Rocket League is the perfect game. It’s not a stretch to say that the game has an overtly salty online community. Yet, despite this, the game has continued to expand its reach to new and old players alike with new seasons, cosmetics, and limited-time events, all while solidifying its proper place within the realm of esports. And let’s not forget the fact that the game is available on basically every platform and is completely free-to-play.
As such, Rocket League is naturally the go-to standard for any sort of game about vehicular ball play. Foodtruck Arena – from developer Cat-astrophe Games – falls within that genre as well, providing a more simplified version than what is featured in Rocket League. If you’re looking for something along the lines of Rocket League, especially for a younger player, then Foodtruck Arena might be right up your alley.
In Foodtruck Arena, you take on the role of a legendary chef and get behind the wheel of a food truck ranging in everything from international cuisine, such as tacos and sushi, to barbecue and ice cream. It has an eclectic cast of characters (including some rather eye-rollingly stereotypical personalities related to their cuisine of choice). It’s not the characters themselves that really matter in Foodtruck Arena – it’s their trucks.
Related: Rocket League Giving Away Free Items To Celebrate Monstercat’s 10 Year AnniversaryEach truck comes with a special ability. The sushi truck, for instance, has the ability to generate a burst of speed, which regenerates after a brief cooldown. Other abilities include freezing opponents, letting a grease trap loose to make opponents slip around the enclosed rink, or confusing opponents with a mirror-mode ability that reverses their controls (an especially effective tactic). All the while, you’ll be trying to score goals on your opponent by sending an enlarged tomato through the opposing team’s goalpost a la Rocket League’s arena-style gameplay.
Everything takes place from a top-down perspective that allows you to see the entire arena at once, doing away with the need for any sort of ball cam or change in perspective. Controls can be a bit cumbersome on the Nintendo Switch in terms of ball placement or effectively timing a pass. They are, however, simple enough to pick up and start playing immediately, offering up a good experience for younger players.
As you progress through the game’s single-player campaign, you’ll unlock new trucks, power-up abilities, and other cosmetics to customize your trucks. This can be especially fun when taking part in the game’s local multiplayer mode where up to four players can battle it out for ultimate food truck supremacy. Things can get pretty chaotic in these multiplayer modes – akin to something like Rocket League’s Rumble game mode. Part of the chaos can also come as a result of the controls that could be a little tighter, but you’ll likely quickly figure out how to adapt your playstyle accordingly.
Foodtruck Arena is by no means a perfect game, but it provides a solid entry point to younger players who may be interested in similar games such as Rocket League. To be honest, anyone who can hang in Foodtruck Arena will likely have no problem jumping into Rocket League’s arenas – especially if they’re playing Rumble.
A Switch copy of Foodtruck Arena was provided to TheGamer for this article. Foodtruck Arena is now available on PC and Nintendo Switch.
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