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TRF_Cymro's Rugby World Cup 2011 The Game – Review
Summer 2011 sees the exciting and much anticipated return of a rugby ***le to gaming consoles around the world. The first 'next generation' rugby game is set to hit gamestores around the world on August 26 2011.
The Rugby Forum was exclusively invited to have a play test of the game at Things With Wings in London. From the moment the team stepped into the office the buzz about the game was there, the crisp blue World Cup menu and the sound of World in Union being played in the background certainly added to the excitement of the game.
Straight away I jumped at the first controller and got involved with the game and was immediately impressed with the layouts of the menus. Simple, sleek and easy on the eye. Going through screens displaying squad management, editing of players, game options etc was also very easy and for anyone worried about customising rosters, the editor tools are there to edit names, positions, stats etc.
Gameplay
So to the gameplay. Much has been talked about the gameplay and the engine the game runs on. The game has a very Rugby 08 feel to it. For some this might not be good enough but I think having a game that's has a familiar feel to it is a good thing, meaning that people who have played previous rugby ***les associated with HB will have no problem picking up the game and people who are not so familiar will be able to pick up the game with ease.
My real favourite thing about Rugby World Cup 2011, is the new rucking system that has been put in place. The ruck system now involves tapping the 'A Button' and filling the bar with the correct amount to ensure you keep possession or to steal possession. The more aggressive you are by tapping the 'A Button', the more likely the ref will penalise you for an infringement. However if you are not aggressive enough the opposition will win the ball. It's a fine balance, fill the bar and risk conceding a penalty or not to fill the bar and lose possession. If you are less isolated then the tackler can steal the ball before the ruck is formed through tapping the 'X Button', meaning that getting isolated could / will lead to turnovers. For me this is a nice new addition that allows a mini battle within a battle … if you get me.
Securing quick ball at the ruck will result in the opportunity to produce quick ball for the backs to play with. This is crucial when playing harder AI levels as it means that the quicker the ball from the rucks the less time the AI has to organise its defence and gaps appear. It is also here that mismatches might appear and a pacey winger against a slow prop could lead to that all-important try. Also setting up phases and how you manage your forwards are important when playing against the hard AI. I found running many pick and drives can lead to a turnover.
Tactics are also a nice little addition. Choosing how you want your players to get to rucks through selecting the options on the directional pad can lead to either turnover or securing ball. The same can pad can be used to set up your defence, ensuring having a tight defence when defending your tryline or a wide defence can be the difference between conceding or saving a try, I found it important when playing against the AI on Hard. Set plays also feature in the game which is a good thing as you can set them up from rucks and scrums and in certain situations only certain plays will be available to the player, however my only gripe with them is that they take to long to set up, which is slightly unrealistic. The good news is that the AI also use set plays, which adds to the game.
So what about the game modes?
Game Modes
• Rugby World Cup Mode – Pretty standard in a World Cup game really. Can live out this year's World Cup fixtures or play alternative fixtures through randomising pools.
• International Match – Play in various stadiums against any of the international teams in the game.
• Warm Up Tour – An interesting little addition. Pick a nation and take them on tour. You can select whether you want to tour the NH or SH. When we tested this feature we went with Ireland and toured the SH. We started off against the likes of Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. Once you beat these sides you move on to tougher opponents in the SH. Same goes for teams in the NH.
• Place Kicking Competition – The first mode I tried. Pretty much a penalty shout out with two teams, both players select their best 5 penalty takers and go head to head. On hard the kicking is difficult with the wind, location of the kick and the kick meter. First time round I drew with Teh Mite, we went through sudden death and called it off as we could not even hit a barn door. On the second attempt with Getofmeland, he beat me with Andrew Sheridan of all people by slotting through the penultimate kick of the match.
• Online – Not a feature that we tested but certainly will be a welcome addition to the game. Playing anyone from around the world on a rugby game will be good.
So what's my positives and negatives on the game?
Positives
• Chip Kicks – Nice welcome addition to the game. Loved using them and I can see people liking the much welcome addition. Will open the game up a little more.
• Commentary – Some big names in the game. People will enjoy (or not in some cases) the choices and all three sets of commentators add their own unique spin on the game.
• Layout and Presentation – Really nice and simple. Eye catching and people can work their way around various screens easily.
• Quick Ball – With the breakdown system revamped, the importance of quick ball allows an attacker to exploit gaps in the defence and mismatches just like in real life.
• Rucking System – Probably my favourite feature. Can be annoying at times but the overhaul is certainly a welcome addition to the game.
• End to End View - I think the game plays better from this view than the side camera.
Negatives
• Diving for loose ball on the floor – Found it to be very unrealistic and a big annoyance.
• Lineouts – One button press is not for me enough of a challenge in single player, when playing with a mate, communication is key in ensuring the person controlling the hooker and the jumper press the correct buttons at the correct time, something along these lines should have been incorporated for single player.
• Player Ratings – Some players I did not agree with their ratings as in John Hayes rated above Mike Ross. Hopefully this will be addressed before the game comes out.
• Side Camera – I'm an end to end camera man so found it difficult to play in Side Camera. For me the End to End view offers a better view of the game, and I think people will agree with me when the game does come out.
• Some animations brought over from Rugby 08 – Some people have already picked up on this. For me I like some of the animations but there are some like the sidestep / tackling animations that are just tedious.
• Unlicensed sides – Sadly its disappointing that not all teams are licensed for the Rugby World Cup game.
So for the conclusion ….
Conclusion
I found the game to be good and a massive hand to HB Studios for producing a rugby game after such a long wait. The AI difficulty has changed to make it harder. I found hard to be hard which should be good for the people who said hard in previous versions was to easy. Presentation and the cut scenes make a big difference and made you feel right at home with the World Cup. From the time I picked this game up it had a sense of familiarity to it. The graphics have been much debated and they do look better than people are giving them credit for but something that certainly could be improved upon in the future. As always the game has its positives and well as its share of negatives, no game is ever going to be perfect and hopefully in the future the negatives will be eradicated. Certainly looking forward to this game coming out on 26 August and hopefully this is the start of regular rugby games coming onto the Xbox 360 and PS3 in the future.
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WHY ONLY 20 TEAMS????? hey why they dont put another 10 teams like...... CHILE, URUGUAY, BRAZIL, PORTUGAL, SPAIN, MORROCO, CZECH REPUBLIC, UKRAINE, HONH KONG, KOREA??............... and besides.. where is the freakin demo? 
