Backbreaker video gets all defensive

The demo was very good, but the game needs some polish. There are little details that need some extra work.

They look weird when they run backwards...

Everything else looks really cool though!

Hmm..... I usually suck at football games, I played the demo, and maybe I'll get used to it. I'll keep playing it and maybe sell my BFBC2 game for it, its been collecting dust ever since that damn Red Dead Redemption and Halo: Reach BETA. I hope that nets me a good $30..............

I was on the fence about BB. I couldn't make up my mind because on the one hand, I'm tired of the stagnant progression of Madden, on the other hand I know full well going in that BB is a new IP from a small group of European developers who have very little football knowledge or experience.

The good
The Euphoria engine is perfect for Football.
Running the football is easier than passing.
Offensive and Defensive line interaction is spot on on their first try!

The Bad
EVERYTHING else.

Now before everyone gets their flame throwers ready, let me explain. I say everything else is bad because the game is clunky.

*The players all move the same, no matter whether they are a QB, TE, or DE. They run the same, and the animations for such a physics based game are stiff. Every time a player got knocked to the ground, they had the same robotic, stiff "get up animation".

*The camera isn't as bad as I previously thought, but the camera is erratic at best. I'm sure this is for effect, but the only time the camera feels right is right before the snap of the ball and when running the football.

*Passing the ball is a horse of a different color! Anyone who loved the vision cone in Madden should feel right at home. I for one hated the vision cone because of the flicking of the right thumb stick. It would often register incorrectly, and I would wind up taking a sack trying to get the cone back to the open receiver. The same can be said about the passing in BackBreaker. Yes you can change the control layout, but you are still forced to "cycle" through receivers. This is another half good half bad implementation. I can see that flicking the stick resembles an actual QB going through his reads, but it's far to clunky and slow. Yes I took a bunch of sacks playing the game.

*I often found that I would get knocked to the ground through incidental contact with anyone on the field which would indicate the need for more precision control so I could avoid contact, but the camera and player movements simply don't allow that to happen. Even when I didn't get knocked to the ground I had to make myself get involve in the plays because in about 3 hours of playtime the computer only ran one play in my direction the rest of the plays seemed to intentionally go to the opposite side of the field from where I was playing no matter what position I played. Even if you switch to the closest defender, it is often too late to have an impact on the play.

While playing the outside linebacker on one play, I was in the perfect position to pick off a pass, but couldn't jump for the ball. After the play, I went to the controls screen to see what is jump, and found that jump and catch are missing from the controls. Your player either does these on their own or they don't. Once you have the ball jumping is mapped to the thumb stick in the form of hurdling.

*Kicking takes waaaay too long.

*EXTREMELY generic plays (and yeah man to man coverage is abysmal)

*Replays, Ugh! I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say that 505 doesn't watch alot of football or even play a lot of football. Often the replay just follows the player you are controlling, and as stated before if you don't make your player get involved the replay is just irrelevant UNLESS its score or A POINT AFTER ATTEMPT. You cannot control the replay, switch cameras on the replay (which you can do during the player intro?!?).

Playing BB is much like playing Superstar mode in Madden which I never cared for with the exception that you can switch the player your controlling, and you call the plays. I can say that after playing the demo for a few hours that 505 did a good job. BackBreaker will please those who hate Madden but like football. If you were already going to purchase the game, nothing anyone can say will change your mind. I have however decided against buying BB. I wasn't excited while playing the game. While Madden has it's faults (repetitive commentary, cheating AI, sliding and morphing players), it has far more control, and player involvement where as in BackBreaker, your involvement in the play is determined by where the play is going. If the play isn't going to your side of the field, your just there, and that's the way it is in real football but there just isn't any excitement on the plays your not involved in.

I can't make a strong comparison between Madden and BackBreaker other than they are both football games. The design decisions made by the development team are mind boggling. Even if you wanted to have the 3rd person camera as default... why not offer at least 2 others to appeal to people that don't like the default. The same could be said regarding the button layout. There's only 2 and for a game that boasts about it's customization options this puzzles me also. Why not make the controls at least familiar. There's no jump or catch button and the field is silent the majority of the time... I have played organized football, and I never heard any silence on the field (other than when a player was injured) even with a helmet on. There will be a BackBreaker 2 so I'll wait and see if they fix what I think are errors and then maybe buy it.


Clunky and delayed controls, erratic camera and the procedure for cycling through receivers is enough for me to pass on BackBreaker. maybe they can adjust some of those things in BackBreaker 2 and give players more camera options and customization of controls but for now it is what it is, and what it isn't is a replacement for Madden. I'll gladly spend the extra $20 to get my football fix. You may disagree, and call me a brain washed Madden Fanboy or what have you, but I did go into the BackBreaker demo expecting to be blown away and simply wasn't. Is the game worth $40 yeah if you like it it's worth even $60, but I didn't enjoy it. I can honestly say that I have deleted the demo from my hard drive and never need to play the game again. That is until BackBreaker 2 comes around next year... hmm that sounds very similar to the Madden Nation mantra... maybe next year.

....

Fingers crossed for this bad boy. Hope it's good and sells so we can look forward to another football game out there.

The demo has convinced me to buy this. I won't lie, there are a lot of little annoyances in there (switching receivers after the snap is BRUTAL, kicking is too easy, and the camera angle is just weird during defense (to name a few)). But the physics of the game are just great. And that is what makes the demo so freaking enjoyable. i've already have seen a least a dozen things that could have never happened in Madden or 2k (though I miss 2k).

if anyone says this game is better than Madden, they should have their heads examined. i mean seriously..the demo was awful. the controls were ridiculous, the way players move was ridiculous...football is more than just seeing how cool it is for legs to fly when making a tackle.

the demo was a disappointment. and for $50? are you serious? $20 maybe. people who say this game is better than Madden just really hate EA that's all. i'll take Blitz over this.

i just didn't enjoy it at all...there were too many things stacked against it to begin with not having the NFL license but now coupled with one of the most ridiculous football schemes to date makes it even worse.