Digital Foundry Gets Into Gear With a Rocket League Switch Tech Analysis

I'll probably pick up the physical release.

It's as perfect as you could reasonably hope for post-update. Looks super crisp and sharp now, that patch was a huge improvement graphically. It was pretty pixelated before, but not anymore.

Amazing... the difference resolution can make.

its on sale for $15 now so ill b getting it this weekend

Just leaving this here...

Let's be honest here, you can't always have both graphics and performance even on full fat home consoles

They bumped up the resolution with the last update, in portable mode at least, at the cost of completely absent shadows and more aliasing (maybe). But now I find it's perfectly fine, the image quality is better

It certainly plays well. I didn't expect it to look as rough as it does (I've only played in handheld mode) but it hasn't hindered my enjoyment. Although, now that I think about it, shadows could certainly help when it comes to hitting the ball.

Really getting this after picking it up on sale the other day. It’s so addictive! I can see why it’s been top of the UK eShop charts for weeks.

Looks better than the PS3 version released in year 2009.
https://store.playstation.com/en-no/product/EP2002-NPEB00062_00-GSUPERSONI000001

@memoryman3 I don't get it. What's the joke here?

I think it’s great and didn’t need df to tell me that

@QwertyQwerty nah it’s a great game and you don’t have to use micro transactions so.........

@JaxonH yeah!

@memoryman3 the ball moved?!?

It does feel better! Update was good

@QwertyQwerty Rocket League is made in Unreal Engine (3 I think?) so they won't have had as much control over the engine as Nintendo will have had with their proprietary engine for Mario Kart. They also won't know all of the quirks and tricks used to fully push the hardware like Nintendo does.
MK8D will have been in development before the Switch was released anyway so they would have had the time to optimise the game, even though it was already optimised for a Wii U.

There's also just the point that Psyonix and Panic Button are still fairly new to the Switch while Nintendo actually made the system, which probably gives them a bit more expertise

@Late there is a marker on the floor under the ball. Yes it took me a few hours of playing before I noticed it. It does make it a little easier. Still a complete novice though

Can somebody help me? I was so looking forward to this game but I won't bother as I was told it's all online only and no offline, this true??? Cheers!!

@NintyNate You can play offline against the computer opponents...I think

@NintyNate yes you can play offline against bots. The AI is actually pretty good in my short time with it. Online is an absolute blast though. It’s hilarious.

@TheWhiteFalcon Forgive my ignorance, but has a future physical release been announced, or is it just assumed because that's the norm?

I was a bit disappointed at first, but I became more pleased as I watched the video. The game might have some frame rate drops, but it has no obvious stutters. Secondarily, this game is a fast-paced game where you are moving around the field, so the compromises they made seem to be the ones that affect the gameplay the least. And after I heard that they had to port the game from ground up with no Switch Unreal 3 support yet, I became incredibly impressed.

@Retruate No, it's coming in January with a lot of the DLC. 16th for NA and 25th for Europe.

I absolutely love this game. It's now my most played game on Switch, just passing 80 hours and with it Splatoon 2. I know already I'll be playing this for years. I've no doubt the game will grow into something even bigger. The huge variety in modes it offers, providing you enjoy playing online, having cross play and all the customisation on top is probably the best value £16 I've ever spent. At its current price it's as much of a no-brainer as you can get, even if you don't really like sports games. Also providing you put in a lot of hours to get better at it. It was tough even hitting the ball a couple of times in a match for a good few but once you get the hang of it, play competitive and are scoring amazing goals while making epic saves at the other end, nothing can beat it

@beazlen1 ahh okies, so many people said it's online only which would suck balls, as I don't have internet where I live it's bum bum I perfer offline anyway... Split screen multiplayer??? Lol

They should just have Universal accounts (last I checked they did not) I really do not want to get stuck with the crappier Switch version when I am home.

At home over a hardline is how I play on-line mostly anyway.

I already was fine with how the game ran before, but the patch has made it twice as good in my experience. The game almost feels slightly easier to play now that the distances are just that little bit clearer.

@beazlen1 I forgot about that. I've noticed it but I don't remember if the marker scales according to height. I'm mainly having trouble when the ball is above me and I want to hit it before it hits ground. I guess the ball camera could help but I'm pretty bad at switching camera on the fly.

Grabbed this on sale a couple of days ago and I just can't stop playing it, literally every other game has been put on the back burner...

