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Rugby Video Games – Past Failures And Future Hopes
Great rugby video games are difficult to come by, but is there a light at the end of the tunnel with a new year and new opportunities for developers to deliver?
When Rugby 15 launched in South Africa in November last year, I was one of the first people who went out and picked it up for the full retail price (yeah, laugh all you want). Why would I buy it? Well, firstly, rugby games are few and far between, and in a country as obsessed with the oval-ball game as much as us South Africans, it’s pretty exciting when a new edition of a rugby game allows for a digital throw-around via the comfort of your couch.
And secondly, I wanted to support the work of HB Studios – the small Canadian team that dedicated their resources, time, and passion into building a rugby game.
Was I rewarded? Not really. I followed the development of Rugby 15 extremely closely, even interacting (albeit small exchanges) with some of the developers throughout the entire process. So I felt I had a little bit of foresight to know that the game wasn’t going to be of the standard others believed it would be.
That said, I assumed it would be a pretty good base and something that I would love playing despite the rough edges. I was wrong.
Rugby 15 brings more offside infringements than any rugby game before it. The bizarre thing is that it comes from the same team who brought us Rugby 06, Rugby 08, and Rugby World Cup 2011, which some may be familiar with. They’re all great games in their own right and would’ve provided a good framework to work from, but this time around the developers decided to discard everything that made those predecessors beloved gems, and try rebuild.
Don’t get me wrong – I understand the financial concerns and forecasting that comes with developing a game based on a sport that is yet to capture a global appeal, particularly from the western markets, and I love that HB Studios went out on a limb to make something rugby-related, but it was no cigar.
What was left with Rugby 15 was an unfinished mess of a sports simulation – barely able to recreate the fluidity and intensity of real-world rugby. A new confusing control scheme that throws intuitiveness out the window, horrendous visuals and a AI opponents so terrible they don’t even put up a fight on the hardest difficulty.
Oh, “I’ll just play with friends” you think; well, there’s no online mode either, so you’ll have to get your buddies around and even then it’s not that much fun.
There are hints of potential with Rugby 15, showing that maybe one day we’ll have a really world-class rugby game to enjoy, but for the meantime it’s hard not to liken this to Frankenstein’s monster.
Rugby 05 screenshot
So why the rant? I’d like to think of it as more of a secondary review after sitting and absorbing the game’s problems, strengths and potential for a good two or three months. Also, the fact that a new rugby game looks to be on the horizon, it’s good to address what worked and what didn’t, and how developers can maybe try and incorporate what people love about the sport into the game.
There’s always a lot of talk and buzz around licenses and which tournament is in included in the game. Let’s be honest though, have licenses ever made a game great? What keeps people coming back is fun, refreshing and longevity with gameplay. Obviously it would be great to play with the likes of the Springboks, All Blacks, Wallabies, Super Rugby clubs and Northern Hemisphere giants, but at the end of the day, I’d rather be in control of Daniel Shmarter and have a great rugby game where you can recreate the impressive moments we see on our TVs, than play as Daniel Carter in a horrendous mess of glitches and boring gameplay.
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James
February 25, 2015 at 18:07
Agreed, I was a novice playing the game and it felt completely un-intuitive. Which made sitting down, having a beer and trying to play the game with a mate even more frustrating. If you look at the FIFA games, the controls are quite intuitive and haven’t changed over the years. Which helps for the person explaining how to play the game to a novice like me. This didn’t help, the dude I was playing with loved all the other rugby games and had no idea how the controls worked.
The game play wasn’t great and you can’t help but rack up infringements.
Maybe it’s worth getting the licenses involved because that would force more game testing before.
Gareth Thomas
February 26, 2015 at 07:09
it’s a catch 22 , I still go by what Jimmy said earlier its a terrible game but still the best rugby game you’ll ever play. But its graphical mishaps and complete lack of A.I are unforgivable. That I think is just the crux of this rant. I play fifa 14 daily , I don’t own 15 will probably give 16 a go because I love it and its a challenge , I stopped playing Rugby 15 probably in Jan because I got so tired of the rinse and repeat process of going through the motions. I just hope that it gets taken seriously after the next world cup. It’s still the third biggest sporting event in the world but that being said we haven’t had a decent track and field game since the nes….