Until today, I only got my ass kicked at Rocket League indoors, on a couch, proximate to a television. Now that the beloved car soccer game is on the Switch, the realm of ass-kicking possibilities is infinite. I didnât know I wanted this and I am so happy.
Rocket Leagueâs Switch version, released today, is pretty standard fare for a Switch port at this point. If you played the game on PC, youâll probably be a little frustrated by Rocket Leagueâs more pixelated, fuzzy look on a docked Switch. If youâre concerned about getting the best possible pingâan important thing for serious Rocket Leaguersâmaybe buy a Switch Ethernet adapter. And players with older televisions have reportedsome input lag with the Joy-Cons, but it seems like that doesnât have much to do with the game itself.
Rocket League pros who want the best of the best probably arenât going to be completely disowning their PC copies, but that opens up the soc-car field up to casuals like me. Be warned, though: If youâre a new player, youâll be matched against seasoned pros who do play on the Xbox and PC (not PS4). For a more level playing field, I recommend ranked play.
In my few hours with Rocket Leagueâs Switch iteration using joy-cons, a pro controller and in handheld mode, the controls felt responsive and fun, though on a single joy-con, the accelerate and reverse inputs are mapped onto the Tic-Tac-sized SL and SR buttons. As such, theyâre pretty easy for your fingers to lose track of. Frankly, my Rocket League car was just as difficult to maneuver in that as it is with a Switch pro controller, on an Xbox controller or on PC.
Rocket Leagueâs resolution is all right in handheld mode although a few folks on the Switch subreddit might beg to differ (In a recent AMA, Rocket Leagueâs graphics engineer said that âRocket League runs at 1280×720 in Docked and uses a dynamic resolution scaler in Undocked (handheld) depending on the stadium being played. Generally speaking it hovers around 1024×576. Post launch we plan to continue working on optimizing the game.â). A few maps look pretty rough, thoughâa few times, I assumed a map was still loading when it had, in fact, finished.
On the other hand, I found that the portable splitscreen mode is great fun. For me, the screens arenât too tiny, and with the camera set to âBall Camââwhen it follows the ballâI didnât have to worry about losing track of things. Nothing about the Switchâs propped-up, undocked setup distracted me from the game except, again, for the tiny little acceleration buttons.
On the train this morning, I practiced against AIs on my way to work. And it turns out that the subway is the perfect place to do all the mundane routines necessary to figure out how to properly center the ball without repeatedly whiffing. Iâm not sure whether Iâd play primarily in handheld mode, since the gameâs booming soundtrack and adorable customization options really stand out better on a bigger stream, but for practicing or a few quick pick-up games, Rocket Leagueâs new handheld capability rules.
The Switch is a console that basically demands casual play on a lot of its games. Itâs designed to be a carefree, weightless sort of device. Itâs a casual device. And with Rocket League on it, I, as a Rocket League casual, feel very comfortable not taking the game too seriously and just enjoying myself.
