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Rugby League Live

Reviewed by: Joaby
03:20pm 02/09/10
7 member comments

Genre: Sport
Developer: Big Ant
Publisher: Tru Blu Entertainment
Classification: G
Release Date: 2nd Sep 2010
Platforms:

MEMBER RATING:

If you didn�t read my Rugby League 3 review, you didn�t miss a lot. The game was terrible - a shameless cash grab, preying on the innocence of Rugby League fans and delivering a buggy budget title at

a Triple A price.

Still, if you didn�t read you missed this amazing piece of foreshadowing - �Rugby League 3 gives me hope in the idea that at least Rugby League 4 couldn't conceivably be worse.�

Big Ant Studios must have read my review and taken that statement as a challenge then, because Rugby League Live is a mess.

It must be a deliberate attempt to make a worse game, because Rugby League 3 launched with probably the worst control scheme ever and Rugby League Live is still worse. After wrestling with finicky half-arsed waggle controls in Rugby League 3 I thought an Xbox 360 controller would be a cinch - and somehow it�s as big a nightmare as awkwardly wobbling your Wiimote left to pass left.

The problem this time is in the unresponsive controls - passing is actually fine in Rugby League Live, but everything is horrible.

Let�s stay on offence for a second - sprint and break tackle share the same button, but you have to hold A to sprint and tap it to break a tackle. You�re forced to decide - and when you�ve got Greg Inglis on a line break sprinting down the sideline with Jarryd Hayne on your heels, the decision to stop sprinting and start tapping comes down to the millisecond - especially with the way tackles are handled... but more on that in a bit.

Kicking has its own button, but players seem to need a ten metre run up before they feel confident in their ability to kick the ball. Usually this translates into your kicker getting tackled before they get the kick off - they get smashed and usually drop the ball for a knock-on.

Side-stepping and stiff-arms occupy the triggers, and both need to be engaged almost half a second before you�d expect if you want them to be successful. Side-stepping basically results in the player with the ball sliding across the grass a couple of metres - hit-ups seem to mean your opponent can�t touch you (seriously, the player with the ball puts his hand out for a stiff arm and he basically gets a force field that nobody can penetrate).

Passing is probably the most accomplished part of the game - you can tap either of your shoulder buttons to throw the ball either way, and if you�d like to do a cut-out pass you hold the button and choose between B, Y or X to skip your team mates.

On defence there�s no halfway decent passing game to bring things to a semblance of competence. You can change players by tapping the LB and RB buttons - this is clumsy and pointless if your opponent employs a cut-out pass.

Fret not though - you can tap to change to the closest player! Except the game seems to work out who the closest player using a coin toss, because sometimes it�ll be the closest player and sometimes it�ll be his not actually very close team mate. What�s worse is that sometimes tapping X just won�t change players, so you just sit there tapping X frantically trying to switch to the closest player.

The marking situation from Rugby League 3 rears its head again - markers must be assigned by the AI, and there�s no way that I�ve seen to place your own player in a position that the game considers a marker. What�s worse is that sometimes upon completing a tackle the game won�t take over your player to move him to the marker position - completely at random.

When this happens you have three choices - realise that the AI has failed you early enough to move your guy back the ten metres so he�s not offside, fail to realise the above and move him back while the ball is being played so you can be penalised for offside or just stand there like an idiot until the ball is far enough away from you.

Tackling, by the way, isn�t an exact science. You hit the B button to do a normal tackle or the Y button to flip a coin on whether you head high a guy. Pressing the B button won�t always tackle someone either - sometimes it just misses. Because everything is a canned animation, missing a tackle isn�t like diving for a guy and missing ala Madden - it�s just the game not registering that you�re close enough for a tackle.

The worst time for this to happen is usually when you�ve just booted the ball down the field and you�re chasing it up - you sprint down the field (after mashing X to find the correct player, of course), they�re stuck in their in-goal area, you hit B to tackle them and... they go soaring past you up the field, running amok as you change to randomly closer characters and making it back to your territory in one run.

This seems to be directly tied to the camera change - when possession changes hands the camera flips to face the attacking team, and it almost seems like inputs aren�t registered during the switch.

The animations can also begin at very weird times - sometimes the AI will basically use instant transmission to suddenly take your ball carrier to ground. This is where knowing when to stop sprinting and start tapping A to break tackle becomes a matter of luck, destroying any strategy to the game.

I�ve only really talked gameplay so far - I haven�t gotten into what

is probably the biggest problem with the game. One of the highlights in Rugby League 3 was Franchise mode - Sidhe should be commended for delivering a 12 season management mode. The game was almost worth playing thanks to that - it was the gameplay which dragged it down with its waggle controls and lack of classic controller support.

Rugby League Live doesn�t even have a franchise mode - it has a pathetic single season competition, and you can only use the teams as they exist in the game. You can�t edit players or teams - only create brand new ones - so if you feel that the current roster doesn�t accurately reflect your favourite team you have to start over from scratch.

