Originally posted by C A Iversen@Feb 14 2005, 05:36 PM
This probably goes without saying, but I really like having these game vs game online arguments.
We'll never convince one another, but it is a laugh seeing what we'll defend our favourite with and it helps pass the time till what we all hope is the new champion.
So anyway JLR fans, help me put Kaftka and Sanzar in their places, their asking for it!
I'll oblige you (quote from the 70's or 80's kung fu classic "7 Grandmasters").
When a game comes out it should theoretically be better than its predecessors. Particularly if there is a 5 year gap.
Comparing JLR with R2001, R2004, SJRL, and WCR. R2005 is not in this debate as we all sense that finally JLR has found its true successor.
Graphics:
R2001, R2004, SJRL, WCR, and anything else is better than JLR. If they weren't that would be a conspiracy as JLR is a PS1 programme.
Framerate:
Only WCR has a better framerate than JLR. Now you could argue that SJRL and the other EA ***les have to make do with their graphics balance. Hello? JLR was not made for the PS2 or XBox processors. What have these post Lomu programmers been doing all this time since '96?
Camera:
The default camera of JLR has not been surpassed by the following 4 ***les. JLR side cam follows the play along the sideline until it gets to the 22. Then it stops following and instead pans across to give the person a 3D corner view of the try line so that you can judge depth as well as distance on the line. JLR side cam also ZOOMS in at the rucks and mauls and then zooms out when the ball is cleared, very revolutionary. The other ***les seriously missed out on these aspects in their camera views and fell very short.
Options:
The other 4 ***les do have more options than JLR as well as more features with tournaments and the like. JLR is limited in what you can do.
Gameplay(now for the real guts of it)
Player movement:
JLR has a very responsive player movement. The other ***les woiuld say this is not true sim style but I would argue that the other 4 ***les went too far in creating a sim movement in their players that you feel the players do not really respond to your wishes. R2001 had useless response on defence, R2004 looked like you were moving like an 8 directional CAR while WCR ran too slow. SJRL was a total joke with its movements, especially on defence......too slowly unrealistic. In JLR you felt you could serious evasion techniques in attack while marking precisely in defence. In multiplayer if you beat a person or got beaten by a person one on one then you knew it was due to being outwitted and the reflexes thing, not a game AI issue!
Passing:
JLR is superior in its passing compared to the 4 ***les. It was quick and to the person you wanted. You could miss out as well. Passing in the tackle is one of JLR's strengths. If you were being held up in a smother tackle you could still offload if you were going to ground (amazing) while we all know about the timed offload when tackled around the legs. The programme always had a supporting runner to pick up the offload on the burst (incredible). Passes were always precise whether they be inside balls or what. you could also tkae control of the person recieving the ball and change their line when they caught it. Which of the 4 ***les had this amount of human control with passing? None of them.
Kicking:
JLR had the best touch finder kick in the game. It came out as an arrow and the distance was determined by when you released it. Longer kicks needed to held longer (great) giving the opposition a chance to charge it down (like in real life). The bombs (up and unders/Gary Owens) system was well thought out and required mastery like in real life. Wind direction affected things perfectly and the bounce of the ball was done perfectly. Again all the other ***les fell short in this area and even SJRL with its matrix option was limited to which side you could kick as well as slowing the action down.
Attacking Skills:
JLR had the fend, sidestep, dummy (which also doubled up as a brush off on the low tackle). All this were well balanced and worked well. You always had options when you had the ball in a one on one situation(outsprint if you have the angle, slow-fast if you had a stationary defender, sidestep if they rushed, fend if they smothered or went low or were too small, dummied if they went low, etc). JLR created a lot of opportunities for individual flair. The other games cannot claim this to the same extent except SJRL.
Tackling:
The tackle animations on JLR are not as good as the other ***les. But the tactics employing them are light years ahead. If you were being outsprinted the dive tackle helped a lot. Infact when you weren't totally accurate on where they were the dive tackle always covered it if the action was too fast to see. however if the opposition resorted to fending your dive tackle away then you could go to the smother tackle. This all embracing tackle was balanced well by making this tackle relying on accuracy. Even so you could still get fended but this was balanced by the fact that you had a second, third, etc chance if you failed with the first smother.....as long as you were accurate. Unlike WCR the dive tackle had you spawled on the ground if you were out of range which meant you had to use it wisely. WCR had you just pushing the dive tackle as much as you could since it would not make you fly if you were out of range, therefore you did not have to second guess the tackle. SJRL had better animations but sometimes ( alot of times!) you would push tackle and...nothing! R2001 couldn't change direction quick enough and R2004 did not have enough tactical tackling options.
Rucks:
JLR had the true rucking style with the player in and out method to compliment its players in numbers system. This was also influenced by the famous momentum factor, too much defence weakened you at the tackle situation.. JLR were instant and the players were totally controllable. You could control the next player joining the ruck to run a line as a forward reciever off the side of the ruck. This also applied to the defence as you could control a player and put him on any side of the ruck to take out any quick plays off the ruck. You can also DELIBERATELY stan offside and kill the ball on the wrong side of the ruck when they were a metre from your line. In simple words....JLR had the MOST control at rucks.....you could play a fast ruck game like the Brumbies all play the slow search and go forward game of the AB forwards.
Mauls:
JLR mauls could be controlled to move in any direction and could be reset like the rolling mauls with the last person detaching and taking it forward a bit. The control contest was well balanced in its power then push system which was 60/40 as well as the concession dig in option. You could push a maul out if near the sideline and if they weren't going forward you could get a turnover. Tries from a maul were available. The other ***les mauls looked rubbish.
Scrums:
The JLR scrums are only surpassed by R2004 as you could wheel that scrum while in Jonah you can't. JLR had a fair put in the ball then push timing system which put a lot of the onus on the feeder. Like real rugby the defending scrum had to guess when to push, power up, dig in. A very good balance.
Lineouts:
No ***le can beat the JLR system for lineouts. 3D view to judge depth and distance with the camera for starters. Selecting the distance to throw while showing the oppostion another fake distance with the icon select (wow! Faking with the Select Icon!) Choosing lifters (wow). Moving the jumper up and down the line to get a better jump on the opposition (this is also available for the defence). Tap or catch. Quick throw. Short or full. You name it, JLR had the best lineout that played like a lineout. Really brought out a lot of skill.
Jumping:
Could charge down the kick as well as leap for a ball that was kicked. You could also leap for a bad loopy under pressure PASS that went high. You could time your jumps to out jump the opposition. Well balanced hangtime and gravity likeness.
There are heaps of other little DETAILS that showed JLR was well ahead of its time and will only be surpassed by R2005. It is these details which made the game so very hard to surpass....if one of the most difficult ***les to surpass in history for any genre (rivalling Golden Eye 007 in the console FPS class). I am a bit too tired to type them all out but have only mentioned some main parts.
