Even on 'Hard' difficulty, the highest level, the CPU offense is totally incompetent. They cannot consistently mount a credible attack-more accurately, only rarely do they mount a credible attack.

I'd like to think of a nicer word than that, but I can't, because 'collapses' is accurate. Above the per-play level is the game level, and it's here that Backbreaker collapses. However, per-play fidelity is only a subset of what a great sports game needs. In terms of individual play fidelity, Backbreaker is spectacular, because individual plays look very, very real, and players act very 'real' as well. There are various kinds of fidelity required of a sports game, and it's required at different levels. Here comes the gas, and believe me, the gas smells as bad as you can possibly imagine. Okay, after hearing about all the pretty in this game, you may be ready to drive off to the store and buy five copies. It's generally terrific, and while I'd like to be able to raise the camera at least a couple of feet, it's not a problem. What this camera angle does, though, is create a tremendously visceral sense of the action. There's only one, and it has been the subject of many complaints from people who are used to the angles traditionally found in other football games (in general, higher up and further back). wise, and because the animation is so stellar, these momens look absolutely and totally real. I've seen some some spectacular moments, A.I. in Backbreaker is far better than Madden, and Madden has been a football franchise for over twenty years. Individual plays are like highlight reels of absolute wonder-the animation system is so spectacular that it has to be seen to be believed. Let's move on to kickoff, and boy, does this game shine on the field, at least at the play level. This particularly matters in sports games, which rarely ship in a finished state and are notorious for having balancing issues. Not being able to edit player ratings is going to make it more difficult to troubleshoot the game's problems, which I'll discuss in more detail later, and it violates the prime directive for development: never stop the community from helping you. It's possible to choose how many 'gold' players you have on offense and defense, but you don't get to choose the positions, and individual player ratings are not editable (although names can be edited). In terms of players, there isn't as much flexibility. The uniform creation tools are just as good, and if you wanted to exactly recreate the NFL logos and uniforms, you could do it with 99% fidelity. The tools are nothing short of spectacular, and it's possible to perfectly recreate every team logo you can imagine. I spent almost three hours in the team creation feature yesterday, just fiddling around with logos and jersey designs. The create-a-team feature is, bar none, the best I've ever seen. I know what player I'm controlling-I don't need a spinning circle or star to tell me what's going on. In particular, the designers have included the option to remove all visual indicators from the player you currently control, which is something I've been wanting for years. The menus are well organized, and the game options are well chosen. I always like to start at the pretty.įirst off, even before kickoff, this game stands out. Let's take a more detailed part, and let's start at the pretty. And they take a surpassingly brilliant game and essentially make it unplayable, at least in single-player mode. Big chunks of this game are so brilliant that they defy description. Big chunks of this game are, hands down, the best ever seen in a football game.

You love to look at her, but you can't stand to smell her. If you don't want to muck about in the details, here's the most precise analogy I can give you: Backbreaker is like dating an incredibly hot woman who has a constant problem with passing gas. There are just a few things that are keeping me from actually playing Backbreaker.

Doug nation lugaru