Rocket League’s Addicting Power

My anticipation for Witcher 3: Wild Hunt bordered on insanity.  I absolutely loved the heck out of Witcher 2.  Something about a mature RPG with massive open world elements appeals to the nature of my being.  And when the game finally hit store shelves, I purchased it immediately and played for about a half hour.  Sadly, I haven’t picked it up again yet.  Thinking about the sheer amount of content and work that the game requires gives me a migraine.  When I get some time, I do envision myself playing again, but not yet.

Fast forward to July 17th and a boring Friday.  Out of curiosity, I searched the free games that Playstation Plus users could download for the month.  I came across Rocket League and promptly did some research on it.  The consensus from fans and reviewers at this point is Rocket League causes you to lose track of time from the addicting game play.  And those people couldn’t be more accurate.  The simplicity and intensity of this game has grabbed a hold of me.  There is something about having fun with video games that seems to be a lost tradition.  Witcher 3 feels like I am preparing myself for a task.  Rocket League has helped bring out my youthful love of video games.

If you haven’t played or don’t know the game, you control an indestructible car with the jumping ability of Michael Jordan.  The arena is enclosed in a futuristic backdrop with fans in the crowd. The goal of the game is to hit a giant ball into a net.  Simple enough?  There is a surprising amount of depth with the entire package.  You have the ability to jump, boost, powerslide, backflip, and whatever else can be physically done with a car on springs.  The depth lies in how you actually score.  The ball’s gravity is very low.  When it reflects off the wall, it will hover in the air for a long time.  You can smash your teammate forward, take a jumping shot at the ball, or wait for everyone else to miss and take your chance.  There is an inherit skill with timing your jumps and angles. The matches are five minutes long, giving you plenty of time to score or come back from a deficit.  You will find that some games are 7-5, while others are a defensive 1-0 struggle.  Some games you will be the star and others you will struggle.  Rocket League has the potential with some new content and arenas to stick around for a long time.

Rocket League’s infancy shouldn’t scare you away from playing.  The game is beyond addicting, and you will find hours melt off the clock.