Beta Preview: Rocket League [PS4]

The Rocket League beta is now over for a few weeks underway and is planning to make a full return towards the end of May. I remember the first time I booted up the beta, I did not know what to expect. I haven’t played the previous instalment Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars on the PS3. I went into this beta blind like most players. The first thing I noticed as soon as I started playing, is that this title is very unique. Who would have thought of playing football with RC cars in a giant dome with the ability to demolish your opponents? Not me that’s for sure, but I am very glad I have and I am glad developers Psyonix have created Rocket League.

Whether you are or are not a fan of football games, I recommend this game to you. This is clearly very different to regular football. This is intense multiplayer fun that shouldn’t go to miss. It’s arguably the most exciting game of football you will likely play. Period. The game is very simple; you control a Rocket-Powered RC car with the objective of scoring a giant-sized football into the opponent’s goal. It’s simple to understand the objective, but there is a learning curve. You will need to learn when and where is the best time to charge into a ball, learn when the best time is to jump in the air and volley a ball, and also learn how to defend. This all comes naturally though with an hour or two game-time. You will start to learn the physics of the game, how the ball bounces, how the speed boosts effect your RC and passing. Mastering the art of passing is key, its hard to do at first, but if you end up working well with another player or a friend, you will be scoring goals in no time. You can set-up a private match with friends if you wish to do so. If not, the game offers a single arena with a choice of 1v1, 2v2 or 3v3 playlists. 4v4 was available, but only for private matches.

The games are five minutes long, the team that scores the most wins. If it’s a tie, sudden-death overtime will take place. First team to score during the overtime wins. If the game wasn’t already intense enough, this is the cherry on top of the intense-cake. Just as I mentioned briefly above about the learning curve. When you first start playing Rocket League you will think it is as simple as just pushing the ball in the net. It’s not; it does require skill and team work.

It all comes down to learning when it’s the right time to use boosts, flick the ball mid-air or brake to stop the ball from moving so you can tee it up for a team mate or yourself. There is also the learning curve of the stadium. You can literally drive the ball around the walls of the stadium if you have maximum boost, making it harder for your opponents to get the ball as you go on the counter attack. The ball will not stay up for long; as it depends on how well you keep hitting it on the wall.

The most useful and probably one of the harder skills to master is hitting the ball mid-air and combining it with the boost. This opens up the ability for flips, quick spins, and air-bound boost shots. Practice is key, but once you get it down it can become very useful. When you score or defend, or set a team mate up you earn XP. Sadly the XP in the beta doesn’t seem to go anywhere, but in the full release it is likely it will go towards ranking-up and unlockables. In the full game there is meant to be a ton of customisation options and various different stadiums/cars.

All in all, the beta has offered a fantastic experience, with very minor server issues and a day 2 update that fixed a few niggling bugs. The camera does need a bit of tweaking as it can sometimes get a bit stuck at times, it does rectify itself however. The game does also need some tweaking on a few various things, but they are all very minor and probably will be ironed out for the next beta. If they are not, I shall mention them in our next beta preview. Rocket League is easily in my top 10 multiplayer games I have ever played, and if I am saying that just from the beta, I can’t wait for the full release.

Check out the montage below showing various goals, defensive moments and teamwork. From what I’ve played, this could easily be the PS4’s killer indie summer title.