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RWC 2011 Demo - Your thoughts?
- Thread starter david0404
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A few gameplay pros and cons and suggestions for next time (a bit early yet for suggestions but oh well):
I'd like to start off by thanking Ali-G and the rest of the HB side for giving us another installment of the franchise. I know Mario and Milla have been eager to claim underdog status, but with a much more modest budget its commendable that HB have been able to compete blow for blow like they are.
On to the positives:
-The ruck mechanism: One of the highest hurdles to overcome in creating a rugby game, and something previous HB games never really got right (wasn't horrible but a bit off). Quite a few guys on the forum had a go at solving it, and i have to say none of the suggestions rival what HB came up with in the end.
Bash to fill up the gauge, too much and you get penalised. Simple, elegant, love it. Its enough to feel like you have control of the situation, not too much so that it breaks down into a minigame and ruins the flow of the game. Enough skill involved to feel like you can outplay your opponent, easy enough to learn so that any new player can pick up the controller and compete. This is sick, and a really underrated addition to the franchise.
-The pilfer: Press X to pilfer if you are first to the ball unopposed. Another simple yet effective addition that is a big step in the right direction. The prompt appears and dissapears very quickly too, which is great in recreating the quick draw reflexes you need to pocket a steal in the real mccoy. I feel it could be improved next time around however, for every keen player who rushes to the pill there are one or two that get close and just start watching the action, its frustrating that you have these guys standing around and not competing. another neat little addition could be giving certain players (McCaw, Pocock etc) the ability to bounce up off the ground after a tackle and pilfer themselves. Its nothing major, but is pretty cool and would give you an incentive to select a real 7.
-Dropkicks: The simple "aim where you want to kick" system is back, and thats really how it should be. I could understand trying to bring in the other system where you have to get the aiming bang on otherwise it slices horribly because the previous (and now current) system was really easy. At the end of the day though, a dropkick is only 3 points and easy as it may be, 2 of them still dont match up to one good try.
Dummy pass: Changing up the dummy pass from the pretty average "pass both directions to dummy" system to the deliberate trigger pass system is one of my favourite aspects of the game. It gives you full control of the direction you want to fake out to and the animation length is spot on to the millisecond (too short and it wouldnt fool anyone like the last game, too long and you wouldnt fool anyone on top of getting smoked.) Its smooth and crisp and if you can pull it off at the right time its a very pretty little move (first five dummying a co-op player running a cut before ghosting through a gap=perfection)
Chip kick and grubber kick: Two savvy little moves that have my stamp of approval. The chip kick animation is realistic, crisp and again has perfect animation timing. Its not so easy to fool the fullback too, if you dont pick the exact perfect time and spot the fullback reads it like a book, which i see as a positive.
The grubber has been tweaked for the better, its fired off a bit quicker and getting caught mid aim isnt an automatic knock on, thumbs up. A little aspect about the grubber that i love is that if performed by an inside back/midfielder it automaticly attempts to aim between the defensive line and out to the wing like a soccer through-ball. If it comes off it looks very sharp and i can see it becoming a handy tool in my arsenal.
Pick and go: Great little addition, the runner picks it with direct momentum and purpose instead of jogging off to the side like we have seen in the past.
A few exploit patchups
-A tap and go is no longer and automatic death sentance for the halfback.
-A box kick is well read by the opposition now, so no more tapping over the wingers head for an easy try
-Direction change has been slowed down (hopefully) The zigzag bullshit was one of the most annoying aspects of the previous games, it looks like it has been fixed up as the player slows down when turning dramatically (although not too much so good job on finding the balance). Multiplayer has certainly become more of a challenge, although the AI was still getting suckered in by my dance moves, im hoping that that is just down to the difficulty level though.
-Opposition lineouts are contestable but no longer a **** easy win
-Set plays have improved, before you could just scream up and give the flyhalf the buisness before he has a chance to think about doing anything, that doesnt always work out now. Im still not a massive fan of set plays but credit where credit is due
-chuuur.
Offloads have improved: To be bluntly honest they have been a token gimmick in the past games, but they look like more of a sophisticated weapon in this installment. The recieving player looks to hit the ball with more intent, a few times now the the reciving player has taken an offload at pace on the wrap around from open play, which is magic. I scored a try last night where Flood threw to a miss to Tindall, he hit the line on the subtle cut, got caught by his opposite and offloaded to Flood on the wrap at pace, he drew the winger and gave it to Ashton who drew the fullback and gave it to Foden on the inside to score. This is edgeing towards what i have always wanted from a rugby game: The ability to orchestrate intricate moves on the fly and generally outsmart the opposition rather than win by virtue of having a better team or being better at abusing exploits. I want to move the defense to where i want them to go and then exploit gaps that i have personally created, not the cpu showing me a hole and not a pre-built "just add water" set play list doing the creating for me. This is only a small step in the sheme of things, but its a very exciting direction.
