The people behind Rugby 2004 went to great lengths to make it as realistic as possible. They included 2000 players and 95 national, state and club teams, taped real-life tackles, line-outs and scrums to get the look, sound and feel just right, had it all licensed by every major union body in the universe and even got Gordon Boring! Bray to commentate.
Unfortunately, they also included archaic rules, and refs who award dumb penalties every five seconds and never call forward passes.
EAs latest game has more features than a fully optimised Boeing 747. You can contest the World Cup, conquer the Super 12, go on a Lions tour, get cauliflower ears in Pommy club rugger even play the Russians in the snow, for Christs sake. You can also team up with a mate in the cooperative two-player mode, which is good, because youll need two heads and 20 fingers to figure out the control system.
Make no mistake: youll be in agony for the first two hours of gameplay. There are different button combos for scrummaging, rucking, line-outs etc, and it takes ages to learn them. Then, when you finally get a roll on, the bastard ref pings you for an unseen knock-on, playing it off the ground, not rolling your socks up or something just as stupid. Aaaaargh!
All up, Rugby 2004 is a bit too complex and exacting for all but dedicated union fans. It takes hours of training to get the hang of it, the games are stop-start with brief patches of top play, and theres way too much whistle-blowing. Just like the real thing, really.
2 stars
