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My Final Thoughts on RC 2006

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CeeJay

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Well i decided to keep this game and not return it, after i found that it did get better after extended play. However, for me it still falls short of the mark. Here is a list of the resons why, as well as some of the resons why this game has potential.

Bad points first

1. Lack of turnover. As ive previouly stated, turnovers are far too few and far between. There is just no way to get the ball other than the odd big it. When you hav possession yourself the opposition cant get the ball off you. But, if you play on intnsive care with a weaker team then you get turned evry 2 or three phases regardless of how many of your players reach the breakdown first, while the opposition still hold it for an age, largley removing the fun. Long possession times also ruin the kicking game, when you finally get the ball you sure as hell arnt going to kick it, and why would you, you dont need to. Unless you are a week team likely to be turned, but even then you are just returning possesion to the other team for a long time, so you might aswell just run

2. Defending is a mess. When you select a new player, it automatically gives you the man outside the guy that you want to tackle, so if you try to make the tackle you leave your man unmarked, and if you wait he just runs by his marker and you! This leads to alot of frustration, and alot of free breaks and tries to the opponent. If you are using a week team especially, the constant scramble is just too much. Especially considering the defence of the ai is great, just not the ai on your team.

3. Getting sucked into tackle animations early. Much like in rugby 2005. This was very dissapointing, as WRC did not hav this problem, rugby 2005 should hav been a good reason no to do this. Great opportunities are almost always shut down by ankle taps or that pick up and dump animation, even thogh you push the button early these animations take over. Also the break tackle animatios, while good for breaking line, they force you to lose control and slow down for a second after the animation, ensuring that someone else nails you every time.

4. Forward passes and knock ons. These happen far too often right when you make the final pass to put a guy into space. At first i thought is was just bad luck, but after extended play, i think it must hav been coded that way to make it a bit tougher, which is understandable, but it just ruins too many much needed opportunities.

5. Like RL2 you cannot really catch the opposition off guard with quick ball. Usually Rucks are delayed until the opposition is back in position. On the odd occasion that you do catch them out, they will play offside and not get penalised for it!! There is nothing worse than getting a hard earned possoessin turned over by an offside player, especially in the dying minutes when the games on the line, as you know that you wont be getting the ball back in a hurry. For me this was a big game killer. You just cant let players play offside.

The rest are more minor problems but still conributed to my disapointment.

6. On intensive care the opposition steal 90% of lineout ball.
7. Offloads dont work properly, or very often, and usually end in turnovrs, which is frustratig coz most of the time it an offload that wasnt intentional.
8. When you send the no 10 back in the pocket to kick, he runs onto the ball at full pace, causing him to run straight into the defense and get tackled.
9. When you try to sidestep, sometimes you get sucked into a break tackle animation instead, only to then throw a pass straight into touch when the animation is finished.

But wait! Theres more, its not all bad!

Good points

1. Animations. All the animations, including running, tackling, and espcially the sidesteps are very well done and give the game a more realistic look than last year.

2. Career mode. Career mode is the thing that kept me playing this game. Its simple, but very well done. The stat building is alot of fun and you can see the results. The training games are genius, absloutely fantastic, the best in any game, actually getting to train your players with a huge variety of training games every week is a video game first i think.

3.Goal kicking. Awsome and challenging goal kicking system

4.Unlockables and cassic matches. There are plenty of these and they add to the game, even if you cant play as nz in ny classic matches.

5. Graphics are very clean and tidy looking. (stadiums lack a bit of detail)

6. The world cup winning celebration is a nice touch.

7. Multiplayer is quite fun, but still suffers from lack of turnovers, so unless you employ the six tackle rule(already mentioned by someone on this forum) it gets old real quick. the six tackle rule being that you you use rucks like tackles in league.

Rc 2006 is a potentially good game that suffers from a combination of flaws seen in past rugby ***les, and some possoession balancing issues. While extended play in career mode is fun, eventully the frustration just gets a bit too much.

I give this game a 6/10

On the plus side though, Swordfish could easily bang together a great RL game. Theyve got all the ground work done, and it already plays like league anyway. Theyve got the gameplay, the grubbers the bombs etc, all they need to do is replace the rucks with playing the ball. Player control is awsome compared to RL2, so it would pease alot of people. Seriously, even an unliscensed league game with all the features of RC 2006 (career mode etc) would be awsome, and it would dissolve alot of the problems with rc 2006.

Sorry for the big rant but i thought id better do it now as im getting rugby 2006 today.
 
I have to agree with you about the turnovers on IC, and the pocket call.

