Rocket League Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 & PC)

Whoever spearheaded the concept of a dome-based, rocket-powered PvP soccer game deserves a medal, because frankly, it’s a pairing that shouldn’t work, but just does, despite it being a simple, almost numskull idea that’s about as complex as an electric can opener. Of course, Rocket League didn’t pioneer the vehicular soccer scene, but it did revolutionize it and bring it to mainstream audiences and e-sports communities. To think, the concept of meshing cars and soccer together was a thing back in 1930s Germany. But that’s a story for another time. For now, we’ll just stick to Rocket League —  the vanilla version, that is.

Much like your semi-annual launch of a popular game in a restless saga, it isn’t a concept that needs to add weekly updates to bolster the experience. Say, if FIFA can steal the thunder once in a blue moon with the same ideas and structural principles, then so can a game like Rocket League. The groundwork is there. The only thing that it needs is a frequent sprinkle to keep the foundations alight and maintain foot traffic. But other than that, Rocket League stands on its own two feet, without the need to branch out or innovate. It’s a silly idea, but it’s also one that doesn’t need to alter much to elevate the overall gameplay experience. There are seasons that we could talk about, for sure — but when all’s said and done, unless you’re hell-bent on soaking up all of the latest skins and arenas, they are, to some extent, almost redundant.

No, Rocket League seemingly struck gold when it bridged the gaps between its original incarnation and its rocket-powered torchbearer. More to the point, it released an idea that could appeal to the general PvP enthusiast, and it henceforth fortified a blueprint that would hit almost every nail on the head to ensure that it would survive the long term. And it did exactly that. Rocket League launched with flying colors, and the rest of its journey was, really, an opportunity for it to simply trail blaze in its own cone of triumphant glory.

Primordial and Powerful

Suffice it to say, Rocket League is one of those guilty pleasures that you both love to frequent with friends and actively enjoy booting up every once in a while. The format itself doesn’t change much (we’re cutting out the seasons, by the way), but that’s all part of its charm. Simply put, it’s a game that you don’t need a wealth of experience to understand. It’s soccer with rocket-powered cars; it’s a destruction derby with neon balls. Frankly, it doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together here.

Of course, the gameplay itself is as you would imagine it to be: two teams duking it out to score goals in an oversized dome. The catch here is that, while you can play from the field, you can also utilize the arena to execute tactical attacks, maneuvers, and wall-gliding skill shots. It’s street football with ferocious speed and explosions, basically. The only major difference here, of course, is that you don’t spend ninety or so minutes parading around a field, but a few minutes mindlessly thrashing it out in an attempt to one-up the other team. It’s all rather chaotic, for sure — but that’s sort of the point.

Although without the weight of a full-scale offline career mode, Rocket League does feature a suitable amount of PvP and PvE options, with each session housing its own collection of incentives to earn and opportunities to broaden your repertoire. There are also plenty of customizable components to explore, too, with various decals, vehicle types, and stats to experiment with before launching a new tournament. And the best part here is that, contrary to popular belief, it isn’t pay-to-win. There’s a few additional bonus points, right there.

Powered by Chaos

All in all, Rocket League feels like a well-crafted PvP game with all of the elbow grease and fluid controls to keep you flipping, jackknifing and flailing around for hours. Granted, it doesn’t offer much by way of solid vehicle upgrades, but that sort of plays in its favor, as it helps to keep a level playing field for both fresh-faced combatants and seasoned veterans alike. In other words, you can waltz into it and sit on the same wavelength as your opponent, regardless of how much time you’ve spent with the preliminary rounds. I can’t fault that.

If you’re wondering whether or not Rocket League has more to offer outside of its signature 4v4 PvP format — yes, it does, but that’s essentially where the seasons come into play. In addition to the vanilla experience, you also have frequent updates, most of which feature fresh Challenges, Perks, Tournaments, and Arenas. That’s a whole other ballgame that, frankly, deserves an entirely separate review (see here), but on the off chance that you are wondering whether or not there’s more to unveil here, I can confirm that there is a lot to feast on in addition to the standard game modes. Not bad for a free-to-play game, then.

Verdict

Rocket League claims its position in the realm of PvP cult classics with a thoroughly enjoyable arena-based soccer-brawling hybrid invitational that has all of the primordial elements of an easy to learn yet awfully difficult to master schematic. Aside from its frequent updates and seasonal exploits, it harbors a seamless ecosystem and ironclad foundation that’s a lot of fun to scratch from time to time, if not for the occasional in-game perk, then for the opportunity to bathe in some good old-fashioned vehicular combat.

When all’s said and done, vehicle soccer isn’t an idea that will appeal to the entire stadium. But, for fans of high-octane PvP games, it’s a traveler’s delight—a spot of respite between tougher invitationals that offers just as much replay value as your average shooter. It still requires a good sense of direction and a strong understanding of tactical maneuvers, true. However, I find that Rocket League is one of those games that you can more or less scrape just a slither of joy out of with dumb luck and blind faith. It doesn’t always work that way, but it’s a lot easier than pulling off a clean headshot in, say, Battlefield 6. An entirely different ballgame, but you get the point.

Anyway, if you are unfamiliar with Rocket League and its vast history of season packs and e-sports fixtures, then take this brief revival as an opportunity to get behind the wheel and experience it for yourself. It might not be to your liking, but then, given that it’s a free-to-play game with no absurd pay-to-win schemes, you can’t really go wrong, to be fair.