Rugby challenge 2: The lions tour edition announced

[Blackie252]

Just picked mine up from game and was surprised to get a free steel book case with it with the lions tour dates on the back! Nice little extra! Not had a chance to play it yet though, I am off to coach some cricket!

 

[BRSTLDRGN]

Ok, so I have my copy and have played a few hours on it and my thoughts. I like it, much improved on RC1 which I thought was one of the worst sports games I have ever played. This though plays a lot better, although the AI is still a bit dumb when it comes to defence of rucks and the way seemingly all my players drift over when they have a rolling maul leading to 4-on-1 overlaps all the time.

As a fan of a club that isn't in the game I'm not hugely fussed on the squads not being either accurate or up to date but if there's a patch that SIDHE release to correct it then great (hint, hint). But overall I do think this is a good rugby game and one I will continue playing (and if any of you are brave then you can challenge me on XBL).

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Lads, should I buy it tomorrow when gamestop restock it or wait a few months and buy it when the price drops to about 35%?

 

[dudeabides]

Wish the new one would hurry and come here, I imported from Grainger games rather than wait a month for American release and they said it was 'despatched' a couple days ago. Overseas shipping takes patience I know. I just would like to see if it's really better than the last one. I played the heck out of the first game and only sold it because it had a bug after playing for some time that wouldn't let me play with updated rosters, and the default rosters weren't going to work for a fan of the out of position USA team. I watched a youtube video of USA v Canada and thankfully the players are in the right positions now, even if they don't resemble themselves.

 

[Groundhog]

When does the oppurtunity arise when I can buy players, does anyone know?

 

[big ginger 8]

When does the oppurtunity arise when I can buy players, does anyone know?

The end of the first season by the sounds of it.

 

[Peat]

Anyone know when it will be on Steam?

 

[Ruckyou]

man this game sucks ass, it wont let u swap players from euro comps into international teams, still does the stupid throw the ball behind ur head pass, players ratings are bull**** ie charles piatau 64 , brought for 120 NZ$ think ill go get a refund.

 

[Groundhog]

man this game sucks ass, it wont let u swap players from euro comps into international teams, still does the stupid throw the ball behind ur head pass, players ratings are bull**** ie charles piatau 64 , brought for 120 NZ$ think ill go get a refund.

Playaaaa please, you aint got no entitlement to no refund. Once yo take that sheeit out of the packaging, its yows.

 

[smurfsdabomb]

Couple of questions for people who have it already.

1) I've heard you can't move existing players from their clubs to international teams but can you edit players names and stats in existing teams? i.e. if I was willing to put the effort in can I get the correct names and stats I like for every team?

2) How many international teams are in it, is there at least the top 16/20 world cup standard teams?

3) Can you make custom competitions for both club and international?

4) Are the Irish player names voiced by the commentators?

 

[nickdnz]

My question is this -

Do teams other than Australia and New Zealand have players with properly designed faces (in other words not made my the 'create-a-player).

 

[big ginger 8]

Sorry this is the last thing I'll moan about before I actually get it but Ulster as in the team that finished top of the league and reached the final of the rabo as well as H Cup quarter finalists and the team that remained unbeaten the longes in Europe before a orrific injury run. That Ulster are the second worst team in the Rabo ahead of Connacht. Presumably making Zebre who have yet to win a match ahead of them.

I will make Sidhe an offer now, if you make another game I will do the NH ratings for free, though do expect some possible overrating of Iirish player but at least it'll be the right ones and not Noel Reid.

 

[admartian]

man this game sucks ass, it wont let u swap players from euro comps into international teams, still does the stupid throw the ball behind ur head pass, players ratings are bull**** ie charles piatau 64 , brought for 120 NZ$ think ill go get a refund.

You can edit stats.......


I "adjusted" Ben Smith to his rightful abilities. Though I don't think it's super accurate; as that would be the equivalent of Sidhe adding 'God Mode' to the game.

 

[lynam1104]

Just spent around 4-5 hours playing thyis, it's definitely better. The ability to remove players from the ruck and contest the ruck are really useful and add a whole lot more strategy to the game. General it's been cleaned up fro example no longer a penalty for a a crooked throw. The NH teams I would say are better having only looked at a few and yes BG8 Noel Reid, Ian Madigan and Fion Carr start for Leinster.

