Wow you guys were right this game is AWFUL! I'm debating whether to just mail it back now or to mull through it to get the trophies.
Printable View
Wow you guys were right this game is AWFUL! I'm debating whether to just mail it back now or to mull through it to get the trophies.
Good luck getting the platinum. Beating Tackle Alley is an absolute nightmare. If you manage to get that(whenever I got it, I was one of only 5 people who had done so), then you have to force yourself to PLAY through 3 full seasons, and then beat Road to Backbreaker, which is a minimum of 65 games played. I say PLAY because you can't simulate, so you have to play the game yourself. It's a brutal platinum trophy because the game sucks and it makes you play it a good bit, which only adds to the horrible Tackle Alley trophy.
That's okay there is going to be a Backbreaker 2 to make things right.....oh.....wait.....WHAT?.....we've only sold 50k copies???? Okay nevermind.
Yeah I don't think I'm going to mess with it. Back to GameFly you go Backbreaker. I love me some GameFly!
Patch Details :popcorn:
http://www.facebook.com/Backbreakerg...y/416858926465
Link to new plays (play art): http://www.flickr.com/photos/natural...7624482475509/Quote:
Backbreaker: Greathouse Update SummaryShare
Today at 9:51am
Over the past few months, the team at NaturalMotion Games has been talking with the community and listening to all of their ideas for Backbreaker. We’ve taken it all on board and, as you know, we’ve been working hard on an update. As a tribute to the Backbreaker forums’ favourite player, we’re naming this update “Greathouse” and it does a whole lot more than simply tweak a few things here and there. We’re very nearly done and now we want to share with you exactly what “Greathouse” will bring to Backbreaker.
One final thing. We take great delight from seeing all your videos and we’re humbled by your support and enthusiasm. If you’ve seen something uniquely amazing in Backbreaker that made you smile, laugh, point, call a friend or rub your eyes in amazement, then you ‘get’ Backbreaker… and we’ve made this game, and “Greathouse”, for you.
Key Additions
Brand new replay camera suite
• New free-flight camera
• Sideline and Endzone cameras including ball lock, pan and tele-zoom function
• A player-centric camera including zoom and rotation function. Track any player on either team.
• Ball camera including zoom and rotate
• Complete replay suite functionality added to Tackle Alley
• Added pause/play to all replay cameras for greater footage control
• Added ability to remove OSD for clean footage capture
Offensive Gameplay Camera
• The Quarterback camera has been pulled back and raised a little. This still keeps the feeling of being down in the action, but provides a slightly wider view and vision over the line
• Added a ‘glance’ button which allows you to instantly check your blind-side
Expanded Playbook
An Extra 59 Offensive plays consisting of these formations:
• Ace – Double Tight End
• Spread – 4 Wide
• Bunch – Bunch right
• Empty – 5 WR!!
• T-form – Old fashioned power football, 3 running backs in the backfield
An Extra 51 Defensive plays have been included consisting of these formations:
• 44 – 4 Defensive linemen, 4 linebackers.
• 46 – Traditional old school defense born of Buddy Ryan
• 33 – Nickel package with 3 defensive linemen and 3 linebackers
• 3 Deep – 7 defensive backs package with 3 deep across the back.
Gameplay Enhancements
Improved Passing Game & Reduced Interception Frequency
Following valuable feedback from reviews and Backbreaker forums, we rewrote elements of the AI that will help make passing a more effective way to gain yards.
Here is a summary of the changes:
• We’ve improved the O-Line for teams throughout the game. This will give you longer in the pocket to make your reads correctly and go through your progression
• We’ve increased the passing animation speed and increased the minimum distance where a long windup will be required. You will now be able to execute the pass more quickly and hit your target more effectively
• There were too many dropped passes to the flats. We’ve introduced a new pass classification for these simple passes and have ramped up the accuracy of the QB when performing this type of pass
• The accuracy of QBs has been increased across the board
• Defensive Backs now fully respect their visibility cone, only seeing interception opportunities when appropriate. The DBs will continue with the assigned role until the either “see” the need to change, or “hear” the need to change, which is typically about 1-2 seconds after the snap
• We’ve tweaked the amount your QB will lead a receiver when activated
• Moved pump fake to shoulder button to make lob passes easier to execute
• Improved mechanism for Quarterback scanning the field
• Reduced penalty applied for throwing out of focus mode
User Interceptions and User Controlled Catching
• Following community feedback, the user is now given full control over interception attempts when controlling a defensive player. Interception attempts are made by holding the left trigger (focus mode), ie. by actively looking towards the ball as it comes in
• Wide Receiver catching in now also uses this mechanic (i.e. hold left trigger when ball is approaching)
• To signal an incoming ball, the user-controlled WR will be highlighted red when targeted by the QB
QB AI Logic
The QB AI has received a major overhaul. Firstly, the opposition QB will now recognise double coverage better. He is also more likely to throw the ball away rather than risk a throw / take a sack. This results in fewer AI interceptions and sacks. We’ve also reworked the QB receiver selection logic and increased prioritisation of throwing to the primary.