Co-op is ridiculously better You can pass to the other guy now! thats one of the biggest black marks on 08 that can be crossed off the wishlist. Me and my brother gave co-op a jam for about half an hour and by the end of it we were already getting some mad teamwork plays down. The game is still a bit creaky in that it doesnt always give the type ball you want and sometimes it wont go to the guy you intend to, but more often than not you can pick a sweet angle to hit at or position yourself to recieve the draw and pass. Thats really what we have been asking for.
Commentary Everyone asked for selectible commentary by region, no one really thought it was possible deep down, but HB got it done. Awesome. One annoying thing about the commentary, which isnt a slight on HB at all, is that Fitzpatrick especially lets us all know that he is in a recording studio and not commentating a game. Just his tone of voice and where he puts emphasis on words, it sounds like hes talking to a slow 10 year old. After he says that i scored a good try i half expect him to tell me that i'm a very special boy and i will get a lollipop for trying my hardest. On the positive though, from listening to Justin Marshall in RC he sounds 10x worse in that respect. Not much can be done about it by both sets of developers but its still annoying.
I'd like to start off by thanking Ali-G and the rest of the HB side for giving us another installment of the franchise. I know Mario and Milla have been eager to claim underdog status, but with a much more modest budget its commendable that HB have been able to compete blow for blow like they are.
On to the positives:
-The ruck mechanism: One of the highest hurdles to overcome in creating a rugby game, and something previous HB games never really got right (wasn't horrible but a bit off). Quite a few guys on the forum had a go at solving it, and i have to say none of the suggestions rival what HB came up with in the end.
Bash to fill up the gauge, too much and you get penalised. Simple, elegant, love it. Its enough to feel like you have control of the situation, not too much so that it breaks down into a minigame and ruins the flow of the game. Enough skill involved to feel like you can outplay your opponent, easy enough to learn so that any new player can pick up the controller and compete. This is sick, and a really underrated addition to the franchise.
-The pilfer: Press X to pilfer if you are first to the ball unopposed. Another simple yet effective addition that is a big step in the right direction. The prompt appears and dissapears very quickly too, which is great in recreating the quick draw reflexes you need to pocket a steal in the real mccoy. I feel it could be improved next time around however, for every keen player who rushes to the pill there are one or two that get close and just start watching the action, its frustrating that you have these guys standing around and not competing. another neat little addition could be giving certain players (McCaw, Pocock etc) the ability to bounce up off the ground after a tackle and pilfer themselves. Its nothing major, but is pretty cool and would give you an incentive to select a real 7.
-Dropkicks: The simple "aim where you want to kick" system is back, and thats really how it should be. I could understand trying to bring in the other system where you have to get the aiming bang on otherwise it slices horribly because the previous (and now current) system was really easy. At the end of the day though, a dropkick is only 3 points and easy as it may be, 2 of them still dont match up to one good try.
Dummy pass: Changing up the dummy pass from the pretty average "pass both directions to dummy" system to the deliberate trigger pass system is one of my favourite aspects of the game. It gives you full control of the direction you want to fake out to and the animation length is spot on to the millisecond (too short and it wouldnt fool anyone like the last game, too long and you wouldnt fool anyone on top of getting smoked.) Its smooth and crisp and if you can pull it off at the right time its a very pretty little move (first five dummying a co-op player running a cut before ghosting through a gap=perfection)
Chip kick and grubber kick: Two savvy little moves that have my stamp of approval. The chip kick animation is realistic, crisp and again has perfect animation timing. Its not so easy to fool the fullback too, if you dont pick the exact perfect time and spot the fullback reads it like a book, which i see as a positive.
The grubber has been tweaked for the better, its fired off a bit quicker and getting caught mid aim isnt an automatic knock on, thumbs up. A little aspect about the grubber that i love is that if performed by an inside back/midfielder it automaticly attempts to aim between the defensive line and out to the wing like a soccer through-ball. If it comes off it looks very sharp and i can see it becoming a handy tool in my arsenal.
Pick and go: Great little addition, the runner picks it with direct momentum and purpose instead of jogging off to the side like we have seen in the past.
A few exploit patchups
-A tap and go is no longer and automatic death sentance for the halfback.
-A box kick is well read by the opposition now, so no more tapping over the wingers head for an easy try
-Direction change has been slowed down (hopefully) The zigzag bullshit was one of the most annoying aspects of the previous games, it looks like it has been fixed up as the player slows down when turning dramatically (although not too much so good job on finding the balance). Multiplayer has certainly become more of a challenge, although the AI was still getting suckered in by my dance moves, im hoping that that is just down to the difficulty level though.
-Opposition lineouts are contestable but no longer a **** easy win
-Set plays have improved, before you could just scream up and give the flyhalf the buisness before he has a chance to think about doing anything, that doesnt always work out now. Im still not a massive fan of set plays but credit where credit is due
-chuuur.