My main complaint is basically the turnovers/possesion. It's like when I played my brother on WCR, if you could hang onto the ball long enough you'd score and if you couldn't get the ball you got ****** on. This happens on IC, if you conced a try, you have to kick of to them, again giving them possesion and they just work their way up the pitch all over again, my only respite seems to be my occasionall accidental interceptions. But often it's the same for me, if I score and get the ball back, as long as the team I'm playing aren't higher rated I can just batter them into submission.

For me the best rucking system is still JLR (WCR/RC2006 is second). In JLR you could defend, not commit players to rucks, bide your time, and then pile players in and force a turnover, even with poor teams against good ones.
 
I agree with most of that too.

I said in the very beginning about the tackle animations stopping you from passing the ball eearly just like in r2005 but noone wanted to confirm it. The number of times i've had a one or two man overlap only to get tackled because he hasn't passed the ball out!

The defensive is exactly like you say it is, which is why i grab my player and move him into position to tackle the guy the AI is obviously going to pass to. Works a lot of the time (unrealistic though).

A decent way to create overlaps is to put the faster player in the team in the centre, then if you get a ruck near the goal line, pass to him and run straight across the field until you get to the last man and pass out to the winger just before you get tackled. try most of the time.

Sidestep is totally useless, you either get completely swallowed up in the next tackle, or the animation takes so long a defender gets back to cover.

Fends are pretty crap to (at least i can't do them).
 
There are three side step animations, one is useless the other occasional and the third good. They all look good, but two of them take too long. Fends are a waste of time.
 
Fends aren't a waste of time. You get crazy runs with them, you just don't actually see the fending animation most of the time.
 
Yeah, its just like the break tackle animation wise, but i was never quite sure if it was because i was sprinting at the line or pushing fend, so i stopped pushing fend and it still happened so i figured the fend was not needed.
 
Originally posted by CeeJay@Feb 15 2006, 12:01 PM
There are three side step animations, one is useless the other occasional and the third good. They all look good, but two of them take too long. Fends are a waste of time.
Liar!!

Theres the twirly one which is perfect every time (although, it seems to move in the opposite direction to all of the others, so if you're right out on the wing you have to be careful), theres the classic one-step one which is good, theres the Rugby 2005 type swerve which is okay (works better than 05), and theres the silly stop and throw your arms about like a man on fire one...Which is only good if you can get an offload off to some guy doubling around to sprint down the wing...Otherwise its crap.
 
I didnt think about the twirly one!! It only happens with some players, and those players are unable to do any of the other ones. The twirly one works fine aswell. Happy?
 
the only one thats any good is the shuffle from left to right but most of my guys seem to want to dance around like fairies.
 
Originally posted by CeeJay@Feb 15 2006, 09:55 AM
Well i decided to keep this game and not return it, after i found that it did get better after extended play. However, for me it still falls short of the mark. Here is a list of the resons why, as well as some of the resons why this game has potential.

Bad points first

1. Lack of turnover. As ive previouly stated, turnovers are far too few and far between. There is just no way to get the ball other than the odd big it. When you hav possession yourself the opposition cant get the ball off you. But, if you play on intnsive care with a weaker team then you get turned evry 2 or three phases regardless of how many of your players reach the breakdown first, while the opposition still hold it for an age, largley removing the fun. Long possession times also ruin the kicking game, when you finally get the ball you sure as hell arnt going to kick it, and why would you, you dont need to. Unless you are a week team likely to be turned, but even then you are just returning possesion to the other team for a long time, so you might aswell just run

2. Defending is a mess. When you select a new player, it automatically gives you the man outside the guy that you want to tackle, so if you try to make the tackle you leave your man unmarked, and if you wait he just runs by his marker and you! This leads to alot of frustration, and alot of free breaks and tries to the opponent. If you are using a week team especially, the constant scramble is just too much. Especially considering the defence of the ai is great, just not the ai on your team.

3. Getting sucked into tackle animations early. Much like in rugby 2005. This was very dissapointing, as WRC did not hav this problem, rugby 2005 should hav been a good reason no to do this. Great opportunities are almost always shut down by ankle taps or that pick up and dump animation, even thogh you push the button early these animations take over. Also the break tackle animatios, while good for breaking line, they force you to lose control and slow down for a second after the animation, ensuring that someone else nails you every time.

4. Forward passes and knock ons. These happen far too often right when you make the final pass to put a guy into space. At first i thought is was just bad luck, but after extended play, i think it must hav been coded that way to make it a bit tougher, which is understandable, but it just ruins too many much needed opportunities.

5. Like RL2 you cannot really catch the opposition off guard with quick ball. Usually Rucks are delayed until the opposition is back in position. On the odd occasion that you do catch them out, they will play offside and not get penalised for it!! There is nothing worse than getting a hard earned possoessin turned over by an offside player, especially in the dying minutes when the games on the line, as you know that you wont be getting the ball back in a hurry. For me this was a big game killer. You just cant let players play offside.

