The rest of the game isn't so ugly on other platforms, although that can't be said for the Switch version. Ubisoft’s take on the Fortnite aesthetic has gone wrong somewhere down the line, you can't escape the characters' dead soulless eyes as they peer into the deepest reaches of your psyche. However, it’s hard to understand why anyone would care about the cosmetics in the game when the characters are so bland and downright ugly. Gear is doled out through Lootballs (Roller Champions’ loot box mechanic), the ‘Roller Pass’, or through a premium currency called Wheels. You start the game by creating a butt-ugly character with the incredibly limited character creator, and you can earn gear to deck them out with. Like most free-to-play games, the microtransaction focus is on cosmetics. However, it would have been nice to see the developers integrate some varied arena shapes, or even adding elements like ramps or environment-specific hazards to give these maps some variety, even if they limited this to non-ranked modes. This isn't necessarily an issue - Rocket League only had one map to start out with. The catch, however, is the arena only dictates the background elements of the stage, and makes no impact on the playable area, which remains one huge oval no matter where you end up. Arenas take in places like the seaside resort of Acapulco or the dingy streets of Brooklyn. Matches take place on one of the currently four arenas, and which arena that is depends on how many ‘fans’ (the game's version of XP) you and the other players have accrued. Accompanying the basic movement are the core combat mechanics in which you can tackle, dodge, dive, dropkick, and even uppercut opponents in order to gain possession. There’s a good sense of momentum as you skate around the arena, especially once you get the hang of drafting and the ‘pump’ mechanic in which your character crouches to gain speed while going down sloped areas. As the name implies, the whole game takes place on rollerskates and the movement feels great.

Roller champions cross platform