''Rocket Arena'' was a

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

online video game An online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or any other computer network available. Online games are ubiquitous on modern gaming platforms, including PC game, PCs, Console game, consoles a ...

developed by Final Strike Games and published by

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. It was released for

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and

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on July 14, 2020. The game received mixed to positive reviews, with praise for the gameplay, characters and visuals, while the lack of content received criticism. It was delisted from digital storefronts without prior warning on November 18, 2023.

Gameplay

''Rocket Arena'' is a 3v3 competitive multiplayer game played from a

third-person perspective Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to storytelling, convey a narrative, story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to del ...

. At launch, the game features 10 maps and 10 playable characters, each of whom have different abilities. The player's main weapon is a

rocket launcher A rocket launcher is a weapon that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile. History The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China consisted of arrows modified by the attachment of a rocket motor to the shaft a few i ...

, though there are items that the players can pick up in the arena. The game does not feature a

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

system and instead relies a system named Blast Meter. Whenever a player is hit by a rocket, their blast meter will fill up. A player with a full blast meter, when being hit by a rocket, will ricochet and fly out of the map, resulting in death. The player character is very mobile and has the ability to dodge other rockets, triple jump, and rocket jumping. The game was released with 5 modes at launch: Knockout and Megarocket are variants to standard

team deathmatch Deathmatch, also known as free-for-all, is a gameplay mode integrated into many shooter games, including first-person shooter (FPS), and real-time strategy (RTS) video games, where the goal is to kill (or "frag") the other players' characters as ...

and Capture the Flag mode. Rocketball sees players attempting to blast a ball using rockets into another team's goal. In Treasure Hunt, a treasure chest will spawn in the middle of the map and once a player picks up the chest, their teammates need to defend them so that the chest would not be stolen by other players. The game also features a

cooperative multiplayer A cooperative video game, often abbreviated as co-op, is a video game that allows players to work together as teammates, usually against one or more non-player character opponents ( PvE). Co-op games can be played locally using one or multiple in ...

mode named Rocketbot Attack in which three players fend off waves of bots controlled by

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Development

''Rocket Arena'' is the debut title for Final Strike Games, whose core team previously worked at

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and contributed to the multiplayer of '' Halo 5: Guardians''. Initially the game was designed to be first-person, but the team switched it to third-person after implementing the dodge moveset. The game was showcased in May 2019 with it being a

first-person shooter A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...

and had a closed beta from May 23 to May 29. It was originally due to be published by

Nexon Nexon Co., Ltd. (formerly ) is a South Korean video game developer and publisher. It develops and publishes titles including ''MapleStory'', ''Crazyracing Kartrider'', ''Sudden Attack'', ''Dungeon & Fighter'', ''The First Descendant'', and ''Bl ...

, but the publisher and developer Final Strike Games agreed to mutually part ways in July 2019. In June 2020, the game was announced to be coming out in July 2020.

published the game under its

EA Originals Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted ...

program. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on July 14, 2020, with

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enabled. In September 2021, when Season 4 ended, some quality of life improvements were released. However, the game has stopped getting updates and new seasons. On December 14, 2023, EA and Final Strike Games announced that Rocket Arena would be shutting down its servers on March 21, 2024, whilst also announcing in-game events leading up to that date.

Reception

''Rocket Arena'' received generally mixed reviews upon release according to

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References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.ea.com/games/rocket-arena Third-person shooters Action games Inactive multiplayer online games Hero shooters 2020 video games Electronic Arts games Windows games PlayStation 4 games Xbox One games Unreal Engine 4 games Multiplayer online games Video games developed in the United States Products and services discontinued in 2024