicles playing soccer. In fact, first-time players may find the vehicles a little weird on the physics.
   • The vehicles are not the only ones with weird physics, the soccer ball's physics are floaty every time you hit it.
2. Ever since the game became free-to-play, having to pay DLC was removed and instead replaced with an in-game rotating shop where you have to spend items only with the in-game currency. In other words, microtransactions (though only used for cosmetics).
   • Not only that but the Windows version was moved from Steam to Epic Games Store.
3. You have to be connected to the internet to access the shop as well as play the game. During gameplay, the game itself will go wacky if the internet isn't working well.
4. The Switch version has lacked natural support for Unreal Engine 3 so it had some compromises in the porting process including reducing the graphical quality to 720p.
5. It costs in-game currency to get the Premium Rocket Pass. Nowadays, every time a new season starts, your Rocket Pass rank will reset and you have to pay again if you want to get the Premium Rocket Pass once again.
6. Some of the challenges can be pretty demanding to some players.
7. The free item codes are expired. Here is the list of codes that don't work yet used to work out.
   • BEKIND - It's a VCR hat
   • COUCHPOTATO - Gives you the Couch Potato title
   • TRUFFLESHUFFLE - Gives you an Octane decal related to The Goonies
   • RLNITRO - Gives you a Nitro Circus flag along with the Nitro Circus Decal for Breakout.
   • POPCORN - Gives you a Popcorn rocket boost.
8. Since players can receive new items from trade-ins, the much smaller set of items resulting from trade-ins previous to free-to-play are naturally less likely to appear as a result. This is a result of why items like the Titanium White Octane are so rare.
9. Though the maps still look cool, they are also flat.
10. The servers at times can be unreliable. It's mostly because of lag preventing players from not connecting to the server.
11. Fighting against bots in this game is such a pain. the AI of the bots is just stupid. Some bots can even make self-goals in every single match.
12. At launch, it felt barebones with its content.
13. It used to have Crates that behave like loot boxes, which were eventually replaced by Blueprints in a 2018 update.
14. Every time you hit the ball, it would fly off the screen and there are cases where it can be hard to know where the ball is going to land depending on how high it went.
15. Some glitches occur in the game like The Puck Glitch, the Aftershock Glitch, The Batmobile Wobble, The Neo Tokyo Lost Ball, and The Stuck Camera Glitch, just to name a few. Patches exist though.
16. Some items are insanely expensive. These items include the Gold Cap, Goldstone, and White Hat.
17. Speaking of Esports-related content, the new Esports Shop retired some teams. Another thing is that painted editions of Esports wheels are no longer appearing for purchase.
18. Some colors are unobtainable unless you mod the game. Here is the list of colors
    • Gold
    • Onyx
    • Platinum
    • Rose Gold
    • White Gold
19. Blueprints cost in-game currency to complete. In fact, it was more expensive than the cost of opening a loot box. Thankfully, the prices of the blueprints were reduced.

Reception

The game received positive reviews from critics and gamers. IGN gave the game a 9.3/10, Polygon gave the game a 9/10, Shacknews gave the game an 8/10, and Metacritic has given scores for each port of Rocket League. It won multiple nominations and won several awards including the PlayStation Universe's "Best Sports Game of E3", "Sports Game of the Year" for the D.I.C.E. Awards, Best Design at the Game Developers Choice Awards, and "Multiplayer, Sports, and Family" at BAFTA Games Awards. Rocket League has been adopted as Esports thanks to the success of the game. Professional players participate through ESL and Major League Gaming along with Psyonix's own Rocket League Championship Series.

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