Video Rocket Arena hands-on on YouTube

If the name Rocket Arena sounds familiar, that's because the 3vs3 hero shooter has been announced once before. It was about a year ago and there was a closed beta. At the time, it was an FPS by developer First Strike Games and was published by Nexon.

Today, Rocket Arena was re-released, this time as a third-person shooter (still 3vs3), published by EA and set for release on July 14. We were able to play the new Rocket Arena for a few hours last week. Watch the gameplay video above.

Rocket Arena is a chaotic, colorful, kid-friendly (or at least parent-friendly) shooter because there is no bloodshed and no one gets killed; in Rocket Arena, no one has a strength meter, only a blast meter. If you get hit by a rocket shell, your meter fills up until you escape the arena.

Each hero in the Rocket Arena has a different type of rocket and ability. For example, the pirate Blastbeard moves slowly but has a powerful cannon that fires in an arc, and his special ability releases a huge shockwave that deflects rockets and knocks opponents back. Amphora is a character with an oceanic motif, transforming into a puddle of water in the shape of a manta ray, which can quickly slide around the map and spew water spouts, throwing enemies into the air. Izel can rush toward his opponents for a quick attack or use his bola to engulf them and pull them toward him.

In addition, any character can double jump, triple jump, rocket jump, and even rocket climb up walls. I tried out six characters in my session, but at launch there will be a total of ten, with more to come later.

I was able to play a handful of different modes, like a simple knockout, where teams score a point for every opponent they blow out of the arena. In Rocketball, you control a large soccer ball, like a rocket league, to score goals. The character abilities are useful because they provide speed on offense and power on defense. It's pretty cool to use water spouts to launch opponents into the air to stop them from scoring and rockets to knock them out of the arena. [Another mode, called Treasure Hunt, wasn't as much fun, alternating between chasing players with treasure chests and collecting as many coins as possible from the map while Mario-esque music played in the background. Another mode alternated between chasing players with treasure chests while Mario-esque music played and collecting as many coins from the map as possible. Fast characters like Rev, who flies around on a hoverboard, have a significant advantage, and are difficult to catch if you are playing with a slower character like Blastbeard.

However, the matches in any mode only last a few minutes and the maps are all fairly small, so the action never really stops and you are always in the middle of it. Even if you get blown out of the arena, you can come right back in, so there is very little downtime, even if you get knocked out multiple times.

I don't know if Rocket Arena will appeal to players looking for a competitive shooter or serious teamwork. However, it is fun enough to be a party-style game, and I can see the Rocketball mode being a hit.Rocket Arena is a live-service game, with post-launch updates, new characters, maps, modes, cosmetics, and a season pass

Rocketball mode is expected to be a hit.

Rocket Arena will be available on both Steam and Origin for PC and will support cross-platform play from day one. Priced at $30, a $40 version with additional cosmetics and rocket fuel (Rocket Arena's in-game currency) is also available, and the first season pass will be available on July 28. The six characters announced are as follows.