Rugby 06
Posted March 19, 2006
Rugby is an odd sport combining the quirk of Aussie rules football, American gridiron football, and the real football (soccer) and making something that is unique in its own way. Personally, I played rugby for 5 years growing up in Canada (it was hockey's off season, deal with it), and it literally took the first year to learn the basic rules, and then at least two more years to fully understand some of the intricacies of the sport. Like what's the difference between a maul, a ruck and a scrum? Is it better to punt long from behind your own 22 to force a drop kick, or is it better to aim for the sidelines to get a lineout?
Gameplay:
Rather than try to educate the uninitiated in the rules of rugby, I'm going to run through the review assuming you know to meaning of knock-on and how many points a drop-kick gets you, otherwise you'd be here for a long, long time.
I've never been able to play a game based on this sport before and I was more than impressed with the way the game handled here. It all felt like rugby, from the lateral passing to the way line outs were implemented. The controls seemed mostly spot on for the entire game, with the exception of some confusing controls during line outs.
When a maul or ruck is in play, you obviously need to call your forwards over to help push over the ball, and doing that is as simple as tapping the A button, but by doing this you can sadly overpower the ruck and leave only your backs available to carry the ball down the pitch, when sometimes you want the forwards to take the ball for some hard hitting, momentum building ball possession.
A fair number of game modes are here, including a fairly brief yet educational training segment which runs the player through the basics of the sport, including tackling, passing, scrums and kicking. Advanced practice sessions are also available which helps dive further into the sport by introducing set plays that you can execute after a ruck/scrum, as well you can learn more advanced forms of passing including the newly introduced off load passing.
What off load passing does is allow you to get rid of a ball mid tackle, because the sport of rugby is free flowing, a tackle more often than not does not mean a stoppage of play, and by allowing the player to toss the ball while he's being tackled the flow of the game is maintained. While this is a great concept, as a player you have to be sure to not overuse the option because often the pass will be intercepted if you don't have a another teammate nearby to support you.
Aside from the usual Play Now option and the training, there are a slew of different tournament and leagues to play in; both international leagues and other localized leagues are available. The depth of these play options is actually quite high as you are required to rearrange your team based on the overall morale of the team as well as individual player morale and overall health. You'll want to make sure that you include your impact players in the game as they will have a good hand in helping to potentially turn the tide of a match that is going sour.
The game itself is actually a lot more fun than I expected it to be, thanks to its relatively close implementation of rugby. The largest detraction from the game is the limited multiplayer support. Sure you can have up to four friends playing with you, but rather than try to find four people who both know how to play rugby, it would have been nice to hop online and play people from nations which actually love the sport.
Graphics:
Rugby 06 plays from a fairly high up camera angle enabling you to see a good portion of the pitch at all times, with some addition camera angles which switch the orientation or zoom in on the action a little closer. The sad thing is that the athletes seem a little small and not very detailed when zoomed out so far, however the animations for the players and their various actions are very well executed.
During line-outs, the camera whips behind the player throwing the ball in while showing all the forwards lined up jockeying for the ball which demonstrates the extra detail that the players have, such as the forwards with their ear protection. The international stadiums are nicely rendered, and seeing as how I've never been to most of the places, nor have I seen them on TV it makes it a little difficult to comment on the accuracy, but it sure looks good.
Audio:
The sound effects are done quite well also, hits make an impact and you can actually hear the sound of the running teams. During play the voice of the referee is heard during plays, which is really accurately portrayed. In a real game the ref is talking to the players almost constantly giving updates on ball advantage and if it's clear to pick it up out of the flank during a scrum.
Conclusion:
Overall I'm quite impressed with this entry in to the sport of rugby. Players are animated quite well during tackles, the rules are followed quite strictly, and little authentic touches like the ref talking and the new off-load passing really help the game feel like rugby. The biggest downside is the lack of Live play options, because it's tough to always have another person over who both knows the game and also is willing to play. Recommended for any fan of the sport.
Gameplay:
Rather than try to educate the uninitiated in the rules of rugby, I'm going to run through the review assuming you know to meaning of knock-on and how many points a drop-kick gets you, otherwise you'd be here for a long, long time.
I've never been able to play a game based on this sport before and I was more than impressed with the way the game handled here. It all felt like rugby, from the lateral passing to the way line outs were implemented. The controls seemed mostly spot on for the entire game, with the exception of some confusing controls during line outs.
When a maul or ruck is in play, you obviously need to call your forwards over to help push over the ball, and doing that is as simple as tapping the A button, but by doing this you can sadly overpower the ruck and leave only your backs available to carry the ball down the pitch, when sometimes you want the forwards to take the ball for some hard hitting, momentum building ball possession.
A fair number of game modes are here, including a fairly brief yet educational training segment which runs the player through the basics of the sport, including tackling, passing, scrums and kicking. Advanced practice sessions are also available which helps dive further into the sport by introducing set plays that you can execute after a ruck/scrum, as well you can learn more advanced forms of passing including the newly introduced off load passing.
What off load passing does is allow you to get rid of a ball mid tackle, because the sport of rugby is free flowing, a tackle more often than not does not mean a stoppage of play, and by allowing the player to toss the ball while he's being tackled the flow of the game is maintained. While this is a great concept, as a player you have to be sure to not overuse the option because often the pass will be intercepted if you don't have a another teammate nearby to support you.
Aside from the usual Play Now option and the training, there are a slew of different tournament and leagues to play in; both international leagues and other localized leagues are available. The depth of these play options is actually quite high as you are required to rearrange your team based on the overall morale of the team as well as individual player morale and overall health. You'll want to make sure that you include your impact players in the game as they will have a good hand in helping to potentially turn the tide of a match that is going sour.
The game itself is actually a lot more fun than I expected it to be, thanks to its relatively close implementation of rugby. The largest detraction from the game is the limited multiplayer support. Sure you can have up to four friends playing with you, but rather than try to find four people who both know how to play rugby, it would have been nice to hop online and play people from nations which actually love the sport.
Graphics:
Rugby 06 plays from a fairly high up camera angle enabling you to see a good portion of the pitch at all times, with some addition camera angles which switch the orientation or zoom in on the action a little closer. The sad thing is that the athletes seem a little small and not very detailed when zoomed out so far, however the animations for the players and their various actions are very well executed.
During line-outs, the camera whips behind the player throwing the ball in while showing all the forwards lined up jockeying for the ball which demonstrates the extra detail that the players have, such as the forwards with their ear protection. The international stadiums are nicely rendered, and seeing as how I've never been to most of the places, nor have I seen them on TV it makes it a little difficult to comment on the accuracy, but it sure looks good.
Audio:
The sound effects are done quite well also, hits make an impact and you can actually hear the sound of the running teams. During play the voice of the referee is heard during plays, which is really accurately portrayed. In a real game the ref is talking to the players almost constantly giving updates on ball advantage and if it's clear to pick it up out of the flank during a scrum.
Conclusion:
Overall I'm quite impressed with this entry in to the sport of rugby. Players are animated quite well during tackles, the rules are followed quite strictly, and little authentic touches like the ref talking and the new off-load passing really help the game feel like rugby. The biggest downside is the lack of Live play options, because it's tough to always have another person over who both knows the game and also is willing to play. Recommended for any fan of the sport.