Rocket League is best described as soccer + vehicles, with a driver trapped inside while they hurtle through the air in desperation, missing the ball for the tenth time in the past five seconds.
As the developers at Psyonix kick May into high gear with special events and game modes happening every single week, the second week of May sees us all playing with beach balls on the beach of Sandy Shores.
Now, lest you get too excited, we’re still not playing volleyball in Rocket League; Psyonix stated that they tried multiple game modes when volleyball was brought up on Reddit, and many just weren’t entirely fun to play. Instead, we’re getting the traditional Rocket League experience, although with a massive and colorful ball that floats through the air.
Further, the beach ball can have some spin added to it if you hit it right; think of like adding English in pool; striking the ball on one side of it will cause the ball to spin appropriately in the opposite direction as it moves forward. It’s not necessarily as competitive as many would like, instead acting as a pleasant respite to intense matches.
Using this knowledge, you can juke the final defender time and again with clean shots on goal that would otherwise prove impossible to orchestrate.
There’s bad news for standard three-person teams that play together, however: the Beach Ball event is locked in a 2v2 game mode, so someone is going to be stuck sitting on the sidelines while everyone else dashes wildly through the air.
Still, it’s a unique game mode that encourages a more enjoyable version of the game that doesn’t keep our entire bodies tensed for eight minutes at a time, and it also doesn’t necessarily encourage demolitions as much as the Heatseeker game mode does (which is coming the final week of May once again).
If you’re finding yourself concerned about your Rocket Pass, the best way of unlocking new gear without constantly feeding Psyonix your credit card, you needn’t fret; you’ll continue to level in the special game mode just as much as you would otherwise by playing in standard game modes.
If you’re the slightest bit interested in how Beach Ball could play out, you’ll want to dive in this weekend, as the event is only around for a specific period of time. The mode disappears into the void on May 11, this coming Monday.
While some are reporting that with the 2v2 ruleset, it’s a bit too slow to play, it’s only around for a couple of days. You can find the game mode (until May 11, naturally) in the special events tab on the play online menu.
