But there's no respawn or anything resembling character death. You can either survive while waiting for the slow regen to take effect or, if you get hit once more, find yourself 'megablasted' out of the arena's invisible bubble. In Rocket Arena, there's no blood, no swearing, no mention of kills or even the more modern stand-in, 'eliminations.' Instead, should your hero's health get dangerously low, you enter into a sort of last stand mode. It's strangely nostalgic for a new IP, but it seems to be the intent of the composer as it further solidifies the game's all-ages approach to the hero shooter. Music has a sort of 1990s style to it, like something you'd hear in a Sega Saturn game. Even as Amphora's characterization isn't obvious at first glance, once you start hurling water mines and grabbing enemies with her Hydro Form, it's clear she is meant to be an Aphrodite analog. The audiovisual experience as a whole remains a lovely aspect of the game round after round, and once you get to using them, the characters stand apart much better. Still, none of them are unappealing either. Still, others, like the sea-queen Amphora, the magical Mysteen, or the ice princess Kayi, don't really have any signature looks about them. Some of them, like the adventurer Boone or the pirate Blastbeard, immediately exude their essence when you first see them. Voice lines and cosmetics do a lot of the leg work in this genre, and in that regard, Rocket Arena is lacking compared to others. While no two heroes look very much alike, they all fit a basic mold of 'human with Rachet and Clank-like weapons.' Sure, only one is a little kid, and another is an old man, and the roster is split half and half between men and women, but visually speaking, these characters don't often have any signature aspects that tell their stories. Their unique abilities are ultimately what set the roster of heroes apart from one another.

At times, it can feel pretty hard to hit your shots as everyone is flailing about, jumping off walls, gliding over the map, and hitting jump and boost ramps for added flair, but aided by each character's other abilities, the combat is able to be mastered after some hours with each character.

As most rounds play out in under seven minutes, that's an incredibly large chunk of a match to hop and float around, but it's exactly how Rocket Arena wants to be played, and it's better for it.Īccuracy is then a high-maintenance aspect of the game. Every hero can triple-jump, and the addition of staying afloat with rocket-jumping means you can go a minute or more without touching the ground if you're really skilled. They can often feel quite crowded horizontally, but Rocket Arena isn't built solely for the X-axis.

Maps are built to accommodate the smaller teams. Matched by the vibrant cartoonish style - admittedly, a popular trend right now - and it's not long before the new IP stands out from a growing field of contenders in the genre. In terms of sights and sounds, it perfectly captures the family-friendlier approach it's going for. This Oprah-esque approach to gifting every competitor with rockets reveals the game's Looney Tunes-like commitment to explosions, which quickly gives Rocket Arena its own unique aesthetic. These ubiquitous rockets are thus more like different classes of more conventional weapons, just with more explosive effect when they hit. Plink fires his burst style for minor damage per round but with a high DPS for the most accurate rocketeers, and Amphora charges her rocket shots to hit opponents like a crashing wave. Each of the game's 10 colorful launch characters utilizes these rockets in different ways. That may sound game-breaking right off the bat, but this distinction is ultimately more of a cosmetic choice. Rocket Arena Review: A Hero for Every AgeĮvery player in every round of this 3v3 third-person hero shooter is equipped with rockets. Ultimately, that distance only benefits Rocket Arena, which manages to quite proudly stand on its own as an effervescent and explosive hero shooter families can comfortably play together. The latest slice of that genre pie is Rocket Arena, an EA Original with a similarly colorful art style, but little else in common with Blizzard's behemoth.

Best characters in rocket arena