CarBall.io

Summary

It might be a car football game, but goal-scoring is just one of many aspects you’ll need to juggle in CarBall.io as all six players fight it out for the win (at all costs).

While worrying about conceding goals, any collision chips away at your car’s health (including hits from your own teammates), so a clear run at goal can end with the ball flying the wrong way while flames pour out of your hood before the next tap greets you with the ‘Game Over’ screen.

It’s already hard enough to score without all five AI drivers trying to be the hero. But, as you’ll soon see, your “teammates” will try to steal the limelight even when you’re through on goal.

The opposition makes the same laughable mistakes (thankfully), but ‘How did you not score that?’ will become a regular reaction before you know it at both ends of the pitch. The next thing you know, your teammate scores an own goal. Needless to say, it’s frustrating at times, but hilariously fun at others.

Once you’ve played for a while, you’ll likely realize the underrated tactic, which is rarely charging at every loose ball and instead letting the chaos unfold before stealing the loose ball and going on a run (well, full-attack drive!).

Sit back while the AI fights demolition derby-style, read the ball’s shadow and wall rebounds, then use reverse or the e-brake when you’ve got a clear break ahead.

Faster cars are great for landing goalscoring opportunities before the inevitable pile-up forms (think of these as strikers), while heavier ones (defenders, if you like) can battle it out in the fight for much longer.

Once you unlock the later leagues, you’ll go up against much tougher drivers and stronger cars, so surviving the match without bursting into flames can often be just as important as winning it.

Features

• Release date – April 2024
• Difficulty – Beginner/intermediate
• Levels/environments -Several leagues
• Number of vehicles – 31
• Vehicle upgrades – Yes
• Multiplayer – No (3v3 with AI players)
• Mobile – No
• Developer – Crow Brow Games

Physics

Unlike most Rocket League-style games, the vehicles stay on the ground rather than bouncing around the arena here.

Each vehicle’s handling is simple and predictable, and alongside the basic driving (and drifting), you’ll need to manage nitrous bursts wisely, use reverse gear (when necessary), and use the e-brake to kick the back end out.

While you can drift, you certainly won’t need to become a drifting expert, but it’s great to see it included. It’ll come in most useful when you need to stop quickly, snap the back end around to get out of tricky situations, or go on the counterattack. Running walls isn’t really the main aim here, unfortunately!

While you can’t jump, the ball will often fly into the air after bouncing off the wall or cars. You can use its shadow to judge where it’ll land, while the enclosed arena makes bank shots and long rebounds possible if you read the angle correctly.

Smashing the ball at full speed towards the goal is rarely the best solution, and a slower push (along with some well-timed nitrous) can give you a much cleaner run at goal and a better chance of scoring.

Vehicle damage uses a straightforward health bar rather than opting for twisted metal. Smoke starts pouring from the hood as the car weakens, then you need to start worrying when flames appear, as reaching zero health ends the game early.

Anyone who would rather watch parts fall off and panels deform in their browser can try the ten-stage career in Xtreme Demolition Arena Derby, while Online Car Destruction Simulator 3D offers vehicle mangling, instant repairs, and repeatable crashes across ten environments. 

If neither of those takes your fancy, our ever-growing stunts and crash games collection offers browser-based versions of just about any game you can think of.

Graphics

Everything has a simple, boxy style that’ll feel familiar. The visual damage does a useful job of warning you when the next collision might end your match, especially once the flames start to replace the initial smoke.

The arena and pitch are the same as you move through the leagues. Graphics settings and alternative camera views aren’t available, so the visual variety mostly comes from the increasingly weird and wacky vehicle selection you’ll get to unlock later on.

Controls

PC/laptop/Chromebook

• W/Up arrow – Accelerate
• S/Down arrow – Brake/reverse
• A/Left arrow – Steer left
• D/Right arrow – Steer right
• Shift – Nitrous
• Space – E-brake

Mobile/tablet (iOS/Android)

• While it loads on mobile devices, there’s no usable touch controls. Instead, it tells you to use the keyboard keys. (Useful!)

If you’re on a phone or tablet, there’s plenty of alternatives, including Car Crash Test: Abandoned City, which provides mobile support alongside crushers, slow motion, and selectable AWD, FWD, or RWD drive modes. Our wider selection of games built for phones and tablets offers plenty more optimized options (that won’t require a keyboard).

How to Play CarBall.io

Initial Setup

Enter your player name in the lower-left corner before selecting ‘Play’. It’s recommended to take a second to change it, since you’ll see it throughout the game.

Music and sound toggles are in the top left, your current player level (and optional 2x reward video button) in the middle, and the coin balance in the top right. The bottom-right corner shows your current league, which begins at Copper.

Your selected car shows along with arrows for browsing the garage. You start with 50 coins, which isn’t enough for any of the five 100-coin stat upgrades, but it does let you upgrade to the first (more durable) vehicle if you wish.

Getting Started

Each match begins immediately as a 3v3 game and lasts 90 seconds. As you probably guessed, the blue cars need to try and score in the red goal, while the red cars aim for the blue one.

The timer is displayed in the upper-right corner, with your health (heart) and (battery-shaped) nitrous bar in the lower-right. You also get the in-game controls constantly showing in the bottom left.

The starter nitrous supply barely lasts for a second, so save it for when you need it.

Every collision can reduce health (depending on how durable the selected vehicle is), and that includes contact with your own teammates. For a cheat code, you can deliberately finish off a burning rival if your car is healthy enough, or you might want to help protect a teammate that’s in trouble.

Only the ball resets after a goal, and everyone needs to scramble back to the halfway line to try and get there first. It’ll fall in one of three places along the line, so don’t try and guess until you see it appear.

