Backbreaker Hands-On Preview (Gameinformer)

[TheWatcher]

Wow, a thorough and brutal (without being intentionally brutal) hands-on article. Lots of bad news items there for BackBreaker.

Some of this stuff is going take some major heat when this game reaches the public.

[Afrikan]

it seems like negative preview....the stuff he was complaining about (while playing in Arcade mode, which he chose....because of Balance issues??) either way he was complaining about stuff that usually no game does right anyway. and also other weird stuff.

and he keeps spouting that NM is competing with Madden and NCAA....even though they have said they are not....this was mentioned in the radio interview and he did this in this article.... I mean read this.

"Backbreaker aims to take down the NCAA and Madden publisher with its gritty, up close and personal brand of football."

that is just asking for curious Madden Fanboys to go explode, haha....

He complained that you can't do defensive shifts or what ever...but admits that was in Arcade mode...why didn't he just play in the other mode JUST TO SEE IF HE CAN....if there were balancing issues..so be it, but at least see if what your reporting is correct for all play modes....before writing about it, as if it were fact.

again, I don't expect this game to be perfect....but what I do expect is some reviews to nitpick this game on things that get ignored in Madden.

I mean he complained about this.....

"The running backs’ lack of wiggle makes it extremely tough to slide through tight holes, and I often found myself the victim of shoestring tackles from interior defenders who simply reached around their blockers."

as far as "extremely tough to slide through tight holes" we saw it in one of our favorite running clips...where the running back made his way through....he makes it seem like when there is a tight hole, you just bounce back or stay still like in Madden.

also about the defenders "reaching around" their blockers to trip up runners...as if that is a bad thing?...we have never had that in our football games....

running the ball in Football games should not be expected to be easy.....if it were, then everyone would run all the time to get a win.

I don't understand the whole thing about sending everyone up field to get yardage all the time with a QB, I wish he got into more detail about that (formation, play call, etc), before making it seem like it is an exploit or money play.

again, I don't expect this game to perfect...I would hope no one does....but I would have liked for him to get more detailed about some of his complaints...before writing them off as facts....

I'm sure most will be disappointed after reading the preview......don't worry though, I'm sure most of us who buy the game will tell you what is *really* lacking, and what is overblown.

[TheWatcher]

^^^ No matter what, any football game that comes out is going to be matched up against Madden by the media and by fans, too. That's just the way it is. The same thing happened with All Pro Football when it came out.

[kjcheezhead]

Kind of left me with mixed feelings. A lot of disappointing things, but he sounded like some of them could be tweaked and the game still has potential. Defense sounds like it will be fun to play.

Some of the ai concerns could just be the level he was on too, just like he said. It's easy to hold the cpu to under 30% completion when you play on rookie or pro in other games.

Not being able to take NFL teams or players online really sucks, no other way to put that.

[JayBee74]

Either EA paid Gameinformer $50 million or Backbreaker has a he!! of a lot of work to do. I was about as optimistic as anyone about this game, but this preview is not encouraging.

[ty5oke]

Road to backbreaker mode sounds like fun.

[capa]

Ouch...

[Afrikan]

Quote: Originally Posted by kjcheezhead

Kind of left me with mixed feelings. A lot of disappointing things, but he sounded like some of them could be tweaked and the game still has potential. Defense sounds like it will be fun to play. Some of the ai concerns could just be the level he was on too, just like he said. It's easy to hold the cpu to under 30% completion when you play on rookie or pro in other games. Not being able to take NFL teams or players online really sucks, no other way to put that.

someone correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what it seems like we know so far...

you can't take your team named Green Bay Packers online....but you can make that team for your offline games and franchise.

you can take your team named the GreenBay (one word) Packers online though....or GB Packers...

if you want your team colors and logos to be shown you have to add someone you play online as a "friend" and you will be able to see his NFL team and he will be able to see yours.

offline, it seems you can have whatever you want. correct full names and team names for your franchise...(which we didn't know before this preview)

online you need to add someone as a friend (if he isn't already) but you can quickly delete him as a friend after the game, if you choose.