Rugby 2001

[sanzar]

Originally posted by C A Iversen+Feb 14 2005, 09:41 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (C A Iversen @ Feb 14 2005, 09:41 PM)</div>

<!--QuoteBegin-sanzar

@Feb 14 2005, 09:34 PM
NRL was a much closer representation of League than JLR was of union... even with it's bugs. WCR on the other hand basically was JLR with better graphics and slightly altered play mechanics.

Slightly altered, I'll disagree with that big time.
Tactical kicking was different, there was button bashing to win rucks, camera angles were not as easy to see, and so many other things.

WCR would have been loved by the JLR fans if it was basically the same but updated.

Definately wrong with that one, it's like saying SJRL was an updated ARL 96 Megadrive sequel.
That'd gripe you as a league fan, surely. [/b]

Well technically I'm a fan of both union and league, but I support the roosters more than any other team apart SOO and tri nations time (union)...
Anyway that analogy is ridiculous... WCR was made by the same people as JLR and it inherrited most of its gameplay aspects. NRL has nothing in common with ARL 96 apart from the teams and the fact that it is league...

 

[C A Iversen]

I wouldn't say it's ridiculous, any fan knows his game better than someone who isn't a fan.
I know for a fact that JLR and WCR were made by MOST of the same team, and the game was based on the same fast paced arcade style as Lomu's, kicking was very similar, but the focus on game mechanics was completely changed for a new style they thought would work better this time.
The changes in play mechanics were not slight changes as you say or the JLR fans would not still be saying that JLR was the best. How could we when WCR was pretty much the same game but new graphics and new teams?

We didn't like it as much, and it didn't do as well, because it was significantly changed for the worst.

 

[locksley]

Originally posted by C A Iversen@Feb 14 2005, 09:56 PM
I wouldn't say it's ridiculous, any fan knows his game better than someone who isn't a fan.
I know for a fact that JLR and WCR were made by MOST of the same team, and the game was based on the same fast paced arcade style as Lomu's, kicking was very similar, but the focus on game mechanics was completely changed for a new style they thought would work better this time.
The changes in play mechanics were not slight changes as you say or the JLR fans would not still be saying that JLR was the best. How could we when WCR was pretty much the same game but new graphics and new teams?

We didn't like it as much, and it didn't do as well, because it was significantly changed for the worst.

True! Absolutely True!

By the way Gay-Guy, that was a class write up about JLR! You hit the nail on the head about everything! Rugby 2005 isn't as "pick up and play" as Lomu or NRL etc, but if you spend time with it, work hard on your defence, look what your attacking options are from a ruck instead of just throwing it randomly, then you'll enjoy it just as much as JLR!

 

[MightyQuin]

I am also a big fan of JLR - but admit I would have to start most defences of it with "At the time it was ..."

At the time (!), it was one of the best multiplayer sports games around - and it's really annoying to think how good a rugby game we could now have if there had been annual or even just bi-annual updates to that ***le, rather than the drip feed of rugby games (most first time attempts) since then.

Yes there were some rule errors (knockons, kicks dead in goal, the quick lineout behind your own line giving a 22m dropout quirk) - but compared to all but Rugby 2001 it was by far the closest to the game.

WCR seemed to manage to take gameplay features out (quick lineouts, jumping, marks, touch down in own in-goal) and dumb it down, but if I'd wanted to smash buttons on my controller as fast as I can, I'd get Track & Field instead - you don't see anyone on Pro Evo or Madden bashing a button in order to tackle harder do you?? - so why have both WCR and SJRL decided we need to destroy controllers to play rugby?!

The main thing that stopped me playing JLR though was lack of options. You could play as the Lions or Baa-Baa's but only in a specific comp, no injuries / subs / player ratings, but mainly I remember it was damn annoying to only be able to play 5 min matches in any of the comps!!

In Rugby 2001 you could make all the teams manually selected, then play through every match in a world cup on 15 min length, with the AI playing one of the teams (it didn't force you to manually control teams even if they were manually selected at the start).
I remember doing this, playing as the lowest ranked of the two teams through every world cup match - and it was a sad day in Namibia they day they lost 10-7 to a last minute try in the final to Australia!

Not everyone is going to agree that JLR is the best rugby game to date - but the sad fact is, that there are lot of things in JLR that are still the best that have been done in a rugby game to date - jumping, rolling mauls, passing, kicking from hand - before even looking at more arguable points like line outs, different tackle types, rules accuracy or goal kicking.

