Favourite 5 & Least Favourite 5 Features of our Games

[gmoe]

Another dislike I just remember is that when you dive to tackle the first five but he just gets the pass away you automatically dive further and hit the 1st receiver before he gets the ball resulting in a penalty.

I am harping on about Jonah Lomu Rugby but it has to be said: I wish that the "dive" tackle was like JLR in that it stopped a player immediately unless he fended you. In HB's previous releases, as you point out, you'd dive and the player would continue to run and then stagger over. Has anybody else seen the pathetic army roll that this sometimes causes?

 

[JanM]

Thanks for asking the fans of the game.

Five favourite:
Set plays are awesome
World league (though it gets boring when you manage a good team)


Least favourite:
Diffuculty far far too easy !!!!!!!!!!!!
Can not chose real boots
Not enough freedom with create a player (all created players look the same)
Not enough freedom on pitch like when they show the players are shoving each other you should be able to decide what to do.
Rules are not up to date and the inforcing of the rules are horrible there is almost no advantage for a penalty.
And you should be able to tackle extremely hard like the hit stick in madden

 

[sarugby05]

5 Favorite
1. Stadiums
2. Tournaments
3. Multiplayer
4. Teams
5. Camera angles

5 Least Favorite
1. zig zag running (the quick turns from side to side)
2. rucks
3. Rules
4. ball phisics
5. AI

 

[Dizzy]

I am harping on about Jonah Lomu Rugby but it has to be said: I wish that the "dive" tackle was like JLR in that it stopped a player immediately unless he fended you. In HB's previous releases, as you point out, you'd dive and the player would continue to run and then stagger over. Has anybody else seen the pathetic army roll that this sometimes causes?

lmao, I've seen this pathetic army roll... but that's not what I am talking about. It's like, you do the superman tackle at the same time as the pass commences and instead of hitting the person you're aiming for, your player goes straight through him and hits the person receiving the pass before he makes the catch and you get a penalty.

But since you brought up the army roll, who gets stressed when you get ankle tapped and roll and then it takes an eternity for your player to stand up, whilst this is happening all the players surround you and you can't action anything until you stand up and you just get caught in a stand still tackle.

This needs to be actioned, maybe add a feature where if a player is tapped and falls to ground, make a button where you can bridge over him and steal the ball, or commence a ruck of some sort or if you're the player on the ground with the ball, implement a pop up pass or something.

 

[Tim93]

5 Favourite:
-10 Nations competition
-World League, could be improved to have manager mode like in FIFA
-Provincial competitions, would be good to have Currie Cup and ITM cup
-Being able to play a rugby game!

5 Least:
-Players looked the same in rugby 08 as in rugby 04 eg Dan Carter, Richie McCaw
-No Tour option, eg can't take All Blacks on Grand Slam Tour
-Difficulty wasn't hard enough
-Sidesteps, fends etc were not realistic
-No variation in kicks, can't do a chip kick

 

[nixon869]

Hmm seems like i posted my ideas on the wrong thread or it got removed...oh well here we go again

5 LIKES:
*RUGBY '08 could just be picked it up and be played,so I hope the gameplay doesn't change too much
*STADIUMS looked really good. I personally liked Queensland (i'm an avid Sharks supporter, but i don't feel Durban's stadium was done justice
*PLAYER LIKENESSES were pretty spot on if u think Percy Montgomery,John Smit and Dan Carter and a few others...
*VARIETY of tournaments from Rugby '04
*SOUNDTRACKS...always fitting

5 DISLIKES:
*NO ON-FIELD REFEREE/LINESMEN/TMO...enough said
*LEAGUES...we need more. The Currie Cup,NPC and Aussie leagues NEEDS to be there. The southern hemisphere is the powerhouse of world rugby,yet we don't have our leagues in any rugby game. Focus more on us for once, please,and less on Europe? Also smaller countries,let them play in a 'World League' type of tournament or a Knockout Cup
*INACCURATE KITS...I know this might require getting licenses from teams like Stade Francais,etc.,but this is what the fans would like i think
*BETTER RATINGS SYSTEM...so many players were rated poorly in '08 when they're awesome players. Francois Steyn for one - rated as a poor kicker? Erm..yh. Do away with the star ratings please and rather give the user the oppertunity to toggle the stats for players in cases where their real life counterparts improve over time.
*CREATION CENTRAL...we had limits to our creations regarding players in the past. Give us more options and the oppertunity to create our own tournaments,teams,kits and stadiums. (thinking MADDEN here).
*THE HAKA...i think this is a personal thing,but nothing gets a fan and player going like the Haka. Give the user the choice of which Haka to perform and maybe throw in an interactive twist here? Just a thought. It's little things that make a game great.

