We compare the latest rugby video games
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Action from Rugby Challenge 2006 |
EA SPORTS Rugby 06 & Rugby Challenge 2006
Which game should you buy?
Passing
EA SPORTS Rugby 06: Standard passing to the player either side of you on EA operates fine, just a simple click of the button. The problem comes when trying to perform a miss pass. You have to hold down the button for a short period, which is incredibly frustrating at times. If, for example, a man becomes free wide outside you as the player in possession is about to be tackled, you don’t have time to get the ball out to him and any attempt to do so often sees the ball getting overturned in the tackle. It means you often have to guess in advance if you need to perform a miss pass. It can get very annoying when a try or two goes a begging.
Similarly, there are still pointless problems with EA’s option to pass to forwards or backs from a ruck or maul. It is great that EA offer you the option of offloading to a forward or back from a ruck or maul, but the passing to a forward option still seems to go wrong too often. It is often hard to tell if the man on your scrum-half’s shoulder is a forward or back and if you get it wrong the ball can fly thirty, forty metres away or just dribble slowly along the floor for an opposing player to gobble up. Is it too much effort to overrule the button action if you mistakenly try to pass to a forward that isn’t there?
On the plus side - and it is a major plus for rugby games - the new offload option works wonderfully. It is such a simple option it is entirely unforgivable that it hasn’t existed on previous incarnations of this title. The East Terrace is excited by the first few hours using this option, but it remains to be seen how it bares up to prolonged play. Is it too hard for defenders to stop?
Rugby Challenge 06: In contrast to EA’s often sluggish passing, Ubisoft’s game is as swift in passing as Dave Pearson is in awarding dodgy Irish tries. While the passing is somewhat unnatural at times (the ball sometimes seems to bend through the air to reach its target), the skip pass option is perfect. A quick double click of the pass option is all that is needed to reach a receiver further down the line. Wonderful. There is a little period of time that allows a tackled player to offload as he goes to ground, but it is not as well executed as EA.
Verdict: The ease of the miss pass gives Rugby Challenge 06 the edge here. It isn’t exactly realistic, but it beats the sluggish control of Rugby 06. Are you listening EA?
Kicking
EA Rugby 06: EA have worked on fixing this troublesome area from previous titles. Drop kicks are much easier for the human player and punting to clear lines is smoother as well (even if it seems to go down the fullback’s throat far more often than it should). It also seems to be possible to kick more realistic distances than before, an irritation on past games. The grubber kick is simple to execute, although during our initial games it seems a bit too easy to knock it past the fullback and score under the sticks. Placekicking is pretty much the same as on previous titles. Not sure at present, though, if the programmers allow the computer controlled Jonny Wilkinson to miss anything…ever.
Rugby Challenge 06: The place kicking system here is very nice; we prefer it to EA’s method. On the downside, some of the open playing kicking is less smooth as the opponents seem to be able to charge down kicks easily due to player positioning, even when dropping back in the pocket (especially in two player mode). The kicking method itself is adequate, but the problem is that as it is so hard to regain possession in Rugby Challenge that there is almost no reason to kick tactically at all. So even if the kicking is good, it is almost never used.
Verdict: EA Rugby 06 overall, but Rugby Challenge has the better goal kicking system.
Tackling
EA Rugby 06: There hasn’t been much of a change here in terms of the tackle process since the last incarnation of EA Rugby. The tackling still lacks an edge and EA should take a leaf from their popular Madden American Football series. In Madden, defence is as much fun as attacking.
Rugby Challenge 06: This game allows you to do the funniest charging tackle and, unlike EA, you can do it off the ball, after the whistle and on the ref (you even unlock a bonus feature if you hit the ref five times in a game). The downside is that it doesn’t seem to make much difference whether you tackle softly or recklessly, you still can’t get the ball off the opposition.
Verdict: Rugby Challenge makes us laugh more.
Cheating
EA Rugby 06: Rugby is full of cheating, so why should you not be able to engage in some in the digital rugby world? EA allows you to steal the ball and collapse a scrum, but the result is a penalty almost every single time. It defeats the point of having the option.
Rugby Challenge 06: As of yet we haven’t found any way to cheat.
Verdict: EA by default.
Graphics
EA Rugby 06: The graphics have been sharpened and refined for this year’s outing and the pitches and stadiums seem to have more detail (especially on Xbox). The cut-scenes, which infuriated so many on recent additions, are still here but can, thankfully, be skipped. EA have gone for realism in their approach and, while it is never going to stand up to the likes of Madden and FIFA, it is a decent enough looking game.
Rugby Challenge 06: The makers of this game have gone for a totally different approach to the game visuals: all of the players are portrayed in caricature form. Whether you like this is a matter of taste. The East Terrace is quite fond of the look and it gives the game a distinctive edge. Besides, well-drawn caricatures are infinitely preferable to badly designed ‘realistic’ players. Shane Bryne is our favourite. Many of the stadiums, Lansdowne Road in particular, look great in this game as the designers have taken the effort to get the external surrounding buildings spot on.
Verdict: We were going to call this one as a draw; it depends largely on your visual taste. However, in a video game world that often takes itself too seriously, we are going give it to Rugby Challenge as we like the unique approach
Commentary/Sound
Ea Rugby 06: EA Rugby offers Iain Robertson and Grant Fox. You won’t be listening for too long.
Rugby Challenge 06: We like the reference to Gavin Henson’s tan, especially when we switch the game into French or Italian. As is the norm with sport games, listening to the commentary gets old pretty quick. The East Terrace switched to the Italian voiceover on our third game and haven’t changed it since. They just sound so passionate and, as we don’t understand it, we don’t get so annoyed at the repetition.
Verdict: Both irritating, but we like the option of Italian and French in Rugby Challenge so they have the victory here.
Licenses
EA Rugby 06: As to be expected, EA have more money to throw around and get the full licences for most of the national teams. They have the Guinness Premiership and Super 14 but not the official Celtic or French teams.
Rugby Challenge 2006: As well as the English sides, this has the French and Celtic leagues. Sadly ,it lacks any official national teams from outside the Six Nations. There is an option to edit players, so you can fix them yourself if you care that much. We don’t.
Verdict: EA Rugby 06.
Editing
EA Rugby 06: The best part of EA Rugby is editing and creating your own players. Which in reality means we build a vision of ourselves we dream about whenever we wish we were international rugby players. But The East Terrace cannot forgive the fact that they still - after all these years - do not allow you to build your own team with your own name and kit. It should be one of the basic things any sport game has.
Rugby Challenge 2006: The player editor isn’t here, but you can build your own team. The downside is there is no real kit designer and the logos you can pick from are pretty bland, but at least you can create a team.
Verdict: Rugby Challenge 2006 wins here. Electronic Arts are really taking the ****.
Read page three of our in-depth review.