Rocket League

Rating: 8.5

Happy Price: 9.99

Gameplay

Destruction derby meets arena soccer is the best way to describe rocket league. It's physics based gameplay adds unpredictability and awesome gameplay moments. The player has the ability to alter the angle of their car and change speeds fluidly which creates many different ways to attack the ball. Fly in the air with your rocket booster, hit balls out of the air with the tail of your car, and or just bump straight into it. Depending on your skill, the game will be played differently.

Driving

Driving mechanics are pretty simple, but the advanced part takes time to get skilled at. On ps4 its R2 to accelerate, L2 to brake, X to jump, X twice to double jump, and X twice quickly to leap or dodge in the direction desired. You can jump in the air and use turbo to rocket boost, but physics make this difficult to master. Once its mastered, you will undoubtedly be the best player in a session as you will have many more opportunities to hit the ball.

Strategy

Teams that work together usually win. Most of my affairs are fairly one sided. The team that works together always seems to prevail. The best teams usually have one guy hanging back and keeping the ball in play, and two wing players that attack the ball. The goal is to center the ball at a low velocity, this allows the defender to rush in with a great angle, or the other attacking player to have a shot on goal. Teams that usually fail are the ones that have all three players attacking the ball. Strategy is simple. 

Physics

The physics of a car hitting a round object make this game what it is. Players hitting the ball at different velocities at different angles at the same time cause for the ball to pop up in the air open for any player with the right skill to attack and score, or completely wiff and open the whole side of the field for an inferior player to score. There is a huge risk and reward theme and this game, and most players go for the risk. I tend to capitalize on other's mistakes and take advantage of easy scores, and that is completely fine with me. I've had multiple MVP's and hat tricks playing that way. The game also operates at 60fps but usually runs at 40 fps on the ps4.

Customization

This is what keeps me playing. Unlocking new cars, paint, decals, and all the other good stuff rewards me for having fun. There isn't criteria for unlocking these things that are made known to the player, they are just unlocked for playing and its usually a pleasant surprise. The ability to make your car unique and show off different hats that are probably earned for doing difficult things (but nobody actually knows) adds an element to the game that isn't necessary for it to be fun, but is essential to keep the player from turning the game off.

Some of my footage

Conclusion

If you're bored and short on cash, definitely a game that should be picked up. There is a season mode if you don't like playing online. Online play is insanely fun and simple. Not a must buy, there are much better games out there. Currently my time is split between this game and Witcher 3 depending on how my day is going. At times I find it to be more fun than Witcher 3, but not necessarily a better game.