Fortnite: Rocket Racing – Review

An arcade racer, Fortnite Rocket Racing is a combination of ideas from Fortnite and Rocket League, and the draft is enough fun to show that it could end up becoming one of the best standalone racing games one day. It integrates seamlessly into the broader progression systems of Fortnite, boasts 26 maps that have a decent design and its multiplayer supports 12 players and is easy to set up.

The racing elements

Rocket Racing has taken its inspiration from a number of games, such as Wipeout, Distance, GRIP: Combat Racing and Rollcage. The map has 12 cars, each of which is trying to reach the finish line. However, Rocket Racing has added a twist that involves filling up your boost meter, very much like Mario Kart.

This means that once you get enough momentum, you can actually zoom past your competitors. The map does not have any weapons or items that are common in combat racers. Instead, you have to be focused on maintaining your speed, while boosting, drifting or generally avoiding other obstacles, or players that could slow you down.

This concept is a strong one and it has been made better through the addition of a layer of depth through flying and jumping. Your car will shoot into the air and it can also make you fly. Similarly, you can also use your car’s flight and jump controls for navigating out of the path of an obstacle quickly by clinging to a ceiling or wall.

The interesting aspects

Things remain very interesting, thanks to the maps that present different obstacles as well as alternate pathways where you have to choose your approach carefully. This is because you can end up missing the speed boosts that have been placed on the track, or end up drifting into a hazard. The main purpose is to boost speed and there are a number of ways you can go about it.

All of the thrusting and boosting sounds good, but this is where you will see some problems emerge in Rocket Racing. For instance, you are supposed to get 100% extra speed when you hit the gas on the green light at the start of every match, but in reality, you only get a 35% to 40% boost.

The surprises

If you fall too far behind, the good thing about Rocket Racing is that it helps you in catching up with the others without putting in a lot of effort. But, there are some surprises like even if you are ahead of everyone else, other players appear out of nowhere and take a lead to steal your first place before you hit the finish line. The purpose is to keep the matches interesting, but this can also become very frustrating.

Like with other Fortnite games, this oen does not have a setup or story for you to worry about. Every match comprises of only three laps, which means three minutes. This means that you do not have to commit to a 15 to 20 minute multiplayer.