Rocket League – Get it on Switch or elsewhere?

Game Modes

So where do we start with Rocket League?  Let’s get right into it with the game modes. Rocket League is an insanely fun game to play. The premise of the game is simple; you play while driving rocket powered cars. But wait, there’s more, as there is also basketball and hockey game modes available for you to play. There are even more experimental game modes like Dropshot where the goal is to destroy the opponent’s floor and shoot the ball through the now destroyed foundation. And as another bonus, there is even a mode reminiscent of Mario Kart in there, which includes items and abilities that you can use during the match. All of these game modes can be played with up to 4 players per team, with 3 being the standard.

Further, it is really great how you are able to easily mix and match any of the game modes when you enter the queing system. You can simply select all the game modes that you want to play and then que for them. This is great as it minimizes the waiting time and hence maximizes the play time. For those that want to show what they’ve got, they can enter the competitive mode where they’ll be placed in a global leaderboard ranking.

Do you suck at the game? Hop into the Training mode to improve your skills. Do you think you can teach others better at the game? Create your own training scenario and share them with the world. Looking at all the modes we’ve just listed, it is quite clear that the game has a great baseline for its value considering its $20 pricetag. For this amount of content, it might even have been fair to sell the game at a higher price tag instead. Now, let’s take a look at how the game performs on the Nintendo Switch as the technical performance can really make the difference between a worthwhile purchase and something that you should skip.

Nintendo Switch Version

The first time you pick up the game in portable mode you may wonder: “Woah, am I actually playing this on a 3DS?” Yes, the resolution is fairly low, quite a bit lower than native resolution actually. Nevertheless, you get used to it quite quickly, as you will mostly be playing this fast-paced game rather than looking at the graphics. It is insanely impressive that the game targets 60 frames per second, which I personally really value. This is the precise reason why I got the game on the Switch rather than on the PC. While there is still some chugging here or there, it is fairly minor and only occurs when there is a lot on the screen. You can further improve the performance by turning off weather effects, but the game seemed stable enough to be played with them being on.

There is a hell of a lot of options available for players, which allow you to adjust camera settings or other details about the game. Therefore even the most finnicky players, will probably be able to enjoy the game comfortably.

It is especially cool how the game supports splitscreen play while still targeting 60 frames per second. You can play with up to two players when undocked and with up to four players when docked. Framerates get choppier in these modes, but are still more than playable. The game even allows you to play it with a single Joycon, giving you the perfect opportunity for any breakout Soccar session anytime. Local wireless play is also available for you.

Another absolutely great thing about this game is that you are able to play with players from other platforms, more specifically the PC and the Xbox One. Unfortunately, Sony believes that their players might be “harmed” by playing Cross Platform with Nintendo Players, which is why the Playstation 4 is left out from all the crossplay fun. Unfortunately, you are unable to que and party up with people from other platforms at this moment. It has been indicated though that this will change relatively soon, as Psyonix will create their own account system in the near future. You are however still able to play together with players on PC and Xbox One in private matches, by entering a name and a password for the created the game.

So will you get the game on the Switch or on another platform? That’s what you have to decide for yourself but the portability of the Switch is a huge benefit for it. It is possible that rebuying the game on the Switch may be worth it as well, but maybe wait for a sale or for Psynets own account system first.

Customization and Progression

To keep you going when playing the game, it features a customization and progression system.  Playing the game, you will level up and gaining new ranks. Along with that, you also get new customization parts for your cars, which you can equip to show others your spoils. Many of the items you gain can be traded with other people as well.

DLC and Microtransactions

This leads really nicely into the game’s further monetization options. Through the platform’s digital storefront, you can buy DLC in cosmetic form. You can buy additional, special cars like the Batmobile to be used ingame. There are also Microtransactions that let you purchase keys, with which you can unlock crates that you get every now and then.

Depending on your stance to Microtransactions and DLC, this might turn you off. Red Value Gaming’s stance on these however is, is that they are ok as long as the player actually gets something proper out of it. In the case of Rocket League, what we receive due to the microtransactions is first of all a cheaper game. We believe that for the content you get in the game, a higher price point than $20 would also be fine. Secondly, the game keeps being developed on and receives new updates regularly. The maintenance of the servers and the game’s E-sports league is also being funded by those. Due to these reasons and the Microtransactions not being overly pushed on you, we believe that they are totally ok and will not deduce the value of this game.  Let’s properly explain our review system to you now though.

Red Value Review System

Our Review System works a bit differently to others as in that we give each game two review scores, with one of them being the value and the other being the traditional score. Games are expensive and sometimes a game might be good but a bit short, in which case you might just want to get the game but only at a lower price. Since everyone’s price tolerance is different, it is difficult to tell you of an exact price that the game is worth. Therefore, let’s show you how our review scores work with an example. Take a $60 game that we’ve already reviewed and valued at $50. Now assume that you bought the game at its full price and that the content it provided to you was justified in your opinion. That means that any game we value at $50 or more should be a worthwhile purchase to you.

Once you have a rough idea on how our idea of value compares to your own, you should be easily able to determine if the game is a worthwhile purchase to you from our given value rating. Overall, this allows us to give you much more information to help you with your purchase decisions, while allowing us to focus our traditional score only on how good the game actually is.

Conclusion

All in all, we already stated that the game receives its full value of $19.99, with there being little debate on it. While we kinda skipped critiquing the game in a traditional sense, we still want to give it a score. This score is 93, mostly because Rocket League really suffers from the “Just One More Game” – Syndrome. Per definition, this is the condition where you want to play just one more game before going to bed, but it’s suddenly 6 o’clock in the morning and you need to get ready for work.

Thank you so much for reading this review. Just remember, Rocket League is a video game. So when you go out for a drive, make sure to do so safely, buckle up and keep your eyes on the road. I hope to catch you next time.