Why the big fuss over JLR ?

[Carlosneath]

Ever since I started reading this forum, all I ever hear is how good JLR was and still is.

I eventually played it for the first time a few weeks ago on my nephew's PS1, I bought it for him off E-bay just to try it myself after getting tired of hearing how it's "still the best".

Expecting it to be great, I was well disappointed, the gx were so bad and the speed of the game so fast, I literally couldn't tell which team had the ball much of the time.

Has everyone been raving about the PC version of JLR or what, coz the PS1 version was mediocre at best ? Myabe the PC version has decent gx and is more playable ?

Before I get slated for heracy against JLR, this is just my own opinion, if you still like JLR then good for you. The gameplay in JLR was OK'ish (for a PS1 game) but I can't see how it can be compared to current R2006. R2006 has a lot of faults, but at least you can see which team has the ball !

 

[Mr. Laxative]

Yes, it is your opinion, but frankly (I think) on any machine it is still king. Just a bit better than Rugby 2001 and the recent releases.

 

[sambãd5]

gameplay was superb. fast, offloads, best kicking system by far. no animations to slow the game down. best rucking system to date. best scrum and maul capabilitiies. best multi player game ever. lineouts were good.

graphics? the games almost as old as rassie. give it a break. the only real bad things about it would be the fact that you can fend a whole team and theres no set plays.

 

[Black-Monday]

I find it painful to play old games, some are alright if in 2d. Although when you start playing games that attempted it becomes harsh and horrible.

I used to think JLR and BLC 1999 rocked but well when i got the new pc and rugby and cricket 05. I never went back. How does the graphical supporitiy and endless possibilities compare to a few square headed men in the same skins compare.

I may as a guy said before being a heretic, but why play with a game that requires the pc of the 90's. When you can play in the mid 00's.

I can never understand this whole retro thing, every genre has a retro 'never beaten' game. To be honest they play like a zimmer frame.

BM

 

[Gay-Guy]

Like playing real rugby for the first time......it will feel sucky...

...then with a bit of practice you will get better and like it....

...if you are really good and make the AB's....you will think you are playing with demi-gods....

....JLR......gave you the experience as you improved that there was no end of improvement! No one can say they were totally unbeatable cos they had learnt everything.....it was the AB of rugby gaming experience when you mastered and realised that total mastery was like kung fu.....a never experience!

If you watch two masters of JLR play against each other....then you will see unbelievable things happen on the feild which astound you and make you wonder.."how can they do this stuff at this speed?"

JLR is a high speed adrenalin rush!!!!

Also the gaps of mastery between each level was clearly defined. A fantastic player would thrash a good player and then get thrashed himself by a master.

In fairness, R2006 I have found is already starting to cut the gap quite a lot with the JLR multiplayer experience. The next versions will probably get closer and closer too.

If you are playing JLR on single player then forget it....it sucked there.

It is too late to master JLR anyway as it takes a good 3 years to be really good at it...and that is only like mid level skill compared to people out there.

But the main significant thing about JLR was the ability to create your own stuff depending on your imagination on the field......no other game seems to come close to this. For instance if you got 2 masters at JLR on this forum playing wach other they would do things that either one had never seen before...everyone attacks so differently.

 

[Gay-Guy]

Originally posted by sambad5@Mar 26 2006, 12:30 PM
lineouts were good.

you can fend a whole team and theres no set plays.

the fact that Sam the bad has said this means he is average at JLR lol!!!!!!

Lineouts are the best ever! I mean...choice of long or short.....fake selection choice of target (select target by pushing button will select target but the icon does not stop going up and down until you release the button pressed hich fools people watching where you are throwing). Selecting players to lift (this game is ahead of its time as it was made BEFORE lifting became legal. You can see the lifting animation if you stop and watch a replay). Running the "target" out of his position to the lifters to be lifted thereby catching the ball at its maximum height of its curve rather than wait for it to arrive at the original targets position (talk about fooling the opposition)!!!!! Man the lineout system was amazing for those who mastered it!

Fending the whole team????? Only worked on those who exclusively tackled with the x button and didn't know how to smother and re-smother if you missed.

 

[BigTen]

So true Gay-Guy the line-outs were fantastic and nobody else has gotten close.

The fact that they were so simple yet so enjoyable and satisfying is amazing. Watching the expression on another person's face as you destroyed their line-out time and time again was so priceless.