Improved Pocket Protection
Following numerous tweaks, the pocket is more solid. Pocket time now averages around 5 seconds and is all linked to the players’ attributes.
Show and Hide Blitz
New ability to show and hide blitz, pre-snap , by pressing the shoulder button.
Jukes and spins
The animation speed of these has been increased and better linked to a player’s agility attribute.
Improved AI Time Management, Audibles and Play-calling
Sophistication of play selection, audibles and timeouts has been improved. Additionally, the AI is more likely to flip their selected play depending on the situation.
Opposition AI
This has been given an overhaul and you should find your opponent much more of a threat. We’ve also rebalanced Easy, Medium and Hard settings to be more challenging and linked almost all AI decisions/speeds to their attributes. Also, you should be aware that all of the notes relating to AI, animation and behaviours above will apply to your opponent as well. These are game-wide changes.
New RB Focus Mode
When holding the left trigger, the camera will turn upfield when the RB is heading towards the sidelines. This is NOT automatic – you need to press the hold the trigger to manually glance upfield.
Stumble Mechanic
We have added a stumble recovery mechanic for when your player has been knocked off course. To recover from a stumble, just press the Action button as quickly as possible.
Fumbles
• Fumbles are now more likely to happen for non-QB players.
• Passes backwards are now classified as fumbles (respecting QB arm movement direction)
• Catches bobbled / dropped within 2 steps as a result of a tackle are marked as incomplete passes rather than fumbles (player deemed not in control of ball)
Bug Fixes & Other High Priority Issues
Friendly Fire!
Your players occasionally reacted too strongly to friendly physical impact. This happened especially when controlling a RB/FB and clashing with your line. We’ve dialled that back, which should make your running game more effective. Players will still react to the collision but will be less likely to be knocked down
Penalties
Users have been reporting a multitude of penalty issues. We have done a comprehensive review of all penalty complaints and bugs (including the infamous roughing-the-kicker) and have been able to resolve them. We believe you will find this drastically improves the quality of the game.
Online Gameplay
• Reduced online lag slightly
• Built in a new protection system against people hacking the game to create a “super team” and taking it online
• Removed the Cancel Stats Posting option as reported by the forum. People were abusing this to avoid losses showing up in their profile
• Fixed a number of other stat posting related issues
D-Line
• Users playing as part of the D-Line were experiencing a slower-than-desired speed in getting off the mark due to a delay in input control. This has been solved
• Users playing D-line can now bat the ball (pull down on the right-stick)
• Spins, rips and swims are now more effective to help you get that sack
Too much Boom!
Stopped “Boom” playing every kickoff. It now only occurs at the start of each half. Yay!
Team Ratings
Offense, Defensive and Overall ratings for teams have been recalculated and now more accurately reflect the quality of the team if all the best players are on the field.
Play Exploits
Thanks to feedback from the forums we have put tweaks in place to prevent exploits on the following:
• RB spinning through the line
• QB sneak
• FG block
• Punt block
• Nanoblitz
Rule Fixes
• Players must take 2 steps before they gain possession of a caught ball
• Tipped punts and kick-offs that touch receiving team players and subsequently go out the back of the endzone no longer cause safeties (just touchbacks).
• Intentional Grounding penalty now causes a loss of down.
• Scrimmage kicks (punts/field goals) can only be returned by the kicking team if blocked before the line of scrimmage
• Two Minute Warning will only stop the game clock after the play has ended.
• Defensive/Offensive Pass interference rules are turned off when the ball touches a player.
• Pre-snap penalties (Encroachment, Delay of Game, False Start) no longer stop the game clock.
• Touchbacks and Safeties are determined by whoever intentionally touched the ball last, instead of whoever physically touched it last.
• Failed field goals restart at the 20 yard line or the point the ball was kicked from (used to be from the 20 yard line or the previous LoS).
• Improved Pass Interference detection.
• Defensive Holding rule now active during punts.
• Game clock is only stopped by a penalty if it is within the last 2 minutes of the first half, or the last 5 minutes of the second half.
• No longer declaring a pass as incomplete if a player catches it in the air with their feet out of bounds (the feet must be grounded).
• Fumbles on a 4th down, or within the Two Minute Warning, can only be advanced by the Defense or by the player who fumbled the ball.
• Improved the "ball carrier" logic.
• Now awarding a touchback when the punting team catches a non-live ball in the opponent’s endzone
• A ball is only considered blocked/batted if it changes the impetus of the ball.
• Intercepting the ball before your own endzone but being carried into the endzone with momentum will now give a touchback instead of a safety.
• If a QB fumbles a ball while in the motion of throwing (i.e. hands moving forwards), then this is now considered a forward pass.
