.:[]:. BackBreaker Demo hits XBOX LIVE (My impression).:[]:. - TreFacTor's Blog

TreFacTor's Blog

.:[]:. BackBreaker Demo hits XBOX LIVE (My impression).:[]:.

Posted on May 21, 2010 at 10:00 AM.

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.

Comments

# 1 Gusto1 @ May 21

The demo is awesome plenty of modes easy to control player movement the wieght feels perfect. Gameplay is spot on I am surpised I got used to the camera quickly I guess it depends on the person many are having trouble adjusting. I will say it is worth learning because its very rewarding when you get comfortable with controls. The ccol thing is this is only a demo many factors will seem generic based on that fact alone. A first day buy for me no question.

# 2 TreFacTor @ May 21

Gusto1 @

i got used to the controls. I didn't have a problem once I thought of how superstar played in Madden. Like I said, fans will love it no matter what, I'm not trying to change anyone's mind. Just giving an objective opinion other than "The demo is awsome... it's the greatest game ever created in the history of digital entertainment".

# 3 Gusto1 @ May 21

I understand your point of view TreFacTor no disrespect I hope people buy all three of the football titles madden 11, ncaa 11, and backbreaker they bring different views to the game I am looking forward to the football titiles we have this year.

# 4 TreFacTor @ May 21

# 3 Gusto1

Don't get me wrong, it is a good game, a solid game, some people will enjoy it, I was just disappointed in it. I can see now why Natural Motion and 505 didn't og out of their way to hype the game. it's football, amazing physics, but then again I had been following Natural Motion since their engine was announced in be behind GTA IV. I will just say that if I could only get one football game (which is the case this year), I would have to go with Madden or go without simply because I didn't get any enjoyment out of the demo.

# 5 Gusto1 @ May 21

Point taken I am glad that so many people are enjoying it and hope they enjoy madden as well I will. I buy madden every year and will continue to buy it me loving backbreaker does not alter that. It is not a competition in my eyes I feel luckey to get the best of both worlds. Sorry you dont like the game but we dont have long for ncaa11 and madden11 to drop.

# 6 tswiatkowski @ May 22

There were things I liked about this game, but I'm going to have to agree with your overall impression. I didn't really enjoy the demo much, but like you said, and like I have said in my impression, I can see why people would like it. You cannot compare it to Madden (not saying you are) because these are two completely different games. On that note, people are going to enjoy this game, but it is clearly not for everybody.

# 7 TreFacTor @ May 22

tswiatkowski @

Yeah, 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 not 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 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.

# 8 beelo @ May 22

Im going to give it an open mind shot, but probably wont stick around to long

# 9 tswiatkowski @ May 23

@ Trefactor

Yeah I totally get what you are saying about silence on the field man, 4 years of playing CB and I know its loud out there. That's part of what I liked about the game. I just felt awkward learning the new controls, and even then, the player models and the way each player moved (no individuality in movements) just kind of turned me off to the game. I feel like this year's NCAA is going to be so good I wouldn't have bought this anyway, even if it was incredible.