The ground-only format is much easier to get the hang of than more complicated car soccer games like Rocket Goal, where boost timing, aerial play, air rolls, and ranked 1v1 or 2v2 matches create a much higher skill ceiling.

If you’d rather bring weapons onto the pitch, check out SocCar, where you get to shoot defenders instead of relying entirely on tackles. These are just a couple of the sports games we have on offer if you’re looking for something completely different to drifting for a change.

Game Modes

Despite the .io name, you only get to compete in 3v3 matches against virtual players. Several leagues provide progression, but the arena and pitch remain unchanged. Higher leagues increase the pressure with much more competitive AI players, stronger (or faster) vehicles, and more upgrades.

A draw gives you the option to watch a video to continue or leave with the current reward. Extra time makes sense when your car is healthy, the opposition is smoking (or on fire), and your team already has the ball in a useful position.

On the flipside, if both your teammates are burning and your own car is one bump away from destruction, taking the coins and heading to a fresh game is often the wiser choice.

If one AI-only arena begins to feel restrictive, Stunt Simulator Multiplayer puts up to 20 online players into three low-poly maps with ramps, drifting, vehicle damage, and a ten-car garage. Survival Race keeps the football connection through Autoball, then adds Battle and Parkour modes with a floor that collapses wherever you drive. Our multiplayer games cover plenty more great picks, too.

For an IO game with drifting, Drift.io delivers the real thing with drift-to-boost racing, a generous vehicle roster, and free-for-all weapon battles. The rest of our io games also offer the more typical quick arena sessions against other players.

Car Selection

The 31-car roster isn’t a simple ladder where every expensive vehicle is better than the last. For instance, the first van can defend and survive contact (thanks to its durability stats) better than the starter car, but its lower speed makes it harder to reach an open ball.

A fast, fragile car can be ideal if you’re more of a striker, while a heavyweight (defender) is great for blocking, ramming, and clearing the ball. A more balanced option can also spend the match doing a bit of both.

Most of the garage is locked behind player levels, and if you scroll through the list, you’ll be able to guess most of their outlines. Completing the first level opens two more vehicles, and you’ll eventually get SUVs, an ambulance, an RV, a stretch limo, drift cars, supercars, a Formula-style racer, monster trucks, and… a tractor. (Of course…)

Some of the later choices are so huge that they barely fit in the garage view, which ought to tell you how subtle their defensive style is likely to be!

The AI progresses alongside you, and your teammates and opponents will start turning up for the next match with better cars and upgrades, so you’ll want to consider splashing some cash to remain competitive.

Tuning & Upgrades

Every car shares the same five upgradeable attributes.

• Health – Helps your car survive more collisions
• Speed – Gets you across the pitch and into attacking positions sooner
• Damage – Perfect for being a heavyweight defender that can ram other vehicles
• Nitro – Extends the length of each boost
• Nitro Fill – Refills the supply more quickly

The first upgrade level for each attribute costs 100 coins, and the prices increase as you continue upgrading. Don’t panic if you don’t see the stat bars move, as they don’t change after your purchases. You’ll feel the difference in-game, though.

Once you’ve upgraded any parts on your car, those mods will apply to your entire garage. So, buying a faster car won’t throw away the money you spent on Health or Nitro.

Money and player level use separate calculations. Wins move the level bar much further than draws or defeats, although every completed match still provides some progress and coins.

The optional pre-match video (in the pre-game main menu) doubles the cash reward, then a moving post-match slider can multiply your final earnings by up to 5x. Doing so is easy enough that missing the 5x can feel worse than missing an open goal (almost!).

Those of you who’d rather skip a long currency grind can choose from a 22-car roster with solo, AI, public, or private sessions in Car Crash Multiplayer, where daily rewards handle the locked cars instead of performance upgrades. Drift King offers a far more generous start to its online drift lobbies, handing over enough opening credits to unlock six or more of its ten cars immediately.

Advanced Tips & Tricks

Be patient, and wait for the inevitable pile-up

Charging into the ball at every opportunity is more likely to destroy your health rather than help you score goals.

Instead, hang just outside the scrum and let the AI smash themselves to bits, then make your move (with added nitrous, perhaps) when the ball rolls into open space. Patience is often a much better tactic in this game than trying to win the six-way pushing contest.

Don’t forget to use reverse to your advantage

Reverse isn’t only for recovering after a mistake. It can get you away from congested corners, and even help with defending once you’ve got the hang of it. When the ball suddenly moves behind you, reversing can also be faster than forcing a full turn.

Use your nitrous wisely

On most of the early cars (pre-upgrade), the nitrous tank empties in just a couple of seconds. Thankfully, it refills pretty quickly, too.

Use short bursts when necessary rather than holding it. Once you can afford to, Nitro and Nitro Fill upgrades make it much more forgiving later on.

Watch out for the shadow when the ball’s mid-air

Wall and corner impacts can launch the ball into the sky (you’ll sometimes wonder if it’ll ever come back).

Keep an eye out for the shadow, which marks the landing point, so you can secure it right away and go on the attack.

Read the rebounds like a pool shot

The enclosed arena makes the wall angles predictable once you learn the ropes, so try to think about where the ball will likely end up. That way, you can sneak up on your opponents and tap the ball into the goal.

Know when to end the match as a tie

Continuing a 0-0 match is worthwhile if your team is dominating, or if your car still has plenty of health while the opposition is already smoking.

On the other hand, ending the match as a draw is usually smarter when your teammates are damaged (or wrecked), and your vehicle is also close to bursting into a fireball.

CarBall.io FAQ