 

[Groundhog]

My question is this -

Do teams other than Australia and New Zealand have players with properly designed faces (in other words not made my the 'create-a-player).

Yeah a fair few of them do. Zebo looks claaaasss. Pretty much a load of the Lions candidates and Joe Marler look properly customised. The player creator has more options now though and you can make people look a lot better. Paul O'Connell looks poo though, and some of the stats are crazy. I mean I appreciate their decision to make Munster the best team in the Rabo, but I have to show solidaritty for the peasents in Ulster and Connacht who are just terribly rated. I was upset that no new customisations for the NH were done, like Michael Hooper, who was on the front of the box, but looks like a badgers hole. Don't get me wrong I still really like the game. I'm living it up in my Exeter career.

 

[Peat]

Sorry this is the last thing I'll moan about before I actually get it but Ulster as in the team that finished top of the league and reached the final of the rabo as well as H Cup quarter finalists and the team that remained unbeaten the longes in Europe before a orrific injury run. That Ulster are the second worst team in the Rabo ahead of Connacht. Presumably making Zebre who have yet to win a match ahead of them.

I will make Sidhe an offer now, if you make another game I will do the NH ratings for free, though do expect some possible overrating of Iirish player but at least it'll be the right ones and not Noel Reid.

Consider me most wroth. Incensed even. I want to see some bloody good reviews of the gameplay before I put down money for a product I have to finish doing the work on again. I brought the last one to support rugby games, but made the point that a) I shouldn't have to do it b) There are plenty of people willing to help do this for free if asked. I would. I don't even want credit or anything, just a rugby game that's right out of the box. It won't be, and I'm not really cool with that.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I'm not getting it yet anyway, played it a bit at friends houses and didn't find it great. Like the last one I think it will be good to play with friends but won't have much longevity.

 

[LittleGuy]

Consider me most wroth. Incensed even. I want to see some bloody good reviews of the gameplay before I put down money for a product I have to finish doing the work on again. I brought the last one to support rugby games, but made the point that a) I shouldn't have to do it b) There are plenty of people willing to help do this for free if asked. I would. I don't even want credit or anything, just a rugby game that's right out of the box. It won't be, and I'm not really cool with that.

Yeah same here, Canada looked like a butchered mess and I can't be assed to edit again, it just feels so 1993 for me to edit teams I wouldn't mind player names but with ratings that out of whack no thanks.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

The whole game has been poorly done and rushed:

1. Why have a carrier mode if players never get better?
2. Why have no training injuries when you have game injuries?
3. Why customise club players faces when you can't move them into their international team as half the time you have to play with an un customised face?
4. Why not have proper player customisations like head tape, socks down tattoos?
5. Why are 99% of the NH stats and roster wrong when you could of got them of a forum for free?
6. Why bother with a lions mode if you can't add it into your carrier?

It just seems that they have worked on the AI and thats it, the carrier mode isn't really any better as it's still just a load of matches together. you can't properly deveolp your squad (no team form or player form). You can't deveolp younger players and with the minimal injuries or player contidion you never really have to change your starting 15.
Oh and buying players is so badly implimented it's a joke.

And then there is the liscences which are shocking.

I'm happy there is a rugby game but why are we still getting something thats not really up to the RUgby 08 standard in terms of what it offers. After all the hype of them really working on the carrier mode it's such a let down. Not only will i have to spend hours editing the gaem to just get the right squads in i'll have to do all the internationl teams as well becasue of the liscence restrictions.

I am very dissapointed and would want a refund if i could, i'll probably just trade it in until we fund RC 03 which propably willl still have the NH squads from 2011!

 

[Milla]

I'm not going to answer anyone specifically in this post. Consider this a FAQ for now.

We did originally plan to involve the users on our forum to nut out the stats. This plan relied on the game being anounced much earlier than it was, however, so we couldn't in the end. This is why the stats were not community derived.

The PC version is ready and waiting for a release date from Tru Blu. It will be available on PC DVD and Steam.

The game is region-free, though users not using HDMI in non-PAL territories will need a TV that supports 60 hz.

