It’s fair to say that I like to at least dip my toe into multiplayer games that break the tradition of “shoot the gun and then you win”. Don’t get me wrong, those kinds of games are great, but it’s nice to try and support games that dare to be different. Knockout City was a big example from last year, and this year it appears to be the turn of Roller Champions, even if Ubisoft didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for its arrival.
After being announced a few years ago as Ubisoft’s next big free-to-play release, Roller Champions released a few weeks ago with about as much fanfare and bluster as a fart in a tornado. Some streamers have jumped on the game, and there’s a decent amount of Looking For Group posts on Xbox, which suggests there’s a community willing to engage with the game, but Ubisoft haven’t done enough to build up any real hype for the game.
It’s a shame, because Roller Champions is genuinely a pretty game. It’s a 3v3 game of roller derby on an oval circuit with players essentially competing to score five points before the other team. The only way to score points is by getting the ball through the goal, which is located pretty high up on one of the straights of the circuit, but the goal only opens up once one team carries the ball through the four checkpoints of the circuit.
While one team is trying to carry the ball or pass it between themselves to complete a lap, the other team is trying their utmost to body check, tackle and utterly batter their opponents in order to steal the ball, deny the offensive team any passing options or to halt their momentum as they race around the track.
Once one team completes a lap, they can either throw the ball through the goal or use tricks and speed to jump through the goal themselves. Scoring a goal earns one point, but teams looking to take some additional risk can complete a second lap. Managing to score at this point will net the team three points, while completing three laps and hitting the goal will score the full five points needed to win.
It’s a bit of a complicated game to explain, and it’s much easier to understand once the actual action gets going. When it does, there’s few games, if any, that are anything like Roller Champions. It’s an aggressive, fast-paced experience that genuinely deserved a chance, even if Ubisoft hasn’t done the best job of promoting it.
Despite the simplistic premise, there’s plenty of depth in Roller Champions that’ll set the new players apart from the experts. Holding the right trigger when going downhill improves your speed, while pressing B when empty handed performs an uppercut which launches you high. Using these two abilities in conjunction with the quarter pipes that line the inside and outside of the track means you can achieve some ludicrous speeds.
Roller Champions also promotes teamwork, beyond just passing the ball to your teammate so you can get the ball around the track quicker. You can use the slipstream of your teammates and opponents to gain some speed, which is useful when you’re holding the ball and looking for a quick getaway, or you’re hoping to catch up for a bone crunching tackle. There’s also the ability to hold on to a teammate and use them to get a jump or speed boost.
It’s a nail-biting game, especially when you’re closing in on finishing your third lap with the defending team closing in around you, looking to flip possession, but the elation you get from scoring those sweet five points is exemplary. Even just scrapping and clawing to get 1 or 3 points feels like a truly earned victory, because of the gauntlet you have to run in order to be able to score.
Even defending has its charms too. Trying to decipher how the attacking team is trying to bait you out makes nailing that all-important tackle all the more satisfying. This is especially true when you manage to take out an entire team who are skating in a group, leading to the game declaring that you’ve hit a “strike”. You get it? Like bowling?
There are some issues, unfortunately, the most obvious one seemingly being ball hog teammates who refuse to pass at all. They’ll spend the entire game mashing the “call for a pass” button, but as soon as it comes to passing the ball back because you’re further ahead on the track than they are, they’ll clutch onto that ball with all their might, even if it means running headfirst into the opponent’s tackle every single time.
It’s also unclear at the minute how much longevity the game will have. Roller Champions is a great idea for a game, but whether or not it’ll have the staying power of other multiplayer games remains to be seen. Maybe it’ll be a success story like Rocket League, or it could go the way of Rocket Arena. Either way, be sure to give Roller Champions a whirl.
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