#readysetgame

Jay opens up another Dreamcast Gem!

And here’s why you should play it.

A- About two weeks ago, a little game called Rocket League was released on the PS4 and PC and has taken the internet by storm. It seems like people everywhere are posting about this game and sharing their awesome footage of it. 

I love it. I’ve had it for a week, but I’ve already logged more hours into it than I have some of my other PS4 games that I’ve had way longer. 

So what is Rocket League? For those of you who don’t know, it’s a game that’s best boiled down into three words: cars playing soccer. That’s it. It’s as simple as that. You control a car with a surprising amount of (entirely cosmetic) customization options. In one session I unlocked a ton of items for the car I was playing with, and in almost every match I’ve played I’ve unlocked new items. Each match is 5 minutes long and teams ranging from 1x1 to 4x4 try to knock a giant metallic soccer ball into a goal. Ya know, like soccer only more interesting. Whoever has the most points wins. It’s as easy as that. 

If you’re on the fence about it, here are 5 reasons why you should pick up Rocket League immediately. 

1. It’s accessible - The controls are incredibly easy to pick up. You have 4 buttons you need to know for the core gameplay (5 if you count reversing). You can drive, boost, jump (and double jump), and powerslide. That’s it. There are some tutorials that are handy for learning the basics, but really after one or two matches you’ll have the basics down. 

The kicker (pun intended) is that there is so much more underneath that surface level simplicity. There are complex strategies involving the positioning of yourself and your teammates, playing the ball off the walls of the arena, learning to play the ball in the air, and knowing when to use your boosts most effectively. Rocket League is the epitome of “easy to learn, hard to master.”

2. It’s digestible - Each match consists of one round of five minutes. Whoever has more goals, wins. If both teams are tied, there is a sudden death tie-breaker. You can boot the game up and be done in about 10 minutes (clock stops with each goal) or you can marathon it and play an entire 27-week season in just a couple of hours. I’m not ashamed at all to admit that my brother and I have had several 3+ hour sessions playing this game. 

There are multiple cars you can drive, but they don’t vary much in playstyle. I thought this might hurt the replay value of the game, but it really doesn’t. It keeps the playing field interesting in online matches because you’re not running into players only using the “best” cars. You’re getting variety which we all know is a rarity with online games. With local matches you don’t spend a lot of time picking which car you use because there aren’t stats to compare. You jump in and go. 

As I mentioned earlier, the unlockables are purely cosmetic, but it’s fun seeing some of the ridiculous things you can put on your car. My favorite so far is the “Team Fat” flag that I proudly fly on my antenna.

3. It’s free (for PS Plus members in July) - Yes, for July on the PS4 this amazing game is free to PS Plus members. It’s also available on Steam for $20. Honestly, I’m not sure I would’ve paid $20 for this had I not had the chance to play it first, but now that I know how incredibly fun this game is, I would gladly drop $20 for it. Rocket League is well worth it. 

But please, if you have a PS4 and a PS Plus membership (which you should anyway), go download this game right now. It’s the best $20 you never spent. 

4. It’s clever - In the Season mode, you’re pitted against teams with names with specific themes based on the cars’ names on that team. I won’t tell you which teams have which themes, because there’s a unique feeling of discovery when you’re in the midst of a tense match and you suddenly get the joke.  

5. It’s intense - The matches are insane: constant action, white knuckle moments as your shot to tie the game just bounces off the corner of the goal, triumphant game-changing blocked shots, exhilarating moments of retribution when you boost through (yes through) an opponent. On the higher difficulties (rookie has some suspect AI), your teammates and opponents are more skilled and provide a formidable challenge. You must play strategically and make every shot count. Winning these higher difficulty matches is incredibly rewarding and truly feels like an accomplishment. 

Whether you play online, by yourself, or with a friend on the same TV, Rocket League is an action packed sports game that’s unlike most sports on the market. There are no gimmicky game modes, no obnoxious ads to suffer through or pretend to ignore, and embodies the spirit of playing a pickup game with your friends, while also capturing the intensity of a World Cup match. 

A- It is a sad day. Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo, passed away over the weekend at the age of 55.

I started gaming at a very early age. My brother got an NES when I was about 18 months old, and some of my earliest memories revolve around watching him and my mom play games until I’d developed enough to play myself. I was mesmerized and instantly hooked. Whether it was Tetris or Super Mario Bros with Duck Hunt (of course we cheated, we were kids) we would play for hours at a time. 

Nintendo has been ridiculed for its approach to gaming over the years, but the simple fact remains: games are supposed to be fun. That was what Satoru Iwata believed above all else, and it showed in his work. His games were never the most technically impressive. They didn’t have photo-realistic graphics. But here’s the thing, they never had to. They had something that very few games on other consoles have:

Charm

There’s a certain feeling that Nintendo games elicit. Even as an adult with bills and responsibilities, I find myself gleefully staring at the screen when I load up Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros. The games are fun, they’re colorful, and they’re gorgeous. 

Recently I’ve gotten away from playing Nintendo games mostly because I don’t personally own a Wii U, but my brother does. There are times I’d be sitting in the living room watching him play the newer Donkey Kong, Kirby, or Legend of Zelda games and it would take me straight back to the mid-nineties when we would spend our entire summer break playing games together. Some of my fondest memories of my childhood are of my brother and me playing through Megaman 3 and 4, and the first time we beat Super Mario RPG I didn’t think we’d ever stop screaming. In a time when brothers tend to be combative, Nintendo games helped bring us together. They still do to this day. 

By now, anyone who’s read or heard about Mr. Iwata knows that he was a passionate man who would do anything for his company. We’ve seen his generosity first hand when he cut his own pay in half when Nintendo did not meet their profit lines. He was never concerned about his salary. His focus has always been on games: making them interesting, making them inclusive, and making them fun.  

“On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer.”

This was taken from Mr. Iwata’s Game Developers Conference keynote speech in 2005. There are no better words to describe the great man that not only the gaming industry, but the world will truly miss.