• Ineligible receiver downfield during a pass down penalty now excludes tight ends.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2595018_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._4813363_n.jpg
I know I said this game sucked, but holy fuck, kudos to NaturalMotion. That is the single most amazing patch I've ever seen. I don't have the game anymore, so I can't tell how well they work, but they pretty much addressed every single issue I had with the game. Not only that, but they even added formations and plays!! WHAT?!?! How the hell come EA's on their 5th game this generation and they haven't done something like that yet?
I'm not buying it again just to play the patch, as I already got the platinum, but the guys over there have my utmost respect. They knew there was problems with the game, they took their time and made sure they got it right.
They've been working on the fucking game for like 3 years. Why wasn't that shit in it already?Quote:
Originally Posted by I OU a Beatn
Well hopefully they have enough money in the bank for Backbreaker 2, cuz with only 70k sold to date, most people have already made this game an afterthought. They sure didn't mass produce any copies....only 30 or so combined auctions for PS3/360. Which means not that many retailers are selling the game on eBay.
The same could be said for EA's football games. I'm personally wondering why they're on their 5th game this generation and they STILL can't get defense or shotgun run blocking correctly programmed. At least NaturalMotion is putting forth an effort to fix things their community wants fixed. All the issues with NCAA gameplay wise, and I'd be willing to bet a very large sum that not a single damn one of those issues gets addressed via a patch.Quote:
Originally Posted by morsdraconis
Mad respect for NM for actually listening to their community.
That's interesting. I never mailed the game back from GameFly. Maybe I should hold onto it and try it out again.
(shakes head)Quote:
Originally Posted by I OU a Beatn
Mad respect for NM putting out an ARCADE football game that was the most atrocious thing I've ever played and then, take 2 months to release a patch that probably hasn't fixed anything at all?
You've gotta be kidding me. Hate EA all you want, but don't prop up these fuckin' amateur programmers that don't have the slightest clue how to make a football game.
Their patch has nothing on the absolutely terrible pass defense in the game and they've made it easier to pass the ball. Good god. I could already complete 80% or more of my passes in the game and they made it EASIER.
It's NFL Blitz with physics. (yawn)
And, on a side note, don't bring your frustration with playing dumb ass people online into it. It's not EA's fault that you play stupid people online that find exploits in the game JUST LIKE EVERY SINGLE OTHER GAME. For fuck's sake, welcome to playing online. I don't get what you people fuckin' expect to happen.
Let's keep this thread focused on BackBreaker and their patch & game.
:D I don't really get what provoked the little flip out, but okay. I was simply saying that regardless of how well it works, I have mad respect for Natural Motion because of their willingness to listen to their community and fix actual problems that the players actually want fixed. I'd personally appreciate that support in all the games I buy, but unfortunately, it doesn't happen.
I also don't get what you're saying about playing online. Backbreaker didn't have issues online. Madden has very few every year. I personally don't think it's asking too much for EA to correctly program the AI so that you can't run money plays every single down. Last time I checked, online play is a feature on the box, so I don't see why issues on that part of the game shouldn't be brought up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by morsdraconis
IOU tends to have that effect on people from time to time. I think he was due another flip out to keep his yearly average. :) Don't get him started on COD!! LOL
I'd hold off judgement on NaturalMotion's willingness to patch until it's proven any of this is actually 'fixed'. That seems ridiculously convenient to do a sequel-level amount of content in a two month patch.
Maybe, or maybe we have grown accustomed to EA and their minimalist patch reasoning...??? EA is already working on 12 but Backbreaker has no future so they have no development restraints timewise.Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffHCross
If BB had no future, do you think Natural Motion would have wasted their time developing the patch? The patch alone almost guarantees a BB2.
No it doesn't. It's NM PRAYING that people are going to purchase BB now that it's supposedly "fixed" so that their revenue increases enough where they have a reason to make BB2.Quote:
Originally Posted by I OU a Beatn
Right now, they are squarely in the selling the technology to another company with more resources category to even have a prayer of breaking even on their costs (which I'm sure are quite large even if it was just 4 or 5 guys programming) much less making enough money to justify another one.
I dunno...I think they would need a HUGE push in sales to justify spending more money that they don't have to make BB2.
Red Dead Redemption was in development for quite a while, and granted it had a larger team, they needed 4M to break even (which could have been an exaggeration)....but Backbreaker was in developement forever. We first heard details back in 2007. With only that little of sales, there is no way they are even close to breaking even with it. On top of that 505 is up shit creek with the poor rating of Naughty Bear as well.
Everyone gets one free patch....it's hard telling how long this one free patch was in development. I don't think they started this up at release and it was all based on feedback. There is no way.
Looks like NaturalMotion pulled a Favre .... announced the patch was out, then from Twitter.
GameFocusdotca Update - Don't look for Backbreaker "Greathouse" update. NaturalMotion is backpedaling...