Gamer Recognizes Game: 'Rocket League'

It's June 10, 2018. I just woke up, made my way upstairs, and started to enjoy some breakfast when I figured I’d watch something on YouTube while I ate. I happened upon a livestream of the “Rocket League Championship Series.” In a weird twist of fate, I bore witness to the most iconic moment in the history of the game — jstn.'s zero-second goal. 

In my hundreds of hours playing “Rocket League,” I have come to the conclusion that it is equal parts fun and frustrating. It's a simple, five-minute game of soccer, but played with flying cars. Score more goals than the opponent and you win; score less and you lose. No game makes me want to put a hole through my monitor more often, and yet I can't stop playing it — so I'm here to tell you why you should play it too. 

There are many different game modes, with the standard 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 for both casual and competitive players, as well as some other unique modes including “Rumble” — which throws power-ups into the mix of the standard game — “Dropshot,” where you break the floor with the ball to score, and “Hoops” being an alternate take on basketball.

“Rocket League” is available on all major consoles as well as PC. Right now, I play on PC, because I got tired of trying to play the game on Switch. I haven't tried the game on the PS5 or the Xbox Series X, but I've heard it isn't too far off compared to the experience on PC. It is also free-to-play across consoles, a shift that was made in September 2020 over a year after Epic Games acquired Psyonix — the developers of Rocket League.

That really is the elephant in the room for this game: There is a perception that the game has become worse since Epic Games acquired Psyonix. 

Personally, I don't think “Rocket League” has become any worse since this purchase. I would instead argue that there simply hasn't been any major changes to the game, but there haven't been any reductions to the core of it either.

And the reason Epic Games hasn't had to change anything is because this wasn't Psyonix's first rodeo making a car ball soccer game.

All the way back in the ancient times of 2008, a game with the very short title of “Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars” — SARPBC for short — was released on the Playstation 3. Few people played it, but Psyonix were confident they had a great game on their hands. So they went back to the drawing board, worked out some of the clunkier aspects of the aerial mechanics and gameplay in general, and shortened the name to boot.

That's the reason the modern version of “Rocket League” is so solid. The game is responsive, fluid, and once you get your bearings and learn how to move on the ground and in the air, the pitch is your oyster.

That's also what makes it so rage-inducing. The skill ceiling in the game is limitless, and with every passing day, pros push it higher and higher. While jstn.'s zero-second goal was a huge accomplishment at the time, since the skill level of players has increased so much over the last few years, this type of shot is a more  common occurrence these days. The stakes are what made the shot impressive, but the speed and mechanics of modern professional players make that shot look simple in comparison.

If you haven't played “Rocket League” before, you're probably confused as to what I mean by a “zero-second goal.” Since “Rocket League” is a three-dimensional game of soccer, the ball will either be on the ground or in the air. Each game runs with a five-minute time limit, pausing for goals, and if you're tied at the end of the game, you'll be sent to overtime. However, when the clock hits zero seconds, the game doesn't end until the ball touches the ground.

This leads to every “last second” of the game stretching out as you and your team are either scrambling to put a last-second goal away to send the game to overtime or attempting to force the ball to the ground to end the game. It adds immense depth and makes for unreal moments — whether it's you and your friends clutching a game, or watching pros pull off an upset on the big stage. 

“Rocket League” is extremely fun and entices the player to play again and again with its short match length of five minutes. But similar to needing a calculator to add 2+2 as you get to advanced math, you will make more simple mistakes the higher rank you get, and it can become incredibly frustrating. 

However, it's also a blast to play with friends or to mess around and not play competitively, and I think that's something to be appreciated.

No matter how often I tell myself I won't get back into “Rocket League,” I always do. It's fun, free and easy to get into without investing a large amount of time. I think everyone should at least give it a shot so that they can experience the magic that is flying cars playing sports. However, if you get more into the game competitively, don't say I didn't warn you about wanting to put a hole through your monitor.