Or scoring a length of the field try to snatch the game in the final moments to send your friend to storm out of the house in a rage only to have your friend come back fifteen minutes later to take "one more shot at the champ."

The game has aged, I agree. And the limitations on the game are obvious - no subs, old roster etc. But for god's sake - the game is almost ten years old. Take a look at football games from the same era and compare them to new ones and see the improvement.

Rugby games have just not moved on as much and because of that gamers who first tasted a rugby game with JLR will always find it hard to move on. Everything will always come back to a basic comparison and that is just the way that it is.

I still find myself coming back to JLR and acknowledging that it will always punch way above it's weight.

 

[sambãd5]

Originally posted by Gay-Guy@Mar 26 2006, 07:18 PM
(select target by pushing button will select target but the icon does not stop going up and down until you release the button pressed hich fools people watching where you are throwing).

i did not know that!

as for the rest of your post about lineouts, in my defence, i havent cracked it out since before xmas. i did forget about lifting. that was awesome. ok someone edit my post changing lineouts to awesome.

by fending the whole team, i mean cpu, and dumb people. (aka my opposition)

 

[Saint N Sinner]

Asking what all the fuss over JLR is all about is like asking what all the fuss Space Invaders, and Pacman and all the rest was about...

It was an instant classic rugby gaming hearts and still is...it is a game in its own dude.

 

[Gay-Guy]

Originally posted by sambãd5+Mar 27 2006, 05:56 AM-->

<!--QuoteBegin-Gay-Guy

@Mar 26 2006, 07:18 PM
(select target by pushing button will select target but the icon does not stop going up and down until you release the button pressed hich fools people watching where you are throwing).

i did not know that!

[/b]

Give it a go...it is so funny....

Select the back jumper after you have chosen maybe the entire pack as lifters but when you push the button for the back jumper DO NOT let go. Wait until the icon select has gone up and down a few times and then LET GO of the button when it is on the FRONT guy of the lineout. You will see your opponent think you are doing a throw to the front and jump immediately....only for the ball to go over to the back. As soon as you throw in you will automatically convert to the guy you selected at the back....run him to the middle and jump......he will be lifted by the middle guy so high his feet will be over their heads....

When you get good at it you can jump at an anle across the lineout and do the "jump over the whole pack" trick but that is a bit dishonourable.....

Another great thing that they did with lineouts was that the camera angle was to the side at an angle....so you got a 3D view of the lineout.....

 

[umosay]

This game was released in 1997... that's when it should have been played and when it was considered the best.

 

[DNAPlay]

Gay-Guy, I think you hit the nail on the head when you spoke about the differing degrees of skill levels for JLR. A good player would be thrashed by a brilliant player, who in turn would be annihilated by a master. Never since has there been a rugby game, or any game for that matter, where one could learn so many skills over the course of a few years, and obliterate any opposition who wasn't as learned as you. Of course all this would be pretty crap if you didn't actually have a mate whom grew up learning the game as you did. Luckily I did...

Many memories stem from the thousands of matches we've played against eachother, and many tables, chairs, hearts were broken on days when EVERYTHING just worked, and I'd beat him 10 matches in a row, only for him to do the same to me the following day. I remember I had a psycholgical edge over him when I'd select Australia, and Jason Little's first touch of the ball I'd ALWAYS hoist a "huge Gary Owen" and start singing "Australia" by the Manic Street Preachers, at the top of my voice...

Everytime I hit "I....Wanna fly high until it hurts.." he'd be SO determined to tackle Little when he regathered that he'd forget everything else...and the result would usually be the same - Little would come out of the mess unscathed, with the ball tucked neatly under his arm, and jinx his way to another try...

My mate would sit their in silent fury, while I'd already be on...."In Australia...!!!!...why aren't you singing with James? It's a good song...you're awfully silent..."

Memories are made of this game...and no game since has illicited such amazing anecdotes...

 

[sambãd5]

Originally posted by DNAPlay@Mar 27 2006, 10:12 PM
Memories are made of this game...and no game since has illicited such amazing anecdotes...

that says it all imo.

no other game in my life, have i played when you remember a single moment from one game that was played 10 yrs ago.

when you play someone who has a completely diffrent style than you and you think, oh ****, im screwed, then you find that your style works better and your just ... just.... aaah.

i was playing my mate for the 1st time, and he was foward oreintated, particular mauls. he mauled me at least 20m every time. i think he got me half the feild once. i couldnt belive it. got up by about 10 pts. but then a few chip n chases later. a few bombs within his 22, cross kicks, grubbers, got in frount won the game by about 8 i think it was.

bombs they were great when i was the only one who knew how to do it. get in there 22, even half way from there 22 and there try line, run backwards and do a x kick. over your head and very high. get a winger to get under it and jump. very rewarding. i also perfected the grubber too. great when you get your sh to do one quickly to the winger ahh. im going to have to crank this game out soon.