As a big fan of league and union, I was impressed with SJRL, and don't find the "random" penalties on defence any worse than the overly keen interceptions and player momentum in rugby 2001, the knockons in JLR, or the big hit button in WCR (the list for rugby 2004 is too long to pick one item for here!). It also has great single player longevity given the flexibility of creating your own tournaments and teams.

For what its worth, my rugby game list would go

1. SJRL
2. JLR
3. Rugby 2001
4. WCR
5. SuperLeague Rugby (an odd cartoon style RL game!)
6. Audiogenic World Class Rugby (advanced for its time with set piece plays)
7. Rugby 2004

The only ones I no longer own are the two EA sports ones.

I really really hope Locksley is right about rugby 2005 though - and if he is, I'll buy him a beer next time he's down in Brentford for a Broncos game!

 

[jimmy44]

Originally posted by MightyQuin@Feb 15 2005, 01:42 AM
I am also a big fan of JLR - but admit I would have to start most defences of it with "At the time it was ..."

At the time (!), it was one of the best multiplayer sports games around - and it's really annoying to think how good a rugby game we could now have if there had been annual or even just bi-annual updates to that ***le, rather than the drip feed of rugby games (most first time attempts) since then.

Yes there were some rule errors (knockons, kicks dead in goal, the quick lineout behind your own line giving a 22m dropout quirk) - but compared to all but Rugby 2001 it was by far the closest to the game.

WCR seemed to manage to take gameplay features out (quick lineouts, jumping, marks, touch down in own in-goal) and dumb it down, but if I'd wanted to smash buttons on my controller as fast as I can, I'd get Track & Field instead - you don't see anyone on Pro Evo or Madden bashing a button in order to tackle harder do you?? - so why have both WCR and SJRL decided we need to destroy controllers to play rugby?!

The main thing that stopped me playing JLR though was lack of options. You could play as the Lions or Baa-Baa's but only in a specific comp, no injuries / subs / player ratings, but mainly I remember it was damn annoying to only be able to play 5 min matches in any of the comps!!

In Rugby 2001 you could make all the teams manually selected, then play through every match in a world cup on 15 min length, with the AI playing one of the teams (it didn't force you to manually control teams even if they were manually selected at the start).
I remember doing this, playing as the lowest ranked of the two teams through every world cup match - and it was a sad day in Namibia they day they lost 10-7 to a last minute try in the final to Australia!

Not everyone is going to agree that JLR is the best rugby game to date - but the sad fact is, that there are lot of things in JLR that are still the best that have been done in a rugby game to date - jumping, rolling mauls, passing, kicking from hand - before even looking at more arguable points like line outs, different tackle types, rules accuracy or goal kicking.

As a big fan of league and union, I was impressed with SJRL, and don't find the "random" penalties on defence any worse than the overly keen interceptions and player momentum in rugby 2001, the knockons in JLR, or the big hit button in WCR (the list for rugby 2004 is too long to pick one item for here!). It also has great single player longevity given the flexibility of creating your own tournaments and teams.

For what its worth, my rugby game list would go

1. SJRL
2. JLR
3. Rugby 2001
4. WCR
5. SuperLeague Rugby (an odd cartoon style RL game!)
6. Audiogenic World Class Rugby (advanced for its time with set piece plays)
7. Rugby 2004

The only ones I no longer own are the two EA sports ones.

I really really hope Locksley is right about rugby 2005 though - and if he is, I'll buy him a beer next time he's down in Brentford for a Broncos game!

How about Ea's world cup rugby on Sega Mega drive?? This was a great game!!

 

[MightyQuin]

Not bad - neither was Intl rugby league on the megadrive - but they still don't quite topple JLR

 

[captainamerica]

Gay-Guy, nice one. First class. JLR uber alles!

 

[ak47]

Coming from a massive NRL fan, a season ticket holder for 10 yrs straight, i cannot believe the amount of praise SJRL is getting around here.
Do you all have the patched version, coz if u do, that does NOT count.
The game is flawed to the extent, its not anything like rugby league.
It was a GREAT debut effort from Sidhe.
But again, it isnt fun to play at all.
The patched version deserves its credit, but why need a patched version...we should have been delivered the goods 1st time around.
all sidhe had to do was delay the game by 3 months, fix its ****les, and update the roster to 2004 season, and we would have had an upto date, NEAR flawless rugby league game.
instead we got an outdated (rosters old), bugged game, which only patches can fix, but that doesnt justify my $100....especially seeing ESPN was $50...and other new games coming out alot less in price but alot more in overheads.
I got more out of rapala pro fishing for $30 than SJRL for my $100.
The commentary in SJRL is a benchmark tho

 

[Gay-Guy]

Originally posted by sanzar+Feb 14 2005, 07:35 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (sanzar @ Feb 14 2005, 07:35 PM)</div>

<!--QuoteBegin-Gay-Guy

@Feb 14 2005, 07:14 PM
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.

