Backbreaker Preview (IGN)

[Pared]

The player interaction looks AMAZING.

I don't care where this gets utilized... THIS will bring my excitement back for football gaming.

They even went as far as to animate the player's pads. Wow.

[StormJH1]

Quote: Originally Posted by K_GUN

looks pretty good too bad they chose the 'arcade' route i'll pass

Exactly. People want this game to be good so badly, they're not being anywhere near objective about it. Nobody's even pointing out the fact that 90% of the teaser trailers we're getting are in slow motion, and they show things like guys running in the open field, or (apparently) offensive linemen catching footballs. Kinda hard to get an idea of the pacing and fluidity of this supposed engine with so little information.

And I'm sorry, but what they have shown is very similar to NFL Blitz. Right down to the total lack of textures, bland last-gen graphics, and over the top arcade-like plays (based more on the reviewer's descriptions than any actual footage, of course).

And now this game is a TBA 2009 release? That basically means June or later, since I'd highly doubt they'd release a football game in the middle of the offseason. This game is slowly becoming the "Too Human" of sports video games.

[Bigdmo9999]

Quote: Originally Posted by mercalnd

Do we know anything about the AI in Backbreaker? We know they have a great physics engine but AI is completely separate from that and AI is by far the most critical/difficult part of any game's programming. EA struggles with it and 2K, while they used to do a better job of it than EA still had their AI issues. So what makes anyone think that this new company will get good or great AI in their game on the first try?

Yes great point, I am just basing my opinions off of my little knowledge and my opinion.

[duke776]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bigdmo9999

You guys they still have 4 months, not to mention he played a "couple month old" build, which means they are like 3 or 4 months ahead of what build he played, meaning they've obviously still been working on the game. I am CONFIDENT this game will be out in 08, and I'm glad to see such good info since everyone still thinks its never going to come out.

I could care less when it comes, they should delay it until they think it's ready. The last thing I want to see is a rushed game, which I doubt it going to happen since they've already spent a lot of time on it why half *** it now.

[Bigdmo9999]

Quote: Originally Posted by duke776

I could care less when it comes, they should delay it until they think it's ready. The last thing I want to see is a rushed game, which I doubt it going to happen since they've already spent a lot of time on it why half *** it now.

I'm with you dude, but from the sounds of it I'm confident this game will be out in late december. Listening to a place holder date (tba 2009) is I guess good since you won't be expecting it for a while and then it drops, idk, but I'm not going to listen to that since the devs have backed their original 2008 statement.

[Bigdmo9999]

A respected member of the BB communty's thoughts about the whole arcade thing (felt it was worth posting)

Quote:

But that is very much like Blitz. It's unfortunate that labels and genres have to be bandied about, but that is the nature of the beast. Also, you have people who seem to spend their lives correcting others on mis-use of terms. A "simulation" is a model of a process that attempts to represent reality through the manipulation of parameters. For example, SimCity is a simulation of urban development. By manipulating streets, industry locations, and other municipal factors, the simulation runs and produces a result. Many people consider Madden a simulation because it uses quantized parameters (speed,catch, coverage) to calculate a result for the system. Because many people "simulate" games in Madden and get representative results for yardage, wins, points, etc. that closely mimic reality people consider it a simulation. All the parameters are there and are used. Madden is a good simulator. When you play Madden, especially in a hands-off "franchise" role, it can really represent STATISTICALLY the decisions the Gamer makes-aggressiveness on offense, drafting the appropriate level of player in the correct position, will result in appropriate statistical advantages or disadvantages and resultant outputs-wins, losses, score. Because emotion is rarely quantized (given a number value), it may not "feel real", making someone say it doesn't simulate what I feel when i play real football, but that doesn't prevent it from being a simulation. Simulations care less about the path than the results. And it only cares to the fidelity of the simulation. For example, I think Madden is excellent as a GAME simulator but not as a player simulator. Madden does not go to the fidelity of the player to simulate whether that player could have made the tackle based on physics. It runs an algorithm to determine "if" the result should be a tackle and then based on other parameters what animation best represents that. That is why "suction tackles" occur and why players bat down passes that are several yards away. BackBreaker is running a player simulation. It is using physics -based simulations to determine the effect. You won't see "suction tackles" because the simulation does not account for that. However, if you look realistically at game statistics you see that there is a lot of "downtime" for a player on the field as well as mundane occurrences that do not add value to the experience. Most runs up the middle end in pile pushes. The chances of you hitting a guy so hard his head snaps back every game are miniscule. BB wants to provide an "emotional simulation". How it "FEELS" to be a player. It's not concerned so much that most CB's don't participate in every tackle. Players don't remember the series they were on the field and didn't really participate. They remember when they did. A complete simulation would leave you feeling bored. Few want 6 great runs in their entire season. Or I really laid a guy out that one game. BB wants you to feel what it's like to do those hits often enough to have you come back and that means freeing it up a little. Letting you participate more in plays to the other side. Letting passes take a little longer so that you have the ability to react and get in position. I think you're seeing arcadey because it's not "simulation". It's not a pile push most running plays. When you hit someone they feel it nearly every time-and more importantly so do you. Don't worry about "trails of smoke" or playing 11 foot tall players made of stone. That's not going to be in BB. You may average being involved in 20 tackles in a game, instead of 6 or 8. Your holes will be bigger and you may break more tackles than you would expect on a real field, but hopefully, what you're left with is the feeling you had when you had that great game or that great hit. You're more into it. You look back and say "yeah, that's how it FELT." Look at it this way. If you make the hit during the game and you immediately reach to adjust your gloves-they did their job. If you're running and you wince just before contact-they did their job and you're a wimp.

[yamabushi]

Quote:

NaturalMotion is going for arcade gameplay

Quote:

It is going to be a sim game

Mixed messages anyone?
If theyre this Indecisive about their own product, I can only imagine what the final game will be like.

[ak1knight]

Another preview, this time from Gamespot

Nothing new, except it is slated for a 2008 release.

I'll wait for the reviews on this one, the physics sound cool but the graphics and lack of info on features make me want to wait until reviews pop up (though it does sound like one of those games the IGN/GS will give high scores because it's different from Madden and innovative, even if it is feature-light)