Rocket League - Weekly Clip Round-up #1
Ever since putting together my Recent Rocket League Clips page, I've felt there was a better way to do it. I like that it's kind of a "Now" page, not notifying RSS feeds and whatnot when it updates, but it lacks any commentary, and isn't a format well-suited to that.
I'm going to try this new format - a round-up of my favourite clips from the week (or so). This first one will be for last week (2024-09-23 - 2024-09-29) while I find my feet with it. I don't expect this to have particularly broad appeal, but it's the sort of regular post I always appreciate in my feed.
1 - Extolling the Virtues of Aggressive Positioning
It's a real shame this clip broke on the goal explosion. I play an extremely agressive game, double so in these regular games with colleagues. I really wanted to be on the backboard for some kind of silly pass, but this was good enough.
2 - Playing in Front of the Ball as a Way of Life
A general rule I follow is that I want to offer my teammates the option to pass forward, but if they choose to dribble I will facilitate. Bumps are one of my favourite parts of Rocket League, and that this one put me in perfect position to steal the goal? Even better.
3 - Dribbling the Ball Isn't Just About Control
Pretty much everything in Rocket League boils down to getting a better outcome from a situation than your opponents, and this dribble exemplifies that. I lose control of the bounce almost immediately, but by recognising I'd done enough to beat the first defender, I could focus on getting one good touch past the last person. It looks flashier than it actually is, with the slight bump while upside-down - I wonder in hindsight if that gave me a flip-reset.
3 - The Best Version of a Bad Shot
There's no getting around it - I spin too much. I enjoy doing it, and even though it means I'll probably never be World Champion, I don't plan to stop any time soon. This ball is probably a very simple tap-in once the defender whiffs near the ceiling, but I can't help myself - this is one of the rare occasions where it didn't ruin my aim, bamboozling the returning defender into thinking it was wide of goal.
4 - Full Stretch on Low Boost
I get a lot of joy making these vertical reads, but this was a big stretch on 36 Boost - I honestly thought it would be more of a pass than a shot when I couldn't get over it, but the light contact let it sneak under the bar. Just kinda pretty.
5 - We Definitely Had Equal Priority on This One
Part of playing a very aggressive, forward position is that if I don't swivel the camera, I tend to cut off my teammates. Worked out this time, we both got a touch, and it went in at around 140kph.
6 - Be The Outlet
This one is 100% about when not to rotate back to 3rd position - common wisdom is to go to the back of the play when you stop attacking the ball, but in this case I see that both my teammates are in goal, and the ball is crossing the field - I can grab the opposite mid-boost and re-evaluate the play. In this case, it works beautifully and we catch their last man napping (the same one I got the ball past at the very start of the clip).
Bonus Clip - The Insatiable Urge to Own Goal
Full context: like most of these clips, this is from a casual private lobby played with friends from work. At 3-0 up, less than 10s left, shenanigans are the name of the game. Even so this one's a bit brutal - a full stretch spinning tap-in from near the ceiling, cutting off one of the opposing players going for the same shot (you can hear him jump just behind me, you can't here him telling me to fuck off after I hit it).
Had to apologise for that one.