Some users on Xbox 360 are seeing frame-rate issues, but not enough that we've found a pattern yet. At this point I advise caution, perhaps hiring the game if you're not sure if you want it, or if you are an Xbox gamer, at least until we know more.

We have a bugs and glitches thread stickied over on our forums, for those who have hit strangeness. Console and reproduction details with the description of the problem would be useful.

Custom teams may be used online. In ranked matches the team stats will be normalised, but in unranked (private) matches you have the option of normalising or using your own custom stats.

Multiple gamers may play in career mode matches, and multiple careers may be conducted at one time, but there is a limit of five careers at a time. Career mode recruitment is carried out at the end of each season.

While one licensor agreed to drop the conditions of transfer restriction they had placed on their sides, a few others did not. The three European competitions still have those restrictions in place.

 

[Feicarsinn]

I'm not going to answer anyone specifically in this post. Consider this a FAQ for now.

We did originally plan to involve the users on our forum to nut out the stats. This plan relied on the game being anounced much earlier than it was, however, so we couldn't in the end. This is why the stats were not community derived.

The PC version is ready and waiting for a release date from Tru Blu. It will be available on PC DVD and Steam.

The game is region-free, though users not using HDMI in non-PAL territories will need a TV that supports 60 hz.

Some users on Xbox 360 are seeing frame-rate issues, but not enough that we've found a pattern yet. At this point I advise caution, perhaps hiring the game if you're not sure if you want it, or if you are an Xbox gamer, at least until we know more.

We have a bugs and glitches thread stickied over on our forums, for those who have hit strangeness. Console and reproduction details with the description of the problem would be useful.

Custom teams may be used online. In ranked matches the team stats will be normalised, but in unranked (private) matches you have the option of normalising or using your own custom stats.

Multiple gamers may play in career mode matches, and multiple careers may be conducted at one time, but there is a limit of five careers at a time. Career mode recruitment is carried out at the end of each season.

While one licensor agreed to drop the conditions of transfer restriction they had placed on their sides, a few others did not. The three European competitions still have those restrictions in place.

TL;DR We were too lazy to bother researching any European sides whatsoever (including the champions) therefore we'll be ducking any questions on the issue of why we've done such a shoddy job and essentially alienated most European club rugby fans.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

What I found really annoying also, if I want to delete a save ... I have to exit the game, go to the dashboard and enter the storage area of the Xbox to delete the save file. Surely it would have been easier just to create a delete button within the game to save me logging off to long back onto the game?

 

[Milla]

TL;DR We were too lazy to bother researching any European sides whatsoever (including the champions) therefore we'll be ducking any questions on the issue of why we've done such a shoddy job and essentially alienated most European club rugby fans.

You get too lazy from that? Interesting.

No, it's not a matter of laziness at all. We wanted to consult the community because they asked for input last time. When we couldn't we reverted back to getting data from the licensors and consultants, then compiling it into particular in-game stats.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Out of curiosity Milla, where DO the player/team ratings come from? I think people can appreciate them not being correct, obviously you can't please everyone, but surely even having a quick look at the results in the past year's competitions would show that Ulster should be ranked higher, etc.? Are all the teams ranked one at a time, without any consideration taken of what other teams have been rated? It just seems very inconsistent.

 

[Milla]

We get a lot of information from the licensors themselves, and we engage specialists from the Northern Hemisphere. We then have a contractor who comes in, attempts to standardise, and then translates the information we get into game data. Clearly this doesn't give optimal results, which is why we wanted to change the way it was done this year. I believe we would have satisfied a lot more people if we could have.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

It's great that you've at least considered it. Hopefully something we can see in any future iterations!

 

[Milla]

Yes, if we do another Rugby Challenge will continue to take on board what gamers tell us. The community stats idea came from that, and is still something we'd be keen on. We don't always get to do what we want, but we don't give up on them. Some of the changes between the first and second game were things we didn't get to do the first time around.

 

[Draggs]

Just fix the ****ing socks next time and everything will be fine.

 

[Milla]

Socks down?

 

[Draggs]

Yes, but only if my wingers get a speed boost in doing so.
You know how you had team Lomu in RC1 and he had 99 in everything? It should be updated to something modern day, so I propose Ben Smith Rugby Challenge.