Backbreaker Review - CaptainZombie's Blog

CaptainZombie's Blog

Backbreaker Review

Posted on June 2, 2010 at 01:23 AM.

The tackling engine is very well done and will be very very hard enjoying future football releases from other companies when looking at what this engine can do. On the field, the tackling animations are the best we will probably see till BB2 releases.

Some of the action on the field has been very cool which we haven't seen done so well by a football game yet. I had a pass bounce off of 2 guys and then get caught for an interception. I had another instance where a guy dove for the ball only to have it bounce out of his hands and into another players for an INT. There are some neat things going on here.

I don't care about fake leagues being used, it is the only way around not having the NFL license. I think that this game actually does a pretty good job of giving us a fictional league and does not have over the top gameplay like Blitz. With Blitz they did a good job providing the history of the league, but I disliked the gameplay on the field and how the difficulty ramped out of control.

Once you get past the wonderful tackling animations and semi-deep customization, you are left with many issues on the field. I feel like the O-line just collapses way too early. This ends up either with me causing excessive interceptions or being sacked. When I get sacked 6-7+ times in a game, there is something wrong here. Then when I see up to 2-3 fumbles per game, my heading is spinning. In no way am I trying to compare this game to realistic NFL stats as I see this being a fictional league using rules of football that we are all used to via the NFL.

The camera at times can be frustrating and gets in the way of a play. It's cool many have been able to get adjusted to it, but it gets worse for me when holding L2 to focus in on a receiver. Things just feel to get a little bit chaotic.

I played a few games where in the first quarter of play the CPU is losing by 7-0 and twice on 4th & 1 they decide to go for it on their 15 yard line. The AI does some very idiotic things.

In 2010, why can I only see my stats during halftime and the end of the game? That to me makes no sense at all. Why do we only get 1 min, 5min, 10 min, etc. quarters of play? I love playing about 6-7 minutes a quarter, but not possible.

I hope that this game does sell well enough that we do get a Backbreaker 2. Yes, the developers said that they are working on #2 but if this thing sells badly we may not see it. I really think that with a part 2 that this game can be very very good.

Final Thoughts:
+Tackling Engine
+Deep Customization
+Running the ball

-Lack of Options/Features
-Bugs, Bugs, Bugs
-A.I. needs tons of tweaking
-Lack of Camera Options

I would recommend renting before purchasing, you might regret spending the $50 on this game.

Comments

# 1 SaintsNATION32 @ Jun 2

i agree...the tackling engine is the best by far...but wit that camera without options hurt the game...all in all the game comes across as a platform for any company who has dibs on the game engine...it is next gen football engine wise....but i still gotta have my ncaa football & madden! backbreaker is not worth $50 bucks imo...neither madden,but i'm a nfl guy & plus drew brees on the cover!

# 2 SaintsNATION32 @ Jun 2

i say if ya havent played backbreaker yet rent it...or trade in a couple of old games to get at like $20 bucks or less just to check out the game engine.

# 3 stlstudios189 @ Jun 2

well I plan on trading in games or waiting for a price drop later this year and just having some fun with this game.

# 4 deaduck @ Jun 2

While I didn't have a great feel for the game the one time i played it...I did have blast designing logos/unis for my boys all European leauge. We crushed out 32 in 24 hours and had a blast. made me feel like a teenager staying up all night doing that.