 

[THE CHIROPRACTOR101]

Originally posted by Carlosneath@Mar 26 2006, 12:22 PM


Before I get slated for heracy against JLR, this is just my own opinion, if you still like JLR then good for you. The gameplay in JLR was OK'ish (for a PS1 game) but I can't see how it can be compared to current R2006. R2006 has a lot of faults, but at least you can see which team has the ball !

u just said it right there...for a 'ps1 game'..at the time the fun factor of it was never ending especially if you had some real competitive family,friends that u cud play multiplayer with

in saying that dont get confused with the whole multiplayer thing...coz there a thousands of fun multiplaying vid games but only one rugby game where it was 'fun' to play it..lets see now

rugby 2001 multiplayer and general gameplay - average
rugby 2$%^ multiplayer and general gameplay - non existant
rugby 2005 multiplayer and general gameplay - fun with glitches
world championship rugby multiplayer and general gameplay - fun in small doses

jlr was way ahead of fun factor...coz we were stuck back in that mindset in97 coz with the ever increasing technology we always expected 'the best' in the world to happen to these rugby games..which never eventuated untill rugby 06 matched up with jlr...
single player is as bearable as todays 2006..im comparing times as back then i could play jonah for hours until i got sick of it just like 2006

im glad to say it is ofcourse 'better' and enjoyable to play..and once again im in that mindset to expect next years release and future rugby gaming as the best thing to look out for in gaming terms

 

[el_tk]

Best rugby game ever-most realistic rucking system that gives crap teams a chance to win ball. And the ability to take real quick penalties. And the commentary. And all the rubbish teams, God how I loved playing with Germany. If I could arse myself getting it to work on XP I so would.

 

[Black|Raven]

the thing i love about lomu was "the no loading" style of play.....quick taps worked...quick lineouts worked. ahhh the memories!

what i found amazing was the fact that you could read your opponent like a real game and change your gaming style to beat him/her.

if my opponent couldn't time his catches then i would use the chip 'n' chase, cross field kick or gary owens. if he/she used 'x' tackle alot, sidesteps or fends (although we banned it in our games) would be the go. there was so many ways of outsmarting your opponent that it wasn't funny!

there is so much creativity in different aspects of rugby that you can do in lomu!
-lineouts
-scrums
-mauls
-kicks
-passing

all of which you can create your own style to! you can have players saying "WTF was that......AWESOME!"

i loved this game to DEATH that i was unbeaten for 3yrs (playing mainly school mates and my brother).....i actually had rules to follow so that they would score.
it was like an addiction only cured if there was no electricity or TV!

btw my last time playing lomu i was bored once coz my bro wouldnt play me so i beat ivory coast with AB's 305-0......i showed him and he's never played it since.
i stopped coz lomu cd was scratched and i was having exams, work etc...

1999 was the day the music died :cryy:

 

[kaftka]

1999 was a year, dumbarse.

 

[mikmo]

If i could pick only one game to play for the rest of my life it would be JLR...

i don't care about the graphics you could just play the game over and over, so much depth, so many levels of skill. No doubt alot of us think we were the dudes at this game, but we all know there could be someone else out there better still... the possibilities were endless in this game!

Why can't they release the exact same game engine, controls everything and just re-jig the graphics? Forget animations and stuff... exactly the same just more colours and pixels.

 

[sambãd5]

Originally posted by Black|Raven@Mar 29 2006, 11:43 PM
i beat ivory coast with AB's 305-0

i once beat china 360-0. i dont really know what happened. i looked at the scoreboard just after half time and it was like 170-0. i was like, ****. its going to be a big'in

 

[Gay-Guy]

Originally posted by mikmo@Mar 30 2006, 04:03 AM
If i could pick only one game to play for the rest of my life it would be JLR...

Only one game pips JLR for me if I had to give out the "game for life" tag.

Goldeneye.

That was only because Goldeneye had four players against each other.

JLR would be the sports game for me of all time