Just over five years after its debut, Rocket League has officially switched to the free-to-play model, allowing players on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC to download it and compete without shelling out a single penny. If you're about to approach the game for the first time ever with this opportunity, here are some Rocket League tips that could give you an extra boost in the early hours and provide you with the right knowledge to be able to keep up with users who have been playing for years.

Controls

Regardless of what will be your reference platform, the best way to enjoy Rocket League is to play using a controller.

Here is the complete outline of the commands:

  • Car movement: left analog stick
  • Camera management: right analog stick
  • Forward guide: R2 on PlayStation 4 (RT on Xbox One)
  • Reversing guide: L2 on PlayStation 4 (LT on Xbox One)
  • Jump: X on PlayStation 4 (A on Xbox One)
  • In-flight shooting: After a jump, hold down the direction in which to move and press X again on PlayStation 4 (A on Xbox One)
  • Turbo: Circle on PlayStation 4 (B on Xbox One)
  • Drift: Square on PlayStation 4 (X on Xbox One)
  • Upside down (in the air): L2 on PlayStation 4 (LT on Xbox One)
  • Ball camera: Triangle on PlayStation 4 (Y on Xbox One)
  • Rear view: R3 on PlayStation 4 (RS on Xbox One)
  • Leaderboard: L1 on PlayStation 4 (LB on Xbox One)
  • Skip music (on menus): R3 on PlayStation 4 (RS on Xbox One)
  • Quick Chat - Info: Arrow on directional cross
  • Quick Chat - Congratulations: Directional Cross Left Arrow
  • Quick Chat - Reactions: Right arrow of the directional cross
  • Quick Chat - Excuses: Directional Cross Down Arrow

You can change any key through the settings, so that you can activate any action in the way you prefer. By visiting the settings menu and selecting the item "Chat" you can also change the phrases to say to companions and opponents by pressing the arrows of the digital cross.

Complete Weekly Challenges

With the advent of free-to-play and Season 1, the Psyonix title also embraces the philosophy of seasonal passes thanks to the Rocket Pass, a slew of premium and free content that allows players to unlock many Rocket League items for customizing their vehicles.

The easiest way to get new skins and experience points useful to climb your pass is to complete weekly challenges, which also offer loot boxes containing random cosmetic items and Rocket League credits. In case you decide to purchase the Rocket Pass, you will also access a number of extra challenges that will only speed up your climb to level 100.

Complete The Tutorials

At the first start of the game, immediately after completing the "fake" tutorial (it is all pre-calculated, it is not possible to directly control the vehicle on that occasion), we suggest you to complete the game tutorials by visiting the appropriate section. The two tutorials, the basic one and the advanced one, allow the player to learn in a few steps the main gameplay mechanics, thanks to which you can face the first matches more serenely.

In the section dedicated to tutorials there are also more or less advanced insights for attack and defense as well as a series of areas created by players to train in specific game situations: in short, those who want to improve themselves have all the tools useful to do so. If you don't feel ready enough to face other players and are tired of tutorials, competing against bots gradually increasing their difficulty is a great way to put everything you've learned into practice.

Customize The Camera

Camera management in Rocket League can make a difference and, in this regard, the player is allowed at any time to switch from the free camera to the view on the ball at the push of a button. The easiest way to play is to activate the so-called BallCam, since it significantly simplifies the lives of players and allows you to always have the action under control.

Through the settings menus it is also possible to make numerous changes to the camera, for example by changing the distance of the vehicle from the screen and setting the value of the FOV.

Below we propose some parameters recommended by professional players, indicating instead of specific values of the ranges within which you could make attempts so as to discover the ones that best suit you:

  • Oscillation: No
  • Field of view: between 100 and 110
  • Distance: Between 240 and 300
  • Height: between 80 and 120
  • Angle: between -5 and -3
  • Stiffness (the distance of the camera from the car): between 0.40 and 1.0
  • Transition speed: between 1.0 and 1.5

Be Thrifty With The Turbo

Once you've set up the Rocket League camera in the best way, it's time to get on track and try to win a few games. One of the ways to speed quickly from one part of the arena to the other is to use the Turbo, whose indicator is located in the lower right corner of the screen and recharges by hovering over one of the many upgrade ramps, which allow you to fill up.

By holding down the turbo button we can not only go faster when the wheels touch the ground, but with a little familiarity you can also use propulsion to control the movements of the bolide when suspended in the air. You can therefore understand how it is of fundamental importance to always have the tank full and use this resource at the right time, perhaps avoiding wasting it for simple movements. You can find more Rocket League tips to improve the Turbo here.

Don’t Always Bet On The MVP

When you play Rocket League it's easy to get your hand taken and always try to hit the ball to score goals. The secret to winning, however, is to be less focused on your performance and be more generous to your teammates.

The advice we can give you is to make as many assists as possible, perhaps trying not to throw the ball directly into the goal but to the corners, so that your friends can take advantage of the rebound of the same to put opponents in difficulty and catch them by surprise. In case others make an assist, try to predict the movements of the ball and do not immediately project yourself towards the spherical object: this is just how you can hit the ball in flight and give life to memorable actions.

Demolish Your Opponent

Among the various possibilities offered by Rocket League in terms of gameplay we also find demolition, which consists in the destruction in a thousand pieces of an enemy vehicle on impact by another means.

This kind of action, which could put even those who decide to do this madness out of the game, has all the potential to save even the most desperate situations: between the moment of demolition and the return to the game they spend several seconds and the tactical elimination of an enemy player can give you an extra chance to shoot on goal without others being able to react.

Activate Cross-Save

Whether it's your first experience with the game or not, we recommend that you set everything up right away to enable cross-save in rocket league. This will unifies progress across all platforms in your possession and freely switch between platforms seamlessly.

After all, the game is now free and you could, for example, use Switch for mobile games and PlayStation 4/Xbox One to play on your TV with an improved graphics compartment. Anyone who has played in the past by purchasing a copy or thanks to Xbox Game Pass/PlayStation Plus will also be able to access a wide range of free cosmetic items that the development team has decided to donate to supporters of the project.

Author's Bio: 

I am an author at selfgrowth