The 2D presentation and touch controls work exceedingly well together. Again, simplicity is on the game's side here, because you're really only tapping one button and using your other thumb to direct your car. Sideswipe packs three buttons-the equivalent of an analog control stick for directing your car's nose (and thus determining where you drive or how it flies), a button to jump that you can double-tap to activate the flipping dodge move, and a booster button that activates your rockets. Psyonix has done a phenomenal job of bringing the fast pace and airborne nature of Rocket League to a 2D space, a small screen, and touch controls. What makes it all work is how responsive Sideswipe's controls are. Though this version of the competition is simplified, the key elements of learning the peculiarities of making cars fly, anticipating the game's physics, and making huge plays come through perfectly. Because the 2D space maintains that focus on flying, Sideswipe still feels great in a lot of the same ways as the larger game. The skill and challenge of the game comes in getting your small car into the right spot to stop a big shot or tap in a goal. Rocket League is largely about getting good at the way you can make your car fly and how it handles in the air, and the same is true of Sideswipe. The 2D approach and vertical goal means that most of Sideswipe is airborne, and the floaty physics of Rocket League translate exceptionally well to this approach. Cars handle pretty much exactly the way they do in the original Rocket League, with powered dodge maneuvers giving you a little extra momentum or providing the feeling of a 'kick,' and rocket boosters that can speed you into position or send you through the air. But the verticality of the 2D field maintains a lot of this same feeling, thanks in large part to the way the controls have translated between the bigger game and its smaller incarnation. In the 3D game, Rocket League is about controlling the space, using rocket boosters to chase the ball in the air and find unexpected angles of attack. Though playing a two-dimensional version of Rocket League sounds like it could rob the game of the fundamentals of its skill-based play, the reality is that flattening the game works perfectly. And since goals can't be horizontal, they instead extend vertically into the air with a lip at top and bottom, requiring you to give your shots a little lift in order to score. You can't crash into other cars, for instance-only the ball, the floors, and the wall affect your vehicle in motion. The side-on view of the field means that a few elements of Rocket League work differently in the mobile version. This is still soccer with cars (or basketball with cars, depending on the playlist you choose), but instead of covering a whole 3D soccer field, you instead only have to deal with all the action on a single plane. For developer Psyonix, that sweet spot is found by taking the fundamentals of Rocket League and flattening them into a 2D version of the 3D game.

This is a platform where time is spent in short bursts and where the best games are those that find a sweet spot between solid control and decreased complexity. Sideswipe succeeds in creating a conception of Rocket League that caters to mobile play. Any version of Rocket League on a mobile device would have to capture that same feeling, and it's remarkable how much Rocket League Sideswipe-a scaled-down, super-quick mobile take on the Rocket League concept-captures exactly what makes its full-sized counterpart so enjoyable. Ludicrous speed, perfectly controlled cars, and goofy, floaty physics interactions turn every play into a melding of intelligent execution and unpredictable luck. The idea of playing soccer with cars is itself a good one, but it's the way that Rocket League feels that makes it so much fun to play. Rocket League is a perfect combination of calculated action and unexpected chaos.

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