Rocket League is an arcade-style game of soccer played out with rocket-powered cars. The game is essentially a mix between a demolition derby and soccer with cars that can fly.
The Goal of Rocket League
The objective in Rocket League is the same as the objective in soccer. Work with your team to score the most goals. The team that has the most goals by the end of the game wins. It sounds simple, and the concept is, but the mechanics are extremely hard to master.
Players can control every slight tilt, flip, and turn of their car making the possible positions for shooting, defending, or passing practically endless. Professional players have masterful mechanics and can put the ball in the goal for virtually any spot in the arena, including the ceiling.
How Rocket League is Played
Source: Psyonix
Rocket League takes place in a caged field. Two teams square off against each other, one on the blue side and the other on the orange. Each player’s car starts in one of three positions on their side of the field, and the ball is spawned in the middle.
After a 3 second countdown to start the game, players race towards the ball for kickoff. Controlled chaos follows as the two squads of rocket cars fly, pass, shoot, and smash to the best of their ability in an attempt to make the large grey ball enter the other team’s goal.
As soon as a goal is scored, the game timer pauses. The ball and the players are reset to starting positions. Another kickoff follows, and game time resumes.
Once the game timer runs out, the team that scored the most goals is declared the winner. If the teams are tied, they play overtime where the first team to score takes the victory.
What makes Rocket League Unique?
Source: Psyonix
There are two main differences between Rocket League and soccer games like FIFA. The first is the cars. Players control rocket-powered cars that can pick up boost by driving over orange pads placed on the field.
The rocket boost enables the cars to travel at tremendous speeds and even fly. In Rocket League a majority of the fighting over the ball, passing, shooting, and defending happens mid-air.
The second thing that makes Rocket League unique is speed. Everything in Rocket League moves fast. The cars move quickly, the ball flies through the air at lightning speeds, and the players react with incredible quickness.
Each round of the game lasts for fewer than five minutes. But that’s no problem when you have complete control over the car moving at the speed of sound.
In this arena of hyper aggression and extreme reactivity, let your guard down for one second and... well let’s just say it is truly amazing how many goals a well-practiced Rocket League team can score in 5 minutes.
Picking Rocket League up for the first time?
This game is intense, but if you're new, don't worry. We got your back. Check out our article for ,beginner tips and tricks to Rocket League.
The Rocket League Esports Scene
Source: Psyonix
Rocket League has a burgeoning Esports scene. The last world championship boasted over 280,000 concurrent viewers. In addition to regular seasons, tournaments, and qualifiers in their local regions, the best teams from Oceania, North America, South America, and Europe have a chance to compete against each other for a million-dollar prize.
Interested in joining the Rocket League competitive scene?
If you are ages 8-18, look at our gamer’s page for info on how you can join Vanta Leagues for free. Nothing will improve your gameplay more than joining a community dedicated to getting better! Learn more about how Rocket League works on our Rocket League page.
If you work for a school looking to implement Rocket League or esports into your after school activities, check out our page.
Garrett White lives in Houston Texas with the most amazing woman in the world, his wife. Any time he isn’t running D&D, playing video games, or reading a book, he is writing short stories and articles about one of those things.