And forget about adding yourself to your favourite team! There�s no way to insert yourself on a team once you�ve made yourself (well, a person sort of reflecting a murky version of yourself) and so you�re forced to create the whole team - I played for the Boncos when I made myself in game.

This is player creation 101 stuff here, and they couldn�t even get it right. Why would anyone want to make a character just to have that person unable to play on a team? What was the thought process there?

Before we wrap - you�ve gotten this far into the review and you�re thinking to yourself �What about the graphics!? What about the sound!?� Chill out - the graphics are basically HD versions of the PlayStation 2 graphics in Rugby League 2. The screenshots uglying up this review should tell you that.

The sound is ok, Andrew Voss commentates and seems to have only been paid to say four or five lines in between complaining about illegal plays of the ball but the on-field atmosphere is actually reasonable enough.

Let�s finish up on multiplayer - the game does online multiplayer, and it actually does it well. You get leavers (boy do you get leavers) where people who are a little bit crap at the game will quit after you score your fifth try in the first half. I scored tries, by the way, by exploiting the way the game handles changing players - straight after the play of the ball I�d hit up a couple of cut-out passes, get the ball to Israel Folau on the wing and then just

trounce my way to the end.

It�s difficult to pay too much attention to the way the game handles tactics when you can tear apart opponents like that. Still, the fact that online multiplayer exists is a plus in the game�s favour - and once again I�m given hope for the future of Rugby League games.

The problems with Rugby League Live don�t actually end there - there are heaps of little niggling things wrong with the game I haven�t detailed here because it�s not my job to QA the title - apparently it wasn�t anybody�s job to QA RLL.

Don�t buy Rugby League Live. If someone gives you RLL as a gift, slap them across the face with the case to return the insult. It is a shoddily made product that shouldn�t have ever been released as it is. You�ll get a better Rugby League experience by calling only running plays in Madden and then applying liberal use of the lateral button.

Comments

8.0

Game Comment by Zankmagnet

Rugby League Live - for PC

PROS:

Game play:

- game play is generally bloody good (on the PC version at least!)
- attack is a lot of fun - some great attacking movements can be created, especially when running out of dummy half
- defense is quite easy to get the hang of - switching players is quite responsive
- kicking controls are easy to master (good variety of kicking options are available: long punt, cross-field kick, bomb, chip kick, grubber)
- passing and offloading is fluid
- long passing is easy......and realistic - a 'long-ball' thrown when close to the defensive line will often get intercepted by the other team
- sidestepping - is fun and looks more realistic than in RL3 for Wii
- breaking through tackles is a really good option to have (just need a little bit of button-bashing to bust through!)
- AI is good when attacking - almost always have players in support of the ball-runner (when you make a break through the defensive line)
- player fatigue = realistic - making player substitutions is fun....and the team list and each player's fatigue level is shown in the 'half-time summary'
- offside players in defense are shown with a different symbol/marker underneath them - makes it easy to spot which players are offside......so you can avoid using those players to make the tackle (and avoid giving away a penalty)

Controls: easy using the keyboard, and player movement and agility is fluid

Graphics: much better than the crappy graphics of RL3 on Wii (particularly on my Lenovo ideacentre 23-inch monitor: it was like a breath of fresh air compared to putting up with the graphics on my telly via the Wii!)

CONS:

Action replays:

- too short - only provide the last few seconds of every try ie. most of the time you miss the replay of the important bits of the try-scoring play
- NO half-time and full-time action replay 'highlights package' (as featured in RL3 for Wii)

Franchise mode? NO

Preset offensive and defensive formations to set up advanced plays? (as featured in RL3 for Wii) NO

Player injuries: not enough (ie. in most of the games that your team plays during a season.....you will have ALL of your players available!)

OVERALL:

- a few features are missing.......but it is a LOT of fun!

- the game has a LOT of potential to evolve - with some tweaking here and there - into a classic RL series for PC

- bring on a sequel PLEASE!

Game Comment by tbronc100

I reckon this game is pretty good because it has good gameplay and the graphics are pretty good for a game not from EA and do not listen to all of those people say it sucks, cuz it doesn't

when I first played this, the controls were really hard and then it started getting easy 2 days later...
the sound is alright but the commentary can get abit annoying but it's not that much of a deal...

Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Controls: 9

Overall: 9.5/10 really good game and enjoyable

0.4

Game Comment by grahto

Okay, let me straighten out the people who read the review wrote by "worldcitizen1919". He couldn't be more wrong.

The gameplay... Very very slow, and very very unrealistic. At times after I'd already run through the defence, I would suddenly see one of the opposition's defenders I'd already run past suddenly teleport 5 metres back and then successfully tackle me. Ball passing looks too fake, kind of like the ball is attached to a wire, flying in a faultless line to the player you passed it to.

Controls are fairly complex and there isn't really much help in the way of tutorials most sports games give you about passing/kicking/set-plays etc. You're basically thrown into the deep end, and your only way to learn is through trial and error. Good luck with that, the determained AI opposition will tear your player with the ball down within seconds after a tackle. Not much time to quickly try some buttons.

