Gamers review: Rocket Arena blasts off

Rocket Arena is set on a planet called Crater, which – for reasons not made clear – has a thing for rockets.

Rocket Arena by Final Strike Games.

In an era when we see a lot of sequels and remasters, it’s been a pleasant surprise to see an entirely new game property launching into the gaming universe.

Rocket Arena has been developed by Final Strike Games and is being published by EA for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox 1 on July 14.

In a broad sense, Rocket Arena fits into the genre known as a Hero Shooter, whereby you select one of a number of distinct characters (heroes) with specialist abilities and then head into a range of different environments to do battle with other players.

The best known and most successful games in the genre are Valve’s Team Fortress 2 and Blizzard’s Overwatch and from my time with Rocket Arena during an invitation-only online preview session recently, I got the clear impression this latest game will be moving in much the same orbit, at least initially.

The game is set on a planet called Crater, which – for reasons not made clear during the demo but are apparently explained in the full game – has a thing for rockets.

There will be 10 regions in the game at launch, each sending a representative (hero) to compete in a Rocket Championship which will take the form of three-vs-three arena battles rotating through the levels set in each region.

Rocket Arena is set on a planet called Crater.

Rockets feature not just as weapons and means of conveyance, but a thematic and artistic choice – one of the levels (Hypersonic Heights) looks like something out of The Jetsons, for example.

At launch there will be four player-vs-player game modes and one player-vs-AI mode available; I tried a couple out as part of the preview and the Treasure Hunt mode piqued my interest the most, being a round where players have to protect a treasure chest then spend the next round running through the level collecting coins while delightfully 1980s arcade music and sound effects play as they do so.

The object of the game is not to kill other players, but to simply knock them out of the arena by wearing them down with attacks, then, when their KO bar is full, hitting them again to initiate a “megablast” that sends them rocketing outside the arena before they are returned to play after a point is awarded to the player who dispatched them.

The developers have confirmed there will be 100 levels of progressions for each hero and 350 unlockable cosmetics which can be obtained with the game’s premium (ie, paid for with real money or earned slowly through in-game achievements) currency known as - wait for it – “Rocket Fuel”.

Rocket Arena is set on a planet called Crater.

Fully cognisant that EA are not well loved by gamers for their handling of microtransactions (buying game items or equipment with real-world money) in games, the Rocket Arena team were explicitly clear that the upcoming game will only have cosmetic items available for purchase, and that there will be no loot boxes (a mechanic where players can win or buy a box which, when opened, reveals a random in-game item) or ‘pay-to-win’ elements.

They also noted the game will feature crossplay, meaning people with a PC can play against Xbox or PlayStation gamers, and vice versa, which is a major plus since discovering half your friends are on a different platform and cannot play with you is the bane of many a gamer’s weekend plans.

The big challenge EA are likely to face with Rocket Arena is that games such as Overwatch and Riot Games’ newcomer Valorant exist, and it is hard not to draw comparisons there, particularly with the former title which has become the archetypal “cartoonesque graphics hero shooter” since its 2016 release.

There’s an argument that what the industry needs is a casual (ie, not intended for serious competition or e-sports) game where the focus is on fast, fun and accessible action – and Rocket Arena, at least from the preview, looks well placed to provide that.

As to whether or not the game proves to be a moonshot – it looks like we’ll have to wait until it blasts off on July 14 to know for sure.