The rest are more minor problems but still conributed to my disapointment.

6. On intensive care the opposition steal 90% of lineout ball.
7. Offloads dont work properly, or very often, and usually end in turnovrs, which is frustratig coz most of the time it an offload that wasnt intentional.
8. When you send the no 10 back in the pocket to kick, he runs onto the ball at full pace, causing him to run straight into the defense and get tackled.
9. When you try to sidestep, sometimes you get sucked into a break tackle animation instead, only to then throw a pass straight into touch when the animation is finished.

But wait! Theres more, its not all bad!

Good points

1. Animations. All the animations, including running, tackling, and espcially the sidesteps are very well done and give the game a more realistic look than last year.

2. Career mode. Career mode is the thing that kept me playing this game. Its simple, but very well done. The stat building is alot of fun and you can see the results. The training games are genius, absloutely fantastic, the best in any game, actually getting to train your players with a huge variety of training games every week is a video game first i think.

3.Goal kicking. Awsome and challenging goal kicking system

4.Unlockables and cassic matches. There are plenty of these and they add to the game, even if you cant play as nz in ny classic matches.

5. Graphics are very clean and tidy looking. (stadiums lack a bit of detail)

6. The world cup winning celebration is a nice touch.

7. Multiplayer is quite fun, but still suffers from lack of turnovers, so unless you employ the six tackle rule(already mentioned by someone on this forum) it gets old real quick. the six tackle rule being that you you use rucks like tackles in league.

Rc 2006 is a potentially good game that suffers from a combination of flaws seen in past rugby ***les, and some possoession balancing issues. While extended play in career mode is fun, eventully the frustration just gets a bit too much.

I give this game a 6/10

On the plus side though, Swordfish could easily bang together a great RL game. Theyve got all the ground work done, and it already plays like league anyway. Theyve got the gameplay, the grubbers the bombs etc, all they need to do is replace the rucks with playing the ball. Player control is awsome compared to RL2, so it would pease alot of people. Seriously, even an unliscensed league game with all the features of RC 2006 (career mode etc) would be awsome, and it would dissolve alot of the problems with rc 2006.

Sorry for the big rant but i thought id better do it now as im getting rugby 2006 today.
Pretty much spot on, I'd say.

The frustrating thing is that the engine is pretty much all there - if only for some gameplay tweaks, it could be really really good. If nothing else, if rucks were faster, and turnovers more common, and fair, then the game would probably jump to 8/10 from 6/10. IMO.

Code wise, these things are trivial to change - it's just a case of getting the right balance when playtesting it. Swordfish seem to have got the balance wrong, sadly. Makes you think would would happen if they could have done a more extensive gameplay testing period using people on the forum.
 
I just finished a game on intensive care mode between Highlanders (me) and Hurricanes (CPU), and it ended up as 23 - 10 to me.

Possession was split 50-50 down the middle exactly. I had a slight territory advantage.

The ball was turned over a billion times. I won their rucks many times, definitely more than they stole mine, and I even nicked a maul of theirs right on my tryline. (they scored anyway from the scrum that took place because I was tackled once I got the ball).

Turnovers were very frequent.

I also played as the Highlanders against the All Blacks, and got smoked (sort of).
I didn't see the ball as much as I did in the other game, but no less than I'd expect from a club team playing against the best team in the world. I snatched one turnover from a ruck, but won every scrum (why is the ai so useless at scrums and mauls?)... It was a very competitive game.
When you play as a lesser team, you can expect to see little ball. Two very evenly matched teams however, and there seems to be turnovers a plenty.
 
Originally posted by kaftka@Feb 16 2006, 12:49 AM
I just finished a game on intensive care mode between Highlanders (me) and Hurricanes (CPU), and it ended up as 23 - 10 to me.

Possession was split 50-50 down the middle exactly. I had a slight territory advantage.

The ball was turned over a billion times. I won their rucks many times, definitely more than they stole mine, and I even nicked a maul of theirs right on my tryline. (they scored anyway from the scrum that took place because I was tackled once I got the ball).

Turnovers were very frequent.

I also played as the Highlanders against the All Blacks, and got smoked (sort of).
I didn't see the ball as much as I did in the other game, but no less than I'd expect from a club team playing against the best team in the world. I snatched one turnover from a ruck, but won every scrum (why is the ai so useless at scrums and mauls?)... It was a very competitive game.
When you play as a lesser team, you can expect to see little ball. Two very evenly matched teams however, and there seems to be turnovers a plenty.
Interesting. We should compile a list of fixtures in which turnovers are most likely to occur.

Playing as Wales v Ireland on IC mode, I win about 2 turnovers a game, concede many, and have little posession. Even when I heavily outnumber them at rucks, I don't get a turnover.