Offloads have improved: To be bluntly honest they have been a token gimmick in the past games, but they look like more of a sophisticated weapon in this installment. The recieving player looks to hit the ball with more intent, a few times now the the reciving player has taken an offload at pace on the wrap around from open play, which is magic. I scored a try last night where Flood threw to a miss to Tindall, he hit the line on the subtle cut, got caught by his opposite and offloaded to Flood on the wrap at pace, he drew the winger and gave it to Ashton who drew the fullback and gave it to Foden on the inside to score. This is edgeing towards what i have always wanted from a rugby game: The ability to orchestrate intricate moves on the fly and generally outsmart the opposition rather than win by virtue of having a better team or being better at abusing exploits. I want to move the defense to where i want them to go and then exploit gaps that i have personally created, not the cpu showing me a hole and not a pre-built "just add water" set play list doing the creating for me. This is only a small step in the sheme of things, but its a very exciting direction.
Co-op is ridiculously better You can pass to the other guy now! thats one of the biggest black marks on 08 that can be crossed off the wishlist. Me and my brother gave co-op a jam for about half an hour and by the end of it we were already getting some mad teamwork plays down. The game is still a bit creaky in that it doesnt always give the type ball you want and sometimes it wont go to the guy you intend to, but more often than not you can pick a sweet angle to hit at or position yourself to recieve the draw and pass. Thats really what we have been asking for.
Commentary Everyone asked for selectible commentary by region, no one really thought it was possible deep down, but HB got it done. Awesome. One annoying thing about the commentary, which isnt a slight on HB at all, is that Fitzpatrick especially lets us all know that he is in a recording studio and not commentating a game. Just his tone of voice and where he puts emphasis on words, it sounds like hes talking to a slow 10 year old. After he says that i scored a good try i half expect him to tell me that i'm a very special boy and i will get a lollipop for trying my hardest. On the positive though, from listening to Justin Marshall in RC he sounds 10x worse in that respect. Not much can be done about it by both sets of developers but its still annoying.
I think the commentary, crowd and general presentation of the game is top class - then I struggle. It is definitely a recycled Rugby 08 with tweaks here and there. I feared this in the trailer and it was confirmed playing it. There are a few new features like everyone knows but the gameplay is almost the same as 08.
HB haven't done us a favour by producing a rugby game and we shouldn't be 'grateful' for it. I'm grateful for the demo but not them producing the game. This is a complete cash in for the World Cup although they wont be getting any of my cash.
HB haven't done us a favour by producing a rugby game and we shouldn't be 'grateful' for it. I'm grateful for the demo but not them producing the game. This is a complete cash in for the World Cup although they wont be getting any of my cash.
Jesus there's some amazing keyboard warriors on this forum.
Hey buddy, your opinion is appreciated,but I do think you need to watch your language!!
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You can in the full game, but not in the demo
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What time did the xbox demo appear?
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Expectations aren't high but im willing to give it a go
Jedi Rugby
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Oh no... Did I just see a player form a maul by himself??.... yes I did... oh dear.
I'm really disappointed. I loved R08 and played it to death, this is like what R09 should have been(had they made one)... not what you get four years on.
This is depressing... Four years of wondering what HB had in store for the next iteration of the game played in heaven...and this is it??? [sighs]
I'm really pleased for all of you who enjoyed this... but I really thought there would be more to it. This feels like the same game I've been thrashing for 7 years now. Maybe it's just that some of us have moved on, and this engine has just run it's course with people who overplayed it over the past several years.
A sad day for me and my rugby video game expectations,
I'm really disappointed. I loved R08 and played it to death, this is like what R09 should have been(had they made one)... not what you get four years on.
This is depressing... Four years of wondering what HB had in store for the next iteration of the game played in heaven...and this is it??? [sighs]
I'm really pleased for all of you who enjoyed this... but I really thought there would be more to it. This feels like the same game I've been thrashing for 7 years now. Maybe it's just that some of us have moved on, and this engine has just run it's course with people who overplayed it over the past several years.
A sad day for me and my rugby video game expectations,
This may sound stupid. But how do you push in the scrums?? It says left (stick) but tried a few thinng and nothing happened?
i would like to know the answer to this as well
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That's most likely not the case. It will most likely turn up somewhere between 2am and 5am with the usual PSN store update of the week.
Had a few games last night, it was quite enjoyable, quite a fun game, but it didn't feel like a 2011 game. It feels like a game I could have been playing 5 years ago. Very simple and didn't really feel like a real game of rugby. Not convinced by the ruck mechanic. Not really much skill involved, very dumbed down, seems to be a bit of a lottery. Difficult to gauge against such an easy skill level, multiplayer could still turn out to be quite fun and competitive.
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