'Rocket League' has a new space arena and more customizations
The only thing better than playing soccer with rocket-powered cars is doing it in outer space.
Rocket League's Wednesday update, dubbed Starbase ARC, introduces a handful of cool new features: a free space-themed arena, a DLC space-themed car, new items (both holiday-themed and not), arena preferences for matchmaking, a custom level uploader, customizable training, some redesigns for older content and color blind accessibility.
That's a lot of stuff, so let's break it down.
Starbase ARC arena and car
The Starbase ARC arena isn't just an awesome looking arena, it's a completely new kind of map entering the competitive and casual playlists. The arena is octagonal instead of rectangular -- just like the octagon map from the Rocket Labs playlist -- so the field won't be exactly what most players are used to.
As for the new space-themed car, it's called Vulcan, and costs $1.99. Vulcan has a pretty unique look in the Rocket League car lineup and its back wings fold out when it hits supersonic speed.
The Rocket League team made a behind-the-scenes video talking about the new map and car and how they designed some of the new features in Starbase ARC.
Arena preferences
Speaking of maps that don't fit the norm, Rocket League now allows players to select which maps they prefer to play on when they queue up for online matches. If you're one of those players who only wants to play on standard maps and not Neo Tokyo or Wasteland, this will help you avoid certain maps.
You get four "likes" and two "dislikes" for the arenas, which increase or decrease the likelihood you get that map. You can also set different map preferences for different playlists, so it's pretty customizable.
Customizable training
Rocket League has certainly learned a lot from the community, including the fact that its built-in training mode isn't really that great. Earlier this year, some players started using a training mod called Rocket League Trainer for a better practice experience, and now Rocket League is letting players train exactly how they want to.
Players can now create a playlist of their own shots with customizable ball placement, speed, direction, time limit and objective. If there's a particular ball placement that you have difficulty putting into the net or keeping from going into your own, now you can practice with that shot until you perfect your offense or defense.
Steam Workshop Levels
Rocket League modders have been making custom levels and games within the Rocket League infrastructure for a while, and now players on Steam will be able to share and play them more easily.
With the update, there's a new Workshop section in the Steam hub and new Uploader Tool. Level creators can upload their creations with a name, picture and description withe the Uploader Tool and players can subscribe to the creations they want to play around with. To find them in Rocket League, go to Extras in the game's main menu and they'll be under the Workshop option.
There is sure to be all sorts of cool (and probably terrible) custom creations ending up on the Workshop in the coming days.
Holiday items and makeovers
Is an online game even really considered a game unless it has some sort of winter/holiday update?
The Starbase ARC update brought some temporary, holiday-themed items like the Elf Hat topper, Nutcracker antenna and 2017 New Year's Glasses topper to make your car extra festive, as well as all of last year's holiday items. Plus there are a few new community flags and a new Champion Series item crate.
Along with the new items, a few old features have been updated. The cars X-Devil and Gizmo both have new looks (with the same handling and hit boxes) and arenas Wasteland and Utopia Coliseum each have a new variant -- "night" and "snowy" respectively.
Check out those tire tracks on Utopia Coliseum. Majestic.
Color Blind Mode
For some color-blind people, Rocket League can be a little difficult to play. So Psyonix added Color Blind Mode in the Options menu. The orange and blue shades as well as nameplates can be changed to high-contrast for players who have more difficulty seeing them.
Along with all these big changes and new features, there are a number of bug fixes and minor adjustments to the game (as always).
