Backbreaker

[I OU a Beatn]

My post from Utopia:

Some stats from my 2nd game. 5 minute quarters on Pro-Hard using my created team Florida vs the computer's "Colorado Six Shooters" which was randomly chosen as my opponent.


The Colorado QB had 246 yards passing on 19/38 with 0TDs and 5INT. He was also sacked 5 times. The running backs combined for 13 rushing yards on 12 attempts. All things included, they finished with 219 passing yards, 13 rushing for a total of 232 yards of offense. They had 6 turnovers and 10:55 TOP. They were 1/10 on 3rd down and 1/3 on 4th.

The Florida QB had 389 yards passing on 23/36 passing with 4 TDs and 6INT(see paragraph after the stats). He was sacked 8 times. The running backs combined for -9 yards on 8 attempts. All things included, I had 314 yards passing, -9 rushing for a total of 305 yards of offense. I had 6 turnovers, 9:05 TOP, was 2/7 on 3rd down, and 2/3 on 4th down.

Now, out of this game, there were a few things that really made me go what the fuck? 5 of the 6 interceptions I threw were bombs into one on one coverage where my WR pulled the ol' NCAA act and didn't even try to make a play on the ball while the DB went up and casually caught the ball. This didn't happen for me in the demo, but it's very consistent. It's annoying for sure, but I guess it's better than the demo was. My other pick came on a play where I was going for a post route and a safety coming to play short middle happened to be in the right place at the right time. Had I waited another .5 seconds, it would've been an easy 6.

The running game is retarded. I don't see the point in the running the ball because the blocking isn't very good and it's extremely hard to find holes with the camera.

I LOVE playing defense with the safety on this game. It is so rewarding to make a tackle. I think I had the sweetest play I've ever experienced in a football game. I was playing safety(as I did the whole game) and the CPU had called crossing post routes. I started to go with the receiver on my right, and then quickly jumped back to the one on my left right as the CPU was throwing the ball. I stepped in front, picked it off, and was unfortunately tackled at the 1 yard line by the QB. Pissed I was. [laugh]

Now, the CPU's defense is good enough I would say. The offense is just...not quite up to par. They had no problem moving the ball most of the time but always ran into snags as the drive progressed. They were in the redzone 4 times and only came away with 1 FG from it. One of the turnovers was a fumble off a sack. The ball bounced back 10 yards and my guy was in position for an easy scoop and score. Instead, he pounced on the ball and never attempted to get up. [glare] They would also take untimely sacks and call bad plays(a draw on 3rd and 12 is usually a bad call). They also did something really, really fucking stupid in the 4th quarter. They had the ball at my 10 down 24-3. It comes up 4th down with 2:30 left in the game. They kick the FG. [rock]

They also need to fix the stupid fucking penalties. 4 or 5 times in my game I got hit directly after throwing the ball and they threw a flag for roughing the passer even though it clearly was not. I declined them all, but they definitely need fixed. I saw some missed pass interference calls as well, and did not see a single holding call the entire game.

Editing wise, the team creator is pretty extensive and pretty fun to mess around with. From what I saw, you can only create logos and change the color layout for your jerseys. You can't actually edit the jersey design like you could in APF where you could edit the kind of pant stripe you want, or jersey stripe, or helmet type, etc...

Also, from what I saw, you can't edit your player ratings nor can you edit the team ratings. I didn't look extensively, but those are both major bummers.

All in all, I'm having fun with it so far. It would be nice if we could get a lot of the issues patched up, but I don't see that happening. I'm personally glad I got it, but if you're unsure, I'd say wait until it gets a price drop.

[JBHuskers]

Good writeup dude.

Yeah, I think there was a statement made somewhere that there would be no DLC.

Just for trophy grabbing sake, I'll prob drudge through the games needed to plat.

[I OU a Beatn]

Well, I don't really care about DLC, but if they want my money for BB2, they sure as hell better release a patch or two to fix some of the shit that I KNOW can be fixed. If they just hop right to BB2 and don't support this after release a bit, there's absolutely no way I'm going to support them any further. They can easily patch the responsiveness the right stick, improve the AI in certain situations, and hopefully do something about what I posted earlier:

This is baffling. I don't understand how one of the dumbest things in EA's football games somehow makes it into another company's game. The defensive players' awareness of where the ball is is much, much greater than the offensive player. I tried it a bunch more today and just ended up pissing myself off. The defensive player will actually under cut the route and go for the ball. The offensive player will just continue his route and wait for the ball to come to him. So naturally, the one way to combat this would be to user catch like in NCAA/Madden, but you can't do that. The other possibility is to lob the ball, but the stupid controls for lobbing the ball are so damn hit or miss that I often end up switching to another receiver and taking a sack.

Very fucking annoying, indeed.

[JBHuskