Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars Hands-On

Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars is Psyonix Studios' first original game to call its own. The team at Psyonix has worked on vehicle physics and implementation for such games as Unreal Tournament 3 and Gears of War, so it makes sense for them to show off what they're good at by coming out with an explosive, active-packed arena-based vehicle game. Supersonic pits players against each other or other computer-controlled cars in a game of soccer where there are no rules except to get the ball into the goal. Ramming into your opponents at supersonic speed and having them blow up in a festive blaze is all part of the fun and strategy.

Psyonix came by our office to give us a detailed look at what Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars has to offer. We first checked out the basic mechanics of driving. To drive forward and backward, you use the R2 and L2 buttons. The acrobatics come in when you use the X button to jump and double jump. While you're in the air, you can pull off fancy moves and dodge other cars by using the left stick or the square button, which normally works as a powerslide (it also comes in handy for tight turns). Picking up the controls was simple enough, but mastering them took some time. The timing and angle is important when you're trying to nudge a giant futuristic-looking soccer ball to the other end of the map. Solo players can play through the 20 minigames to hone their skills because many of the minigames include challenges that use some advance maneuvers.

When you start the game, you will only have access to two cars, but up to seven cars can be unlocked if you play through the minigames. Some of the mingames we checked out included Cubic, which was similar to playing a regular match, but instead of a round glowing ball, it is a large and cumbersome crate. In Keeper, our goal was to block balls that were shot out of cannons, and in Time Warp, whenever we came close to the ball, we moved in slow motion. This can be good or bad, depending on your skill. Minigames are presented in a row of four, and once you've completed a row, you unlock a new row of games, as well as the car associated with that row. Each car functions more or less the same way, with the only notable difference being that a car's physics will change because the shape of the car is different. There are a couple of skins to choose from to add a bit of an effect, but the game is fast and chaotic, so it's more important to know that your teammate's car is blue is rather than have an arena full of decked-out cars in a jumble of colors or designs.

Once you start a five-minute match in one of the three maps (with a fourth to come soon after release free for download), you are placed in an arena that has yellow pads that will give you a boost, as well as big pills that will full up your boost meter. Your boost meter is located on the right side, which you can activate by using the circle button. The whole point of boosting is that once your tires start to light on fire, you'll know you're at supersonic speed, which is the only time you can drive head-on into opponents, forcing them to explode and respawn. If you happen to get taken out in this fashion, you'll respawn within a second, but it's enough to lose a goal if you're not careful. The arena is a decent size, and it can be hard to keep track of the ball. There is a ball cam that you can toggle with the triangle button or adjust in the settings so that the camera is always fixed on the ball. There is also a small arrow at the front of your car that will always point you in the direction of the ball. At the end of the match, you'll get the statistics of the match, and awards are handed out if you performed well. There is also a Tournament mode where you'll face harder AI until you are outnumbered on the playing field if you continue to win.

Despite all the fun you can have on your own, this PlayStation Network game is heavily focused on the multiplayer gameplay because the team wants it to be a great online community experience. You can play two versus two, with up to eight players total in any kind of formation you like, and two-player split-screen mode can be switched between a vertical or horizontal split. No one has any set positions, so you can determine if you want someone to play as a goalie or to strictly be the enforcer and take out the opposing team. You can play in ranked matches to get your name up on those leaderboards, as well as register as a team and make your way to the top with a friend. Psyonix talked about how frustrating it can be to go online and not be able to find a match, so Supersonic helps you find a match once you've put in all the settings. If there are no matches available with the settings that you choose, you should always be able to find someone to play with because the game will tell you what games are going on and make suggestions for you.

When a match is over, you can always go back to check out your replay video, and in Supersonic, you can manipulate your video, as well as record it at a different angle or speed using a video editor. Once you're done, you can easily upload it to YouTube or save it onto the XMB and then move it to a PC later if you wish. The video editor seems easy to use because you can jump to any spot you want on the timeline and record a specific segment with the L1 button. It can make some pretty cool video as long as you pull off some rocket-powered moves and record up to 10 minutes of acrobatics. If you don't like the in-game music, you also have the ability to play your own music as long as it's on the XMB.

Trophies are also included, and the game will have the maximum number of trophies possible for a PSN game. Half of them can be earned playing on your own, and the other half from playing online. Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars was already pretty fun playing two versus two, so eight players should only increase the franticness of it all and make the game even more interesting. The game looks good visually, and from the environments we've seen, there seems to be a good variety in the minigame modes. Psyonix does intend to have downloadable content, so hopefully more maps and cars will be available as on the game gets closer to a release date. Get ready to start your engines soon because the game will be available early this fall.