Now THAT part is just plain ridiculous... ANY GAME GENRE???? Are you seriously telling me this game surpasses MADDEN, ESPN NFL, pro evo etc? come off it... What about Half Life 2? That was just plain silly...

[/b]

No sorry.......what I meant was that like Muhammed Ali of boxing all the game genres have champion games for its type that became legendary (Console FPS had Goldeneye, PC FPS had Unreal Tournament, Beat em Ups Arcade had Street Fighter 2, Soccer Console had Pro Evo, Vehicle Racing console had Gran Turismo, etc). These games had almost complete dominance against their rivals for an extended period of time. I am not comparing the actual JLR game to these other games but rather I am comparing their legendary status in their genre next to each other. JLR had as much dominance in Rugby gaming as others did in their genres. In fact, JLR competed against its rival from a PS1 handicap and still can claim to offer more.

 

[sanzar]

Originally posted by Gay-Guy+Feb 15 2005, 01:06 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Gay-Guy @ Feb 15 2005, 01:06 PM)</div>

Originally posted by sanzar@Feb 14 2005, 07:35 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-Gay-Guy

@Feb 14 2005, 07:14 PM
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.

Now THAT part is just plain ridiculous... ANY GAME GENRE???? Are you seriously telling me this game surpasses MADDEN, ESPN NFL, pro evo etc? come off it... What about Half Life 2? That was just plain silly...

No sorry.......what I meant was that like Muhammed Ali of boxing all the game genres have champion games for its type that became legendary (Console FPS had Goldeneye, PC FPS had Unreal Tournament, Beat em Ups Arcade had Street Fighter 2, Soccer Console had Pro Evo, Vehicle Racing console had Gran Turismo, etc). These games had almost complete dominance against their rivals for an extended period of time. I am not comparing the actual JLR game to these other games but rather I am comparing their legendary status in their genre next to each other. JLR had as much dominance in Rugby gaming as others did in their genres. In fact, JLR competed against its rival from a PS1 handicap and still can claim to offer more. [/b]

mind you though, it's not hard to dominate a genre when your the only one in it is it? Thats what the case was for the first 2 years of it's release.

 

[ak47]

Originally posted by sanzar+Feb 15 2005, 03:33 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (sanzar @ Feb 15 2005, 03:33 PM)</div>

Originally posted by Gay-Guy@Feb 15 2005, 01:06 PM

Originally posted by sanzar@Feb 14 2005, 07:35 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-Gay-Guy

@Feb 14 2005, 07:14 PM
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.

Now THAT part is just plain ridiculous... ANY GAME GENRE???? Are you seriously telling me this game surpasses MADDEN, ESPN NFL, pro evo etc? come off it... What about Half Life 2? That was just plain silly...

No sorry.......what I meant was that like Muhammed Ali of boxing all the game genres have champion games for its type that became legendary (Console FPS had Goldeneye, PC FPS had Unreal Tournament, Beat em Ups Arcade had Street Fighter 2, Soccer Console had Pro Evo, Vehicle Racing console had Gran Turismo, etc). These games had almost complete dominance against their rivals for an extended period of time. I am not comparing the actual JLR game to these other games but rather I am comparing their legendary status in their genre next to each other. JLR had as much dominance in Rugby gaming as others did in their genres. In fact, JLR competed against its rival from a PS1 handicap and still can claim to offer more.

mind you though, it's not hard to dominate a genre when your the only one in it is it? Thats what the case was for the first 2 years of it's release. [/b]

but its hard to dominate after those 2 years on an ancient machine
and thats what it did, and still does, until march 2005.

NO PATCHES REQUIRED

 

[sanzar]

Originally posted by ak47+Feb 15 2005, 03:44 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ak47 @ Feb 15 2005, 03:44 PM)</div>

Originally posted by sanzar@Feb 15 2005, 03:33 PM

Originally posted by Gay-Guy@Feb 15 2005, 01:06 PM

Originally posted by sanzar@Feb 14 2005, 07:35 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-Gay-Guy

@Feb 14 2005, 07:14 PM
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.

