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Welcome to Rocket Arena!
Get ready for an epic 3v3 rockets-only online shooter brought to you by Final Strike Games and EA Originals. Rocket Arena is a hero shooter unlike any other, with projectiles that blast players around and out of the Arena. We know many of you have been eagerly anticipating Rocket Arena and we’re sure you’re going to have a blast playing it. To get you started on your wild ride through Crater and the Rocket Championship Tour, the team at FSG has put together a high-level overview of the game, plus some insider tips, tricks and insights. See you in the Arena when we launch on July 14!
The Concept
Rocket Arena started with the goal of “Never say Die” combat. Our team passionately wanted to take on a new approach to combat in a multiplayer shooter. We developed features we believe are innovative in the shooter space:
- Non-lethal rockets that blast players rather than kill them
- A blast meter, rather than a health bar, that determines how far a player will fly
- A Knockout and Megablast mechanic
- Carefully tuned Rocket Jumping and Rocket Climbing
- In-the-action returns, allowing players to fly back into the Arena rather than respawn
- Kevin Franklin, Founder and CEO of FSG
The World
The action takes place in the world of Crater - a mysterious locale where nearly everything is made of or powered by rockets. Crater comprises a wide variety of diverse regions. Each region has its own Hero that represents them in the Rocket Championship Tour. There is a lot to discover with each Hero and region in Crater; with a rich history, mysterious rockets, remnants of explosions from ages past, and even lost worlds waiting to be rediscovered.
Heroes of Crater
Each of Crater’s regions is represented in the Rocket Championship Tour by a playable Hero. Each Hero has a unique rocket launcher, rocket projectile, and abilities unique to their play style. Rocket Arena launches with ten characters and we are working on additional characters for post-launch releases that will be free to all Rocket Arena Players.
Each Hero has a distinctive personality, backstory, and different rivalries and relationships with the rest of the field. As you try out different team compositions and play matches, you’ll learn more about their play styles. And while we’re certainly not picking favorites, fiery hoverboarder Rev has a special place in the heart Lead Animator Lahela Schoessler:
When developing the concept design for Rev, we wanted a brash rebel female character who would laugh at danger. We were looking for a character who would just get in your face! While brainstorming sketches for Rev’s weapons and for her Shatterboard, we looked to inspiration from muscle cars, heavy miniguns, and WWII sticky bombs. For Rev’s character design, we looked at a lot of roller derby looks because we felt they would embody the style of the character.
Gameplay Items
We developed gameplay items as a powerful way to change the pace of combat. It was important for us to create items that support Rocket Arena’s unique combat model. For example, the Ninja Headband temporarily increases your rocket dodging abilities, or the Speed Boost is great for objective play as it allows you to quickly move the RocketBall, collect coins, or get to a Megarocket Zone. The Rocket Magnet is a terrific defensive item as it will pull in and protect you from incoming rockets. The Trip Mine is a very strategic item, as with careful placement, it can disrupt an objective push by the opposing team. Many more new gameplay items are planned in Rocket Arena’s live service.
There are few things more satisfying than changing the course of a match with a well-timed item deployment, so start experimenting and find your favorites!
Character Builds
By playing Rocket Arena, you’ll discover and unlock new gameplay-changing Artifacts that you may use to customize your play style. Any Artifact may be equipped and used by any hero.
To illustrate, here are a few Artifacts used to put together what we’re calling a DODGE JAYTO Hero build. This is a great example of a build that helps Jayto in objective play and staying out of danger.
- Hunter’s Idol - Damage and Impulse taken reduced
- Coldsnap Locket - Dodge distance increased
- Frosty Thermometer - Dodge cooldown reduced while in Megablast Danger*
*When a player’s Blast Meter is fully maxed after getting hit by many rockets, they become vulnerable to a MegaBlast. A MegaBlast is a thunderous impact and a guaranteed KO.
The Rocket Championship Tour
At launch, Rocket Arena has a wide range of ways to get into and stay in the action:
- Practice Mode
- Social Playlists
- Custom Games
If you want to hone your skills before you dive into the competitive action, the Tutorial and Practice modes are a great place to start.
The Game Modes
At launch, Rocket Arena features the following game modes:
- Knockout - Use rockets, abilities, and items to blast your opponents out of the arena. Teams score “Knockouts’ by forcing opponents out of the arena. The team that reaches the score target first wins the match.
- Rocketball - Two teams compete to pick up the Rocketball and score it into the opposing team’s goal. You may score by either running, throwing, or blasting the Rocketball into the opposing team’s goal.
- Mega Rocket - Defend and capture the Mega Rocket zone to score points.
- Treasure Hunt – Pick up the chest and hold it to score points. You can also score points by collecting coins strewn around the map.
- RocketBot Attack [PVE] – Work with your squad to survive waves of attacks from RocketBots. Knockout enough Rocketbots to win the match.
Rocket Arena is very much a Live Service game, so look out for more modes to be deployed in future seasons.
Tips and Strategy
Here are some tips and strategy from our team:
- Rockets have travel time, lead your shots to hit mobile opponents and move in the air to avoid incoming projectiles.
- Your rockets do not damage yourself or teammates. Utilize Rocket Jumps often to get the high ground or get out of a tough situation.
- Use Dodge against strong abilities to turn a fight in your favor. Note that after activating a Dodge, there is a cooldown, which can leave you in a vulnerable state.
- Most special abilities will replenish your air jumps, this can be very useful for making it back on the map after being blasted away.
- Avoid taking damage for 8 seconds to deplete your Blast Meter. If you are close to Megablast Danger, pull back and recover.
Season 1 and Beyond
Final Strike Games is dedicated to bringing a great deal of post-launch content to players. Here’s what we have planned for Season 1, which starts two weeks after launch on July 28:
- Multiple in-game events
- Three Maps added to matchmaking
- Additional Hero with 100 levels of potential progression
- New Matchmaking playlists featuring numerous game mode variants
- Purchasable Blast Pass loaded with dozens of exclusive unlockable items.
To Fans of Rocket Arena:
Thank you to all of the fans of Rocket Arena who have supported the game and team throughout development - your feedback, questions, and support are greatly appreciated and instrumental to the game we are building together. The team at FSG is extremely passionate about Rocket Arena, we are very excited for you to play the game online with us. - The FSG Team
This announcement may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content. We will always strive to keep our community as informed as possible. For more information, please refer to EA’s Online Service Updates at https://www.ea.com/service-updates