Graphics... Is this 2010 or 2002? Because the game engine this is designed on has more glitches than a brand new version of Windows. The graphics are terrible. Rendering and skins on players and stadiums are horrible. Very pixilated and grainy. I've seen better graphics on an iPhone. Seriously - I'm not kidding.

Overall... I'm glad I only hired this game. I'd seriously be kicking myself in the head if I'd forked out $110 to buy it.

Realistically this is just an attempt at a quick money grab by the commercial NRL, who would sell their soul to put an extra $10 on the tickets we buy to go and see the real games.

I think if they wanted to do this correctly, they should have taken an offer to EA Sports. This game is terrible in every aspect, and I thought the '2' GameArena gave it was very generous.

Game Comment by worldcitizen1919

This very misleading review score of TWO is what made me buy the game. It couldn't be that bad and It's NOT it's VERY GOOD This is a full blooded NRL Simulation where you can do almost anything you can do in a REAL LIVE game and I just love it and give it a 10/10.

8.5

Game Comment by Ravie316

I have to start by saying Joaby's Review & the Game Arena's news letter to say "Don't Buy Rugby League Live" is there opinion but not mine.

From way back when Fatty Vautin did ARL Live 95' to now Rugby League Live, these games have come along in small leaps & bounds.

But what i can say it that THIS is the best Rugby League game to date. Yes, it would be awesome if EA had the money & technology to created this game, but they don't / won't ever will.

Let's look at some of the positives to this game. It has good graphics (not FIFA or MADDEN brilliant graphics) & a smooth game engine which runs online play very nicely. The game play has been tweeked in some area's & has had some things like the Cut Out Passing mastered.

You can start by playing in either the NRL or SL seasons & all the players & clubs are there. The menu's are easy to use & the in game menu's give you rosters, stats, etc that will help you thru a game.

The game play runs like any other footy game. Madden, Carrer Mode in FIFA, from behind the player view.

Kicking has been made sweeter, not to easy & not to hard but you have to find the right medium to play with the wind and to get your ball across to up right.

Your players get warn out thru a game, so it's vital to use your interchange thru a match, as down the track your players will be prone to injury.

The game play itself has alot of things like the Cut out pass, Offloads, and Kicking (40/20, Bombs, Grubbers, Chips, etc) which makes things seem more realistic.

Overall, i would say if you're a League Fan. You'll like this game

Actually, i have played 2 full season's so far & will be starting another today. So, it addictability factor is right up there if your a sports nut like myself.

Maybe, Joaby has found too many dislikes to appreciate the positives that come with the game. YES, it's the best League game so far, But NO it's not up to scratch with anything like FIFA or MADDEN or some of the games you'd expect on the PS3 now a days. YES the game play is fun & addictive, but there's also things like mastering how to Offload & Tackle & how these things work. These also the fun playing online but there's also frustration in finding an online game, BUT if people are only looking for a quick match but there's only few people hosting...well (I'll always Host, as people will then find me). Tackling would be good if it was like Madden's Arcade or something like that, but what's in the game is still fun & pretty good.

Rugby League games will NEVER be up to scratch with the like's of the EA Stuff. Madden, FIFA, THE SHOW, NBA, etc....but with small companies like Tru Blu & the small group of sales these guys will only get from NZ, UK & OZ. This is Fun Footy Game, Thanks TRU BLU.

So, after my rant & rave. $88 might be a little to expensive for this game, but it has given me plenty of fun game time & it will be the game i'll turn to when i what to play a Footy Game.

_ _

Game Comment by King Lucas

Let me just start off by saying the original reviewer had every right to give this game such a low score because after 2 days of playing it i was ready to do the same (thank god i played for that extra day)

ive added "steep Learning Curve" to the good & the bad of this game, good for longetivity (no one like a game you can master in minutes) but it is very steep so might turn off alot of beginners

Rugby League LIVE isnt an easy game to master, infact the first time you pick it up it feels clunky & just downright awful but underneath the rough surface lies a true classic

Unlike the previous titles (from Sidhe) scoring tries & making breaks & pulling off miracle passes dont come easy, you have to work for them through playing smart & using your footy brain

almost every aspect of the game is hard to do at first but as you master each a realisation occurs about just how real it all feels, forget scoring trys at first because until you learn how to attack it just wont happen, its kinda got a "learn to walk before you fly" feel about it with almost everything you do in the game

i cant really describe much more about it because its only my 3rd day playing it, but after some wicked online & games & getting past the frist few hurdles ive discovered this game is like a transformer (more than meets the eye)

all i can say is dont listen to the bad reviews the game is getting, get the game & try it for yourself & after a few days of playing if you still dont like it i would be very surprised

8.0

Game Comment by ParisHilton

My son who does not speak to me much, played this with me the other night. He is not big on RL, but uses this as a challenge.
He laughed so much, and begged me to play it the following night. This is a great bonding session for us. Many thanks to the distributors.