Any fan of the Harry Potter series has always wanted to see an actual game of Quidditch, if not play in a game themselves. Development teams Virtual Basement, Code Headquarters, and Blue Isle Publishing are working on bringing this experience with their fast-paced competitive title Broomstick League. During this final session of closed beta, we got the news that the early access is launching on Steam as of March 5th. The good news is they are starting off on a good foot, but there are certainly some things that will need some work.
Gameplay
Just as you get to customize your car in Rocket League, you can customize your character to have their own unique look. As you win matches, random items for customization are unlocked as well, so this is the current system to get new trails, goal explosions, hairstyles, and more. There were also two currency-like items being given for each win, but I didn’t see what these will be used for just yet.
Games can be anywhere from 1v1 to 3v3 with the standard choice being 3v3. This would mean that you would want to play with a friend many times and they must have made the party system a priority in development because that part of the game was incredibly simple. The party menu is on the top right, simply open a party, invite the friend, then join a game. It’s always good to be able to have this option and with a stable system, so kudos on this being in the game immediately.
In the actual game, the controls can be a bit confusing. If you are on a keyboard and mouse then you should be good after some practice, but if you are using a controller you will need to rearrange the controls. I simply don’t see the default set up as a good one for any player to use. I’ll explain why as I divulge further into the gameplay aspects below.
Since you can move in full 360-degree motion, being able to move forward, back, up, and down in proper positioning with swift speed will quickly be something that is easy to learn and hard to master. Just as there is rotation in professional Rocket League, there will need to be proper rotation and positioning from all team members in order to best the other team. The mechanics of the game will feel a bit wonky at first, but it only took me two games to get it down after I fixed up my controls.
On the magic side, you have dashing, boosting, blast attack, short-range teleport, and magnet. When you are going to grab the ball you will have to use the magnet spell to grab it. The default button for this is on the side of the controllers bumper buttons as the boost making for a less-than-ideal set up for being on the offensive. Once you have grabbed the ball with the magnet spell it will stick to you until you pass it, throw it, or someone else uses the blast attack on it. If you choose to throw it, you can charge up your throw by holding the button for an extra couple seconds.
I would say that passing the ball has some issues as it seems you just look at the teammate and hit pass for the ball to go to them. While that sounds perfect if you see this from your opponent and hit the ball with the blast attack while it is between the two players it doesn’t do anything. That should count as an interception or interruption to block the pass.
To explain the blast attack a bit further, it is used to simply blast the ball away from you. You can use it to hit the ball out of someone’s control, away from the goal when they shoot their shot, or my favorite, hit the defending player to force them away from the goal leaving it open for your teammate. There’s no actual damage meter, but getting pushed multiple feet away at the wrong time can be as devastating as getting demo’ed in Rocket League.
Expectations
I look forward to seeing the Early Access launch with some initial updates that are greatly needed for what I consider obvious reasons. Ball cam doesn’t actually lock on the ball but turn your attention to it while holding the button, which is not ideal for mid-game use, the replay is not only too long but unskippable which gets annoying quickly, the bots are ridiculously skilled and need to be toned down or at least given the option to not be as good, and the practice section of the game should allow players to be completely alone without a try-hard bot playing 1v1 with us.
There are some more things that will need work such as player balancing. Somehow, even in this closed beta, there were players that were playing like they have had the game for months and it just isn’t fun to be highly outmatched. Making sure players match up with other players of their same skill level is mandatory for a competitive game like this.
There are also sure to be more arenas and customization options added to the game. The 3 that are in the closed beta are all pretty good and I like how each one is unique in its own right. I look forward to seeing what other arenas we will get to play in.
Conclusion
Broomstick League is certainly off to a great start and is full of potential! While there are still some things to be fixed up and added, it is definitely ready for an early access launch. I can’t wait to see how many players end up making this their regular game because it is similar to Rocket League in more ways than set up. The skill ceiling is as endlessly high, potential in mechanic findings and strategy set up are littered throughout the small sample I had access to, and it just simply has so much to offer as far as future development potential as well. I look forward to seeing you all out on pitching field next month!