Can't think of much else now,but I will continue to check in. Keep up the good work HB Studios. You've never disappointed. Much appreciated.

 

[judsonlaming]

5 most favourite
impact players (good idea but need 2 decrease their godlike abilities, eg o driscoll tackle breaks)
off loads in 06 and 08 but again need to decrease the amount of times it is possible, could offload for ages
amount of tournaments in 06, went off the rails on 08 and made less tournaments, hoping there will be heaps of tournaments in 2012
challenge mode in 08 but make it the old players if possible
world league but would be better like in fifa's manager mode with real tournaments.

5 worst
rules were not accurate(not straight at line out a penalty?)
defence was way 2 easy i can get over 100 points a match on elite 5 min halves.
inaccurate with some players, in 08 kankowski can play fly-half? and frans steyn could play wing but not centre?
commentary, lack of different comments and could be delayed sometimes or totally irrelevant(eg kick off from other team scoring a try and they say, so off we go the start of the 2nd half
lack of tournaments in 08, made the game very quick and could get all trophies in no time at all

 

[gmoe]

lmao, I've seen this pathetic army roll... but that's not what I am talking about. It's like, you do the superman tackle at the same time as the pass commences and instead of hitting the person you're aiming for, your player goes straight through him and hits the person receiving the pass before he makes the catch and you get a penalty.

But since you brought up the army roll, who gets stressed when you get ankle tapped and roll and then it takes an eternity for your player to stand up, whilst this is happening all the players surround you and you can't action anything until you stand up and you just get caught in a stand still tackle.

This needs to be actioned, maybe add a feature where if a player is tapped and falls to ground, make a button where you can bridge over him and steal the ball, or commence a ruck of some sort or if you're the player on the ground with the ball, implement a pop up pass or something.

Agree 1million per cent.

 

[emilenium]

I think the best thing to do for rugby 2012 is to forgive all the past rugby video games !! they were fun but when i see that it's possible to do !!
animations wasn't realist, the run of players wasn't close enough decomposed. madden is closer to rugby runs.
WORLD CLASS RUGBY on Amiga was very close to rugby sensations ! yes it's so far !!
BECAUSE WE WANT A REAL RUGBY GAME !!
you've to be inspired by madden gameplay and world class rugby
we trust you !! give us a Rugby game !!

 

[emilenium]

gmoe and dizzy

yes !! like in jonah lomu rugby we want to contest the rucks ( alternate X and O)

 

[beerholder]

the good.

# Licensed Teams and Competitions
# Set Plays
# Momentum thingy
# Adequate player control (unlike 2001)
# Camera system (very useful in 08)

the bad

# massive rucking issues (backs don't join, no one takes as scrum half, etc)
# punts are too accurate
# Up and overs are useless (always too high making the target area always covered by the defense)
# The animations take a lot of time (shoulder charge, side step, tackle, etc.) making the game less dynamic and realistic
# Judging errors (touching the sideline while playing advantage results in line-out for the opposite team, no advantage in dangerous tackles,etc.)

All in all, if I'd have to pick only one thing to improve, that would certainly be the rucking system.


Looknig at an idle ruck that waits for the scrum halves takes away the cool of the game.

 

[Dizzy]

yes beerholder, waiting for the halfback to turn up must be removed... because 99.99999% of the time if your halfback is running from 20m away to get to the ruck you lose the ball as soon as he arrives..

 

[beerholder]

they can at least make a pick and go system that would work with any player...

 

[Munster9]

Hello, I am so happy that ye have finally saw the potential for a good rugby game.

4 positives : Set plays ( ye cud introduce own custom plays made by da player)
Big Hits
Hand offs and shoulder charges at pace
Star players

9 negatives : Ball physics ( da movement of da ball is unrealistic, wud love to see a proper spiral pass wit dif
movements of da ball depending on aspects of da pass, also taking wind into consideration)

Player authenticity (unrealistic player movement, needs someting lke Maddens stlye for it to luk and feel authtentic)

Stupid knock-ons

Curtain clubs not licened ( Munster one of the best clubs around and i am a avid supporter of dem which i was
disappointed in da last games that they did not have the jersey)

No Hein Cup ( prob the best competition in world rugby )

Kicking styles very limited

Rucking and mauling was terrible

Limited options on line-outs

World leauge is unrealistic ( need to be more lke fifas manager mode).

There is no doubt that ye in hb studios can make fantastic games ( Madden, fifa etc ) i jst hope ye put as much time and effort
into making this highly anticpated rugby game, as ye did for these other ***les.Thank you for your time

 

[HarryPeters]

Stupid knock-ons

How do you mean? You can turn them down on 08 you know? And knock ons are part of the game, I didn't see any stupid ones when I was playing.

 

[gmoe]

How do you mean? You can turn them down on 08 you know? And knock ons are part of the game, I didn't see any stupid ones when I was playing.

Munster wants the Jonah Lomu setting lol... where you can knock on, recover and score tries. Sorta' like the NRL

 

[groenewaldwf]

Negative: Challenge mode should have a real feel of it's time. Eg. Have the '95 Springboks & All Blacks play with their authentic 1995 kit, players. Maybe have the Boeing fly overhead etc. It should give the feel that you travel back in time and experience it first hand.

No Curie Cup or Air NZ Cup?

Can't play custom tournaments.

Bad player and team stats.

Crowd and referee animations

Positive: British Lions

Set-plays (need a set play editor though- to create your own plays!)

 

[donmcdazzle]

Hi all,

my favourite thing is all the licensed teams/players, although i would trade that all in for gameplay. Look at jonah lomu rugby it doesnt have many teams yet people still play it cause the gameplay still holds up as the best rugby game.

The main focus for the developers (by the way awesome they come on here and read comments) should be the animations, AI and physics of the players to make things more realistic/fun.

Most of these have already been mentioned but here are some suggestions:
*players not to run around in bunches like under 5s (attack and D)
*support players running half decent lines after a linebreak and in general play
*kicking animation to be sped up (jonah lomu long kicking was pretty spot on)
*kicker to chase short kicks so a chip and chase can be possible

Here is another idea i think would be awesome if it's possible to implement, and i think the basis of this has been mentioned elsewhere but here goes:
*each player has four set moves for phase play (ruck/maul) mapped to the D-pad and four for set plays (scrum/lineout) [could be edited in a pre game menu]
*moves for phase play would be the more basic sort of rugby moves e.g. dummy cut pop/miss, second man play, cut, miss pass, inside ball from first receiver, halfback pick and pass to a pod of players etc etc the list could be huge to choose from. The basic nature would be because these moves are called on the fly, much like they would be in a game, and can be called no matter who is standing in which position
*moves from set piece would be the more complex ones
*for these it would be good if whatever you called just prompted the players to run those lines, and you make the decision who to give the ball to (could have the face button above each player thing like moves in 2008) based on what happens in front of you. E.g. you call an inside runner off 1st receiver, defender lines up the runner so you dummy and go through.
*could do the same with the defense options e.g. drift, man-on, rush, kick receipt defense etc
*i think this would add a great level of depth and strategy as you could play to a specific gameplan based on your team and the opposition.

This would all obviously hinge on how good the physics/animations/AI are, cause all the features in the world can't make it fun if it doesn't have good basic gameplay. Focus on the core gameplay and all the cool features can be added in later versions of the game.

That's my 5 cents worth sorry for writing an essay!

 

[dundasha]

Positives about previous HB games :

They were RUGBY games.
Fairly decent player models
Club and Country Licenses

Negatives about previous HB games:

General gameplay doesnt quite feel right - Lack of input into what your player was doing. eg. jumping for the ball just by standing there.
On attack, players seemed too bunched - Need more width in the backline.
On defence, I believe that more control is needed - actually pressing a button to tackle, even if it is a smother tackle. This actually gives some depth to defending, rather than lining up your players, and waiting for the opposition to run into them.
( I know there is a "dive" tackle button, but more action is needed in my opinion )
No "jump" button - this MUST be implemented as contesting the ball in open play is essential.
Changing the way rucks and mauls are handled is crucial as well - making a break only to get tackled with your support player (usually a back ) standing around while the opposition steal the ball.

 

[beerholder]

On attack, players seemed too bunched - Need more width in the backline.
On defence, I believe that more control is needed - actually pressing a button to tackle, even if it is a smother tackle. This actually gives some depth to defending, rather than lining up your players, and waiting for the opposition to run into them.

Totally agree! Sometimes the defense just sits inside the try ground praying for the opposition to score. And when you pass the ball from the ruck to the fly half sometimes you pass it 10 meters back, not to mention the missed passes that take you back 30 meters! I mean, what do those guys eat?!
And most of the times a tackled player is put to ground at about 5 meters from the point he was tackled.

Surely the earlier releases had distance adjustment problems