Game Review: Rocket League

A bit about the game and developers

Rocket League was developed and published by Psyonix. I think it is quite interesting to say that Rocket League asked EA to be published by them back in 2011, but sadly EA have turned them down. I bet that they are feeling quite sad nowadays since the game is getting quite the hype. Psyonix made quite a few games but most of them weren't that popular. The latest one of them being Nosgoth, which was actually closed down back in May of 2016. Psyonix also contributed in making of some quite popular games such as Mass Effect 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, and 3, Gears of War and some other.

Gameplay

Rocket League is a fast paced car-based football (soccer for Americans.) game, in which the player commands a vehicle that has to score goals using a Football. (Yet again, soccer ball for those whom speak US English rather than UK English.) To be score the goal, the player needs to battle other players and work well with their team. The game allows players to use boost and speed up, as well as do different tricks, such as aerodynamic jumps, wall driving and cool side kicks. All of those need to be combined to achieve a win. The vehicle is quite hard to maneuver with, so I highly recommend using a gamepad.

After each round the players will unlock some cosmetics, that they can use to equip their vehicle with. There are numerous cosmetics, such as different stripes, lines, hats, antennas and boost colors. Those cosmetic items don't make one vehicle any better than the other one, it just makes more fun and variety to the game. Rocket League also has about 20 different vehicles and the number keeps on growing. Developers often add new vehicles to the game which need to be purchased as a DLC. The DLC's are also quite cheap, and I think that having those vehicles as a DLC content enables the game to  grow even more. No matter which vehicle the player takes, all of them are the same. Ball hit boxes change with each car, but the speed and strength is always the same with each one. Rocket League is purely skill based, and that's what I absolutely love about the game.

The angle you hit the ball, the speed you do it at, if you are airborne or not, if the ball was falling or not before you hit it - all of those things matter in this game. Every action has to be calculated, and everything matters. One mistake or a good action can either lead to a lost game, or a won one. There are, of course, countless ways for you to engage the ball. You can either wait for it to be stationary on the floor, you can use jumping into your advantage, or you can drive up walls, and then  try to hit the  ball from there. And then, of course,  there is this professional action that only very skilled players use, called "The acrobatics." Basically, you need to learn how to control your vehicle midair using nothing but a bit of a boost. It sounds rather easy, yes, but when you start to use it you find otu how hard it actually is.

Graphic and Audio.

Rocket League has a very beautiful graphics. The backgrounds, car models, the maps, all of it is quite beautiful. Including the decals on the vehicles. But, when it comes to audio of the game I am slightly let down. The game had been out for about two years now, and still it has no in game music. There is music in the menu, but while you are playing the game there is none but occasional song that you hear in the background - as if it were coming out from a building next door. You can hear people cheer at all times, and the vehicle sounds are very nice, but I would really like to see some actual songs inside of the game too.

Pros, cons and final grade.

Pros:

- Beautiful graphic

- Extremely fun gameplay

- Unique

- Lots of items that are quite easy to acquire.

Cons:

- Can get very repeatable after an hour or two, so it is quite hard to play it for a longer time in one go.

- No songs during the game

- Sometimes the servers can get quite laggy

Overall score: 8.5 / 10

I have to say that I am very sorry that it took me so long to make this post. I wanted to do it back in June but I was unable to, or just forgot. I wrote this review in honor of my best friend, and a gaming partner - Syphio. He passed away 7th of June 2016. Rocket League was one of his most favorite games. Syphio, you will be greatly missed.

Trailer

Buy the game right here.