@TeslaChippie

>full fat
>console

Choose one, you can't have both.

@memoryman3

I can't see the difference.

I love how gamers today are more worried about graphics then the actual experience. I can play rocket league on the go, online while eating lunch in my truck. Can my PS4? No, which is why it doesn’t get used anymore. Also, isn’t Minecraft one of the most popular games in the world, that people play on hd consoles, but 8-bit graphics. And then those same gamers say Nintendo consoles suck because they don’t have as good of graphics.
I sold doom PS4 to get it on switch. I am selling my PS4 once ps+ runs out. Graphics don’t matter to me. Just the fact I can play games when I want to. And switch is the best console I’ve ever had for that.

@NintyNate You can play 6 team leagues against the AI and my mate said they get progressively better as you do do.The meat is obviously in the online modes but for the price it is, I'd say it's still worth it.

@Kimyonaakuma Never be an apologist for a dev. If players spend money on a game, it's reasonable to expect a certain amount of polish. While you make great points, especially about the developer being a little green - that doesn't mitigate any complaints about the game, it actually makes them worse. Let the devs apologise for themselves by fixing issues.

@QwertyQwerty Right there with you. Microtransactions in a game equals no buy. Period. If the whole point of your game, that I paid for, is to act as one big marketing campaign for additional purchases ... well, you can pound sand. Am I right? Unfortunately, it also makes me less likely to consider future titles from devs/publishers that have done it.

@memoryman3 So they have made it look far worse after a patch, that is not optimising a game....

@BornInNorway81 I hope that’s sarcasm. Firstly the textures are lower resolution, then all the lighting in the background is completely gone, also shadows are gone....

@lillith I wasn't trying to be an apologist, but I can see how it may have come across that way. However there is only so much that can be expected, the Switch version will always be compared to other console versions which it can never live up to. The gameplay is good and performance is stable but people won't be happy paying money for a version of a game that looks worse when it can be bought for the same price or cheaper on other consoles.

I think the game has just been a little rushed and could do with some more polish. If they just left the experience for what it truly is and added content and performance updates then I wouldn't be bothered, it's just that they are asking for a decent amount of money for an inferior experience and then ask for more on top of that.

I'll just try and wrap this up so it doesn't become one of my walls of text, even though this already kind of is
I think the dev has done okay for what they're working with but hopefully they can improve certain areas when possible. My main problem is the price that they're asking for this experience when it isn't as good as versions that are a similar or smaller price. If this was just the Nintendo Switch edition then they could have altered and added certain features to the game, but having to compete with other platforms for crossplay has held it back in some aspects.

....it was just that MK8D comment that activated my ULTIMATE WALL OF TEXT MODE!

Is the sale on this still on? Because RL might well scratch that "early multiplayer game" itch, but I don't have a Switch just yet and If I recall correctly there's an option to buy games on one's own account via web browser.

It has cross-play with PC and Xbox and I can play split-screen online during lunch break with a co-worker. Just amazing in my opinion!

@TheWhiteFalcon Got it. I found a link as well. Typically I'd be the one to go for physical releases, but since it's $40 USD and the digital release is on sale for $15, I think I might go for the digital this time.

@electrolite77 I got it free on Playstation plus and haven't spent a penny on it. I bought it on Switch and still haven't considered a micro transaction either. As you say, they are completely unobtrusive.

just going to add, AFAIK 100% of money spent on keys for the crates goes to tournament prize pools, not to the company.

Since this game is on sale, I was considering picking it up this weekend. Now that Tiny Metal is out too, on top of my already filled to overflowing backlog, I...

I still might buy both. Bought Snake Pass and Monopoly on sale too and haven't played either yet.

Xenowaifus 2 is still dominating my play time. lol

I'm surprised they didn't mention the game runs on UE3, an engine not even Epic supports anymore, nor is supported by Switch in an official capacity, until the end of the video.

In typical analysis work, you want to lay out the base constant fact first, and build your points off of that, rather than basing them on something else, in this case, the system can't handle it, and THEN saying "Oh, outdated engine too btw".

It gives more weight and evidence and most importantly 100% context to the following statements, if they open with that fact. Unfortunately, they put it right at the end as a footnote, when most people have already zoned out and assumed it's because of the system, and not in part due to using outdated middleware.

I guess I will wait for Rocket League 2 in Unreal Engine 4 then.