It's a massive improvement on the last effort but still got a few things that annoy the hell out of me.
The control system has changed a lot. You can play flat or deep passes. Which is pretty good as you can get people running onto the ball at speed and busting tackles. but you run the risk of giving away an interception. it happens a lot and once they intercept you've no chance of catching them, no matter where you are on the field.
Graphically it's a lot smoother. Player likenesses on some players are decent. But there are plenty who just look very generic. The stadiums are pretty good and well detailed.
Kicking again has changed, instead of just pressing b to punt, you now have to press and hold RT to activate a kicking guide and then A for a punt and B for a bomb. if you want to do a grubber or drop goal its A or B without RT respectively. Grubbers are useless though, and again nearly always get picked up by the defence who just go the length of the field and score.
Commentary isn't great. It's basically the same Vossy sound bites from the previous games mixed in with the odd new bit and the odd comment from some other guy. As usual it is very very repetitive and every game starts up with the same boring monologue of how it's going to be a tough encounter.
I'm undecided as whether i'd say it's as good as "Rugby Challenge" or not. True blu have clearly nicked bits from that game and put it on here like the goal kicking and stuff. Infact the automatic spot for taking each kick out wide is near 40 metre's out, although like in rugby challenge you can move the ball closer or further away from the line.
It's growing on me the more I play it and get used to the controls, And they have clearly fixed a lot of things from the last one. But it's not without it's flaws. The passing is a lot smoother and it's nice being able to make a break and pass to a running player nearby rather than someone 20 metre's back who is stood still. and there is a much bigger variety in the runs players make off the ball which does make it more realistic.