I'll try the highlanders v the hurricans tonight!
 
on IC mode i just completed the 6 nations, losing only to France :bravo:

I've managed a draw with SA yet get completely trounced by Australia to embarassing proportions. can't control their ruck or attack at all.
 
Originally posted by kaftka@Feb 16 2006, 12:49 AM
I just finished a game on intensive care mode between Highlanders (me) and Hurricanes (CPU), and it ended up as 23 - 10 to me.

Possession was split 50-50 down the middle exactly. I had a slight territory advantage.

The ball was turned over a billion times. I won their rucks many times, definitely more than they stole mine, and I even nicked a maul of theirs right on my tryline. (they scored anyway from the scrum that took place because I was tackled once I got the ball).

Turnovers were very frequent.

I also played as the Highlanders against the All Blacks, and got smoked (sort of).
I didn't see the ball as much as I did in the other game, but no less than I'd expect from a club team playing against the best team in the world. I snatched one turnover from a ruck, but won every scrum (why is the ai so useless at scrums and mauls?)... It was a very competitive game.
When you play as a lesser team, you can expect to see little ball. Two very evenly matched teams however, and there seems to be turnovers a plenty.
Well kaftka, when i play with a weak team i see littelball,(IC) but when i play with a good team possession times are still long, I get turned more often that them, but its still hella long. Do you hav frequent turnovers in all your games? This has never happened for me, what are you doing thats different?

Yeah, on IC having numbers at the ruck,sadly makes little differnce.
 
That's silly. The Highlanders are about one/tenth of a star better than the Hurricanes, and I have to say the ball seemed pretty much split down the middle in terms of turnovers.

The times when I did get a turnover was usually when I had a helluva lot of men in the ruck, meaning they do as well, then at the last second pull them all out so theres three left. Whe they pass the ball out wide, big hit them, and the ruck is usually so much easier to win.

I stole the ball from a ruck about 5 times in that match (15 minutes) which is ample when I can win every scrum with ease (very annoying. Often I just let them win to even things up.).

What do you mean having more numbers at the ruck makes little difference? With two evenly matched teams, you MUST have more players in the ruck. If you have three and they have five, then the bar quickly moves their way, and vice versa. whereas if you have three and they have three or four, then you will win your own ball.
Offloading has become essential for me now. When you're pretty much isolated (you always seem to have at least one guy in support though) an offload to him is very important to retain ball. A hint with offloading. When you're using the last man out wide, cut back in so theres room outside, and offload out wide again. Your support player should go out wide right as you off load and retrieve the ball, cut back in with him again (unless he's freaking fast) and voila! Players are there for a ruck.

In terms of a **** team versus a good team, I always expect little ball compared to good vs good etc. But it's still very possible to retain the ball.

Overall, this game is fairly easy imo. But I still get the occassional loss. Mainly through madness on defence.
 
I have to say I agree with CJ... I've played RC 06 for a little while now, and while I don't hate it as much as I did in the begining, I still don't really like it and it's very clear to me now that this game is NOTHING like real rugby... it's more like a game of sevens. You never punt when in possession, because it's easier to just hold onto it and if you throw the ball around enough you'll always find space. The only way this game is a challenge is if you pick a totally **** team and play the AB's or another top side... and that's not fun, it's just irritating.

Anyway, here's my final score after extended play:

Graphics: 4.5
Seriously, the graphics are terrible in this game... it looks about the same level as crash bandicoot from PS1
Sound: 7
Decent I guess, all the expected grunts etc from the players and a passable, if not a touch booring commentary.
Gameplay: 5
It depends what you're looking for, but momentumless player movement, lottery line outs, rucks without turnovers (very rare if teams are equal), AFL ball rules for out of bounds players (ie: the player can be out if the ball is still inside the line), the return of the barge tackle (albiet a tiny bit toned down) and the lack of any deapth in regard to set plays or options at the ruck base just didn't do it for me... I know they said it would be very arcade like, but still, I thought it'd feel less like 7's this time around.
Features/Lifespan: 7
Plenty of tourny's and features here to keep you going, even if they are missing key SH licenses (but that's not swordfish's fault)... but again, you have to like the style of game for it to be of any importance.

OVERALL:
5.5
 
Well Kaftka i guess id hav to sit down and play a game with you and see it for myself, not much of what you are saying happens in the game i was playing (playing rugby 06 now)

Next time im in waipuk....
 
Originally posted by sanzar@Feb 16 2006, 12:53 PM
AFL ball rules for out of bounds players (ie: the player can be out if the ball is still inside the line)
As i've said before I don't mind this. Most of the time the legs are out and not called but at a ruck you'd expect the player to release the ball - if their is enough momentum in the tackle you will of course go straight out. I think Trev should have dismissed this fault as an intentional gameplay inclusion, not only for realism but quick flowing gameplay.
 

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