Now THAT part is just plain ridiculous... ANY GAME GENRE???? Are you seriously telling me this game surpasses MADDEN, ESPN NFL, pro evo etc? come off it... What about Half Life 2? That was just plain silly...

No sorry.......what I meant was that like Muhammed Ali of boxing all the game genres have champion games for its type that became legendary (Console FPS had Goldeneye, PC FPS had Unreal Tournament, Beat em Ups Arcade had Street Fighter 2, Soccer Console had Pro Evo, Vehicle Racing console had Gran Turismo, etc). These games had almost complete dominance against their rivals for an extended period of time. I am not comparing the actual JLR game to these other games but rather I am comparing their legendary status in their genre next to each other. JLR had as much dominance in Rugby gaming as others did in their genres. In fact, JLR competed against its rival from a PS1 handicap and still can claim to offer more.

mind you though, it's not hard to dominate a genre when your the only one in it is it? Thats what the case was for the first 2 years of it's release.

but its hard to dominate after those 2 years on an ancient machine
and thats what it did, and still does, until march 2005.

NO PATCHES REQUIRED [/b]

In YOUR opinion it does... in my opinion it's an outdated peice of crap that isn't playable after a couple weeks.

 

[jonwebb]

Originally posted by sanzar@Feb 14 2005, 09:34 PM
You wouldn't get that impression from whats being said above mate...

NRL was a much closer representation of League than JLR was of union... even with it's bugs. WCR on the other hand basically was JLR with better graphics and slightly altered play mechanics.

Your Kidding. JLR is the best representation of Rugby.

Quick Lineouts and more realistic than 2004 (You could choose any player to throw to not pick from 3 options)
Mauling
Offloads (Falling or on the ground)
Smother Tackles for turnovers
Real forward play (Offloading to Forwards, pick n go).
Bumping people off was controlled by the player not the AI.
Everything you did in JLR was controlled by the Player not the AI.

If you tried to fend or bump off players with Jeff Wilson you would get smashed, use the step and your sweet. You could bump players off with Bunce but his fend wasnt that good. You had to know every player you used so you could break the defensive line.

You could beat anyone with the Weak teams if you knew the players.

WCR doesnt even rate next to JLR. WCR was only better than Rugby 2004 and had better graphics than JLR.

 

[THE CHIROPRACTOR101]

Originally posted by sanzar@Feb 14 2005, 03:53 PM
in fact I even found Rugby 2004 more fun in multiplayer...

..........be sensible sanzar

......turn off ur computer and video games and read some books.....

good review gg...layed it out perfectly....sjrl-is slow,ploddy,defence is disgusting to say the least...the very least...altho the animation are beautifully captured,the graphics r cool...but **** man all those glitches even for an xbox...

...in todays world lomu succeeded in fun factor then any other rugby ***le to date...

2001 felt like a demo to pacman

2004 felt like a cramp on both legs

rugby league had innovation...but felt like it was half finished

wcr felt like rugby leagues matrix kicking throught-out a whole match

but jonah lomu......was smooth...like driving a ugly car with a v8 engine...

 

[Gay-Guy]

Originally posted by sanzar@Feb 15 2005, 03:33 PM
mind you though, it's not hard to dominate a genre when your the only one in it is it? Thats what the case was for the first 2 years of it's release.

I knew you'd pick up on that Sanzar.

JLR came out in '96 and had no competition till R2001. Therefore you would expect R2001 with 5 years on JLR as well as the PS2 console backing it up to be a vastly superior game in at least 80% of its features. You would also expect R2004 ('03) and SJRL, WCR ('04) to have some sort of major difference as well.


They didn't. They only surpassed JLR in a few areas. Unfortunately most those areas were not the all important GAMEPLAY areas.

 

[subsbligh]

Fantastic review. My thoughts exactly.

JLR was the pioneer/prodigy in the genre of Rugby gaming. To this day there is not a better Rugby game.

(This following rebutal of an intrinsically absurd argument is only to pander to morons.)

If JLR were to come out tomorrow there is a good chance that I would not rave about it simply because there is a good chance I would not pay $100 for a game which did not take full advantage of today's technology and the inroads/gaming conventions that have been shaped during the natural progression of change.

OF COURSE THE LATER VERSIONS OF RUGBY GAMES HAVE BETTER GRAPHICS THAN A PSX GAME.

I challenge the nay sayers to rebut what gay-guy has said in his review.

 

[sanzar]

Originally posted by Gay-Guy+Feb 15 2005, 07:07 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Gay-Guy @ Feb 15 2005, 07:07 PM)</div>

<!--QuoteBegin-sanzar

@Feb 15 2005, 03:33 PM
mind you though, it's not hard to dominate a genre when your the only one in it is it? Thats what the case was for the first 2 years of it's release.

I knew you'd pick up on that Sanzar.

JLR came out in '96 and had no competition till R2001. Therefore you would expect R2001 with 5 years on JLR as well as the PS2 console backing it up to be a vastly superior game in at least 80% of its features. You would also expect R2004 ('03) and SJRL, WCR ('04) to have some sort of major difference as well.


They didn't. They only surpassed JLR in a few areas. Unfortunately most those areas were not the all important GAMEPLAY areas. [/b]

Your main flaw in your argument GG is still the fact that unless it's technically sound and brilliant like MADDEN 2005 etc, gameplay is really mostly about opinion... and in MY OPINION JLR lacked TERRIBLY in the gameplay area... I found the AI pathetically easy to dominate once I mastered a few tricks and the rest of the game was unrealistic and boring... I don't play multiplayer much myself, as none of my mates are interested, so without an online feature all I could do was judge it against the AI! And as I have stated, I was NOT impressed.
I found playing SOO in NRL on League God mode fantastic! Always a challenge and for those of you who whinge about player control, well you tell me I never played JLR long enough, but if you seriously had trouble choosing the correct players in NRL, then it's obvious you never played THAT eenough either!

 

[jgough]

Purely because I am bored I'll give an IMO rating to the rugby games I've played.

Please note that the ranking is based on WHEN it came out. If you played them today then those rankings would no doubt go down by a huge amount by the current standard set.

Also, the ranking is based on what it is like as a GAME, not as a RUGBY GAME. So I'm looking at a whole lot of factors, as well as time, but also the standard then and what other games at that time were doing and what options they had.


Sega EA SPORTS Rugby World Cup 1995: 3/10 - Just like Rugby 2004 but looked better. I am serious, 1995 vs 2004, the graphics were loads better! Not to mention the animation. All in all, it was repetative and average tho, but still - Not a bad effort as far as Rugby games tho. Bugger all options. No commentry. Not very responsive. Didn't feel like you were really playing a hell of a lot of it either.

Jonah Lomu Rugby: 6.5/10 - Not as in depth as say Gran-Turismo, another game around that time but still, probably the best Rugby game made to date (taking time into account obviosuly). I would really hope that EA would not look at JLR too closely for ideas tho, as they will only go backwards by todays standards. I think the main lesson that they could gain from it would be, freeflowing is good, and having control is good. But I'd sooner suggest that they look at Madden if they want to see where they should be at.

EA SPORTS Rugby 2000: 3.5/10. Very average.

EA SPORTS Rugby (PS2): 4/10. At least they improved.

EA SPORTS Rugby 2004: 1.5/10. And when we thought we'd seen Rugby games at their lowest. WHAM. Rugby 2004. It made me ashamed to think that it we were in the 21st Century. They get a .5 for actually giving us something. Quite a few teams, and you could sub, and you could kind of select a squad. Still, not only one of the uglist games ever made, but I couldn't believe EA could put their name to that. Commentry was disgusting. The worst game ever made by EA of all time... Sorry about that, now that I've got that off my chest, shall we continue?

World Championship Rugby: 5.5/10. Pretty much, Joanh Lomu Rugby 2. Very 'arcadey'. Bugger all licences. All in all it is not a bad game tho. I think a good word to sum it up is, ENTERTAINING.

EA SPORTS Rugby 2005: ??/??


As far as direct improvements go from Rugby 2004 I think playing a rolling season mode would take advantage of the team selection, where after completing the Super 12 the International (Tri-Nations) squads are picked on them (or perhaps the Prob vs Poss trile). Having the ability to select your team after the Super 12 then take those stars onto the World Cup would be cool. But perhaps it's just me that likes an option to add a bit of realistic 'franchise' spice to it.


Also a biggy that I really thought should have been in Rugby 2005 (Don't know if it is or not), is STATS galore. End of game stats, end of Tournament stats!

I'd love to play the WC and at the end, see the top performers, player of the tournament, top try scorers, the CPU should even show an 'IRB WORLD CUP XV'. That would be great if you took a punt (no pun intended) on a youngester, and he played the WC and performed awesomely, then at the end see him rewarded by being named in the tournament 'dream team'. (They don't actually have to PLAY, but it means you get a bit of recognition, insted of saying, "WC over".
Perhaps, at the end of the Tournament, you can click a button which says "Awards" and see if any of your players made the list.


Cheers,


Jamie Gough

 

[jimmy44]

Originally posted by jgough@Feb 16 2005, 01:18 AM
Purely because I am bored I'll give an IMO rating to the rugby games I've played.

Please note that the ranking is based on WHEN it came out. If you played them today then those rankings would no doubt go down by a huge amount by the current standard set.

Also, the ranking is based on what it is like as a GAME, not as a RUGBY GAME. So I'm looking at a whole lot of factors, as well as time, but also the standard then and what other games at that time were doing and what options they had.


Sega EA SPORTS Rugby World Cup 1995: 3/10 - Just like Rugby 2004 but looked better. I am serious, 1995 vs 2004, the graphics were loads better! Not to mention the animation. All in all, it was repetative and average tho, but still - Not a bad effort as far as Rugby games tho. Bugger all options. No commentry. Not very responsive. Didn't feel like you were really playing a hell of a lot of it either.

Jonah Lomu Rugby: 6.5/10 - Not as in depth as say Gran-Turismo, another game around that time but still, probably the best Rugby game made to date (taking time into account obviosuly). I would really hope that EA would not look at JLR too closely for ideas tho, as they will only go backwards by todays standards. I think the main lesson that they could gain from it would be, freeflowing is good, and having control is good. But I'd sooner suggest that they look at Madden if they want to see where they should be at.

EA SPORTS Rugby 2000: 3.5/10. Very average.

EA SPORTS Rugby (PS2): 4/10. At least they improved.

EA SPORTS Rugby 2004: 1.5/10. And when we thought we'd seen Rugby games at their lowest. WHAM. Rugby 2004. It made me ashamed to think that it we were in the 21st Century. They get a .5 for actually giving us something. Quite a few teams, and you could sub, and you could kind of select a squad. Still, not only one of the uglist games ever made, but I couldn't believe EA could put their name to that. Commentry was disgusting. The worst game ever made by EA of all time... Sorry about that, now that I've got that off my chest, shall we continue?

World Championship Rugby: 5.5/10. Pretty much, Joanh Lomu Rugby 2. Very 'arcadey'. Bugger all licences. All in all it is not a bad game tho. I think a good word to sum it up is, ENTERTAINING.

EA SPORTS Rugby 2005: ??/??


As far as direct improvements go from Rugby 2004 I think playing a rolling season mode would take advantage of the team selection, where after completing the Super 12 the International (Tri-Nations) squads are picked on them (or perhaps the Prob vs Poss trile). Having the ability to select your team after the Super 12 then take those stars onto the World Cup would be cool. But perhaps it's just me that likes an option to add a bit of realistic 'franchise' spice to it.


Also a biggy that I really thought should have been in Rugby 2005 (Don't know if it is or not), is STATS galore. End of game stats, end of Tournament stats!

I'd love to play the WC and at the end, see the top performers, player of the tournament, top try scorers, the CPU should even show an 'IRB WORLD CUP XV'. That would be great if you took a punt (no pun intended) on a youngester, and he played the WC and performed awesomely, then at the end see him rewarded by being named in the tournament 'dream team'. (They don't actually have to PLAY, but it means you get a bit of recognition, insted of saying, "WC over".
Perhaps, at the end of the Tournament, you can click a button which says "Awards" and see if any of your players made the list.


Cheers,


Jamie Gough

How about world class rugby for Amiga - great game when it came out. I would have given it 7/10

Also I loved world cup 1995 when it came out - I would have given it 8/10

If we are talking about games WHEN they came out I'd rank these two as the best.

 

[Gay-Guy]

I now understand where you are coming from Sanzar.

And I agree totally with you.

After one month of playing JLR, I never played against the computer again. The CD would just lie there.

It is in the multiplayer aspect that the game really kicked. The computer was totally boring. Human players changed the whole face of the game and it was there that JLR gained its reputation. If you played with people instead of the computer you would have found another dimension to the game.

Also Lineouts? Did you learn how to lift your jumper till his feet was over your head? This is what made JLR lineouts so good.