I played approximately 5 games on Saturday,
After my 5th game, I still enjoyed the game. I wasnt able to play 2 games of RLL1 without returning that steaming pile of shit.
I was telling the rep how the first game probably put a lot of people off. In reply he stated that the first one was shocking and the dev team are trying hard to not speak of the past tittle.
From the conversation, I could see that they generally hated the first game..which is puzzling considering they bloody released the game lol.
Anyhow in regards to a review,
My first game I played as the Raiders, vs the Eels. Firstly, nearly all the teams have similar team statistics and they are generally evenly balanced. The difference is the superstar players really do stand out. Dugan sliced through often late in the games, especially around the big props, he would always get run down..bloody slow but decent acceleration.
Straight from the kickoff, you could see that the game has evolved leaps and bounds. Watching as players direct one another to get into formation and etc. The guys I played were pretty crap, they tried to play this like it was touch footy.
Passing out wide often will lead to intercepts, especially if your run at the line and throw a huge cut out pass. The defenders will make the play, the only thing is that I found myself pressing the tackle button, when the ball was near me trying to put the shot on the attacking side. But since the intercept happens so quick, I would press the tackle button at the time of the intercept and find myself kicking the ball away immediately after the intercept.
The massive cut passes are still in the game. Not as often, but they exist, especially from dummy half. The only positive is that when the long ball is thrown from dummy half, the defenders move up quick and the attackers dont have the momentum.
short passes/offloads/flick passes - all in the game, some crazy looking animation for these passes. I had a Shillington take a hit up close to the try line, his momentum carried him forward, although in the process he turned his body and gave an offload to Travis Waddel, who dived over for the try. Ive probably described it as shit as possible, but the way the play transitioned, it looked awesome.
In regards to offloads, players do not randomly get the ball away like they did in Rugby Challenge. The offload depends on the attacking player, the tacklers position and whether the upper body is free. As an example the dive tackle around the legs would leave the offload open.
General kicking is pretty good, the guys I played against waited until the last tackle to kick and always ran at the line before trying to boot it away. This is probably the hardest aspect of the game, as it does not slow down and players rush up, guess its a good thing as I did not see any 40/20s.
Defending is simply awesome. All up 3 players can be involved in any tackle. During the 3 man tackle, forget about the offload hahah, it wont happen.
I had Bronson Harison break three tackles in one play, got to the fullback tried to fend him off again but he hit me with a low tackle around the legs. The fact that there are three tackle options allowed us to really take each set in a different approach. The diving animation is pretty cool, I did a few dive tackles and sent the other guy over the sideline. The animation is quite smooth with the tackling.
Another interesting thing was holding down in the tackle. I tried it a few times, when I had three guys over an attacking player. Held him down long enough to get the guys back on side. There is an orange light under the player that illuminates whenever a player is in an offside position, so unless you want to give away the penalty it is pretty clear.
I was playing the game like I'd expect to play in real life. Pass to the big blokes for the hitup for the first few tackles and the chance my arm. This tactic worked. You can make the metres in the gut and you can make a difference. I had a few sets where I just barged it over the advantage line, nothing special, before deciding to pass to Campo who ran at a few offside players and into open field. The big blokes usually crash forward after contact, depending on how many defenders are involved in the tackle.
There were some annoying bits, I saw a few shoddy video ref calls. Blatant double movement and another being held up as being awarded a try. The rep tried to say, "just like real life" but the video ref system was obviously not perfected.
Players catching kicks, looks weird. There is a circle which indicates where the ball will land, however, players seem to stand in front, to the side and generally away from the circle. This can put you off, as you try to regather a kick. Basically the ball can be caught from anywhere outside the circle.
Stamina in this game is simply perfect. The big blokes get tired quickly and since nobody made any subs, the halves could rip it up in the middle. Having said that, a few times I would get into open space and my player would barely have stamina to sprint. If you sprint non stop, you will be out of gas in no time. In my first game I won 12-0, but the last 20 or so, I was on the back foot as I had zero energy in my pack and everything in the middle fell apart.
Overall I will be buying this game. Apparently they have full online leaderboards which include wins/losses and total points and other statistics. Online should be fun as well as the single player game.
I'd say this is a 8.5 out of 10. Awesome game and I cannot wait.
I came home to play Madden 13, but found myself bored wanting RLL2.
