Review: Backbreaker

[John Funk]

Review: Backbreaker

This rookie shows promise, but has a long way to go before it's a star.

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[JourneyThroughHell]

Played the demo (which actually happened to be my introduction to American football) and enjoyed the hell out of it.
Even the Madden demo, that I then tried out, wasn't nearly as fun.
But, yeah, it's pretty flawed. However, Natural Motion are only starting as game devs, give them time and I'm sure they'll improve.
So I guess I fit perfectly into the type of guy who would enjoy the game based on your review.

 

[Jared]

Seems pretty much like any sports game, made for those who enjoy them.

Thankfully not one Ill need to deal with on this side of the pond

 

[AvsJoe]

Ooh, this looks good! The Blitz series isn't a very good substitute for Madden so I'm glad that we have a third competitor. And this review makes it sound like this series has great potential for a series. I'll be trying it out, that's fer sure!

 

[Shoggoth2588]

...OR ROBOTIC FOOSBALL PLAYERS!

sorry, I had to

anyway, this isn't my genre but we seem to have it at work so, I may rent it just for the hell of it once Red Dead gets stale

 

[John Funk]

Seems pretty much like any sports game, made for those who enjoy them.

Thankfully not one Ill need to deal with on this side of the pond

I actually think Backbreaker is a very good introduction to football games for people who DON'T play sports games.

 

[JEBWrench]

Sounds like a shame. Though the "action-y" feel via camera perspectives has been done to death, and never worked before, at least it's something different to rehash.

 

[John Funk]

Sounds like a shame. Though the "action-y" feel via camera perspectives has been done to death, and never worked before, at least it's something different to rehash.

It's implemented really well in this game, honestly. It WORKS.

I just wish everything else worked around with it.

 

[JEBWrench]

It's implemented really well in this game, honestly. It WORKS.

Wow, it's like a small part of a Christmas miracle.

*makes it a note to follow the franchise through later iterations*

Right now, it sounds right about where other sports series started at - I remember the original EA NCAA Football game having something like 16 teams.

 

[Chipperz]

Out of interest, what do you mean by 'for Europeans'? I'd really like to get into a decent American Handball game to bring back the glory of Blood Bowl when I used to play that, but stuff like Madden is just so booooooooring that I can't bring myself to finish a march (I guess that makes it true to the sport, but still...).

Also, I'm almost sold just because they look like Judges. The Mega City 1 Lawbringers may have to win the Superbowl...

 

[crotalidian]

John Funk thinks that Backbreaker is kind of like a football game for the Europeans.

I'm sorry as a "European" (albeit one that worked in the US last year) I resent that I was a big fan of NFl and understood 90% of the rules before I moved to the US. I know I'm in the minority (especially on this site) but as Football games go I would need the rules to be right to enjoy it.

Hopefully Backbreaker does challenge madden because like pro-evo vs fifa when PES became a serious competitor EA uppe dthere game and came back with a masterful game (for a football sim) hope the same will happen to Madden, its utter dominance has made it stale and tired

 

[Souplex]

I want to play robot football!

 

[Pimppeter2]

I played the Demo, and there's no way that this game (or any future installments) can dethrone Madden. It was fun, but it wasn't the football experience that you can count on like in Madden. The "RTS like" qualities of Madden have become such a norm that as soon as I loaded it up I felt weird. The running was fun, the passing not so much so. Flipping the play or calling audibles was either nonexistent, or hidden in the menu. It was too hard to switch to the player you wanted (having to press A till you got there) or the split second of messing up the motion when you manually switch to the receiver or rusher. What I can give it props on is the "focus" mode, but there were too many moves assigned to the stick and not enough to the buttons. Some overhauls are definitely needed, what I think this game can become is like The Biggs compared to MLB 2k__, but they should focus more on spectacle.

Great Review Funk.

 

[Seatownstriker]

Yeah this has alot of potential. The tackles look freakin awesome.

 

[The Cheezy One]

rugby for the fragile
looks good, but not my thing. ill give it a miss

 

[John Funk]

rugby for the fragile
looks good, but not my thing. ill give it a miss

See, everyone says that, but football tackles always look WAY rougher to me. There's a lot more "dragging down" in Rugby that I see, and not as much plowing into the guy from the side.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Tackle Alley sounds...EPIC.

I guess I'll finally give the demo a try...

 

[steeple]

football with robots is realy a cool idea actually, but im pretty sure there was something close to that (soccer with robots i think)

 

[Swifteye]

Angry Joe really wants to support this game only because he thinks it has the chops to challenge madden if given another chance. I think people who play football games should give it buy only to let the devlopers gain the funds to polish the game in a sequal with.

Personally I don't like football games but tackle system is the only thing I liked about them and this game sells that by howdy.