Rocket League Is All About Having a Good Time
5 seconds left in the match. Losing by one point. My teammate rams his car into the ball and it slowly rolls toward the goal. 3… 2… 1… …. SCORE! That is exactly what happened when I was taking the PS4 title “Rocket League” for a test drive. I managed to capture the exciting moment and you can hear me shout with excitement as it happened.
Even though I was only playing a beta version of Rocket League, I am already impressed. This isn’t exactly a review of the game, since many things can change between now and when the game finally releases, but it is already shaping up to be an incredibly addictive game.
If the game looks familiar, that’s because it is a sequel to the unfortunately titled “Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars” that was released on last-gen consoles. In a nutshell, both games are very similar, but with the extra horsepower of the PS4 and various gameplay tweaks, this title is already shaping up to be a major improvement.
It’s not exactly hard to describe the concept of Rocket League. The game takes place on a futuristic soccer/European football field. Instead of players running around on the field, there are vehicles that can jump, do bicycle-kick style flips, and can perform a quick rocket boost to catch up to where the action is. There is a traditional ball on the field, but it is much much bigger. You simply drive into the ball to try to knock it into your opponents goal. So in a nutshell it’s soccer with cars.
The more interesting thing about this game is the simplicity of it all. Some people might criticize that there are no “power ups” or a leveling system to make your car jump higher, boost faster, or shoot weapons. Personally, I find it to be a breath of fresh air to play a game I can simply jump into and have fun.
Most games these days force you to grind for hours on end in order to remain competitive. My gripe with that concept though is that it breaks the balance of a game when an already skilled player has additional advantages. It’s sort of the equivalent of a rookie fighting Mike Tyson while he is wearing brass knuckles.
I don’t mind a game that has a leveling system here and there. Let’s be honest though, for each game that has that sort of system, it takes away time to enjoy other games in your library. I feel as if this game respects my time by allowing me to jump in and have fun without having to take too much time away from other games I enjoy.
Don’t get me wrong, there is still a very good chance you will sink countless hours into this game due to how fun it is. I caught myself playing for several hours straight even though I wasn’t “leveling up” or “unlocking” features. I was simply just having a great time and I kept telling myself “one more game”. If you are looking for a fun break from other games in your library, Rocket League will be releasing soon and I strongly recommend picking it up as soon as it’s available.
