Rocket Arena Review

Live service multiplayer games are a dime a dozen, with countless options available on all platforms. As such, new live service games need to do something truly unique if they hope to stand out from the pack and generate some attention, and the recently released Rocket Arena manages to do just that.

Rocket Arena is like a third-person take on Quake mixed with Overwatch-style hero abilities and lore, and topped off with a Super Smash Bros-inspired combat system – complete with rocket launchers. By combining these vastly different games, Rocket Arena manages to create something completely new and unique, which alone is reason enough for those hungry for new online multiplayer experiences to try it.

Overwatch’s influence is evident right from the start, with Rocket Arena boasting a colorful cast of diverse characters, all with their own strengths, weaknesses, and special abilities. For example, there’s a character named Amphora who can transform into a fast-moving blob of water, and then shoot herself into the air with a powerful waterspout. Each character has their own theme and abilities associated with that theme, and like Overwatch, they’re easy to pick up and play, but require dedication to truly master them on the battlefield.

All the characters of Rocket Arena have their own lore and backstories as well, which makes them more interesting than otherwise. The character Boone, for example, is looking for the seemingly defunct Megadon creature, completely unaware that his animal companion Zik is one of them. Rocket Arena’s live service model promises big in-game events that will expand lore and advance the story, so it’ll be interesting to see exactly how characters like Boone and his relationship with Zik will evolve in the future. that week and month.

The Rocket Arena lore and character stories will likely change in the future, but it’s likely that the characters will also be tweaked from a gameplay standpoint. As it stands, some characters are overpowered in some game modes. E.g. Since Rocket Arena is a live-service game, one should assume that character abilities will be buffed and nerfed over time even on the playing field.

Each Rocket Arena character has their own special abilities to help them stand out, but they all have some type of rocket launcher that serves as their primary weapon. As the game’s name suggests, Rocket Arena is all about blasting opponents with different types of rocket launchers, resulting in slower, but exciting gameplay than what can be used with fans of other shooter games.

This comes with a Super Smash Bros. style damage system. is where Rocket Arena shines, as these elements come together to provide an experience that really isn’t available anywhere else. Instead of players having hit points, everyone has their own damage meter that fills up with consecutive hits. The higher their meter, the easier it is to knock out players in the arena. This creates a different kind of dynamic in combat that favors precision shots and using the environment to dodge rockets.

Rocket Arena’s slower pace may take some getting used to, but players will eventually find themselves in a rhythm and combining their character’s unique abilities to pull off impressive knockouts . Managing to hit enemies multiple times in quick succession with rocket blasts is immensely satisfying, with a bowling strike-like sound that explodes through the air when they take maximum damage and are sent hilariously pinballing through walls.

Rocket Arena’s core gameplay and combat is fun, and players have four different PvP modes available to them at launch where they can experience it. Knockout is the standard Team Deathmatch-style mode and also has the intense “capture the point” mode Mega Rocket, but Rocket Arena also has unique modes like Treasure Hunt and Rocketball. Treasure Hunt makes players collect coins and grab a treasure chest in addition to dealing with enemies, while Rocketball is like soccer with rocket launchers. Each game mode provides a completely different type of experience and requires its own strategy if players want to succeed, so there’s plenty of variety despite only a handful of modes at launch.

Since Rocket Arena is a live game service, the developers stressed that the content in the game will be greatly expanded when Rocket Arena season 1 starts on July 28. Season 1 will bring one new character, at least with three new multiplayer maps , limited-time game modes, and as one might have guessed, a Battle Pass, or “Blast Pass,” as Rocket Arena calls it.

And herein lies one of the issues with the game: Rocket Arena is a paid game with a free-to-play monetization model. At launch, almost none of the cosmetics or unlockable content for the characters was worth it or all that interesting, with even better stuff coming as part of the Blast Pass on July 28. It wouldn’t be so bad if the free game- play, but this is a paid experience. True, Rocket Arena is available at a budget price of $30, but the decision to go paid instead of free-to-play seems like a huge missed opportunity on the part of the developers for more reasons than its monetization model.

There are some concerns that Rocket Arena will struggle to build a significant player base by being a paid game instead of free-to-play. While its high-quality gameplay and positive word of mouth may bring more players to the game, it’s still a bit of a hard sell, especially when the market is oversaturated with countless other live games. service game. It’s hard to see people giving up Fortnite or Call of Duty: Warzone, both free-to-play, to venture into Rocket Arena.

So far, the player population isn’t an issue, especially since Rocket Arena supports cross-play out of the gate, but it seems like the launch content should be a bit bigger if the developers want to convince more people. person to pay for the game. Hopefully, the content of season 1 is compelling enough for Rocket Arena to cultivate a dedicated community of players that will allow the developers to continue to expand the game for years to come, because the game is a lot of fun.

I feel like there was a bit of a lack of content at launch, but Rocket Arena is a solid multiplayer shooter that’s almost something great, and hopefully, the developers will get a chance to help the game reach its full potential. In the meantime, those looking for a fun new multiplayer game can’t go wrong with Rocket Arena.

Rocket Arena is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Today Technology was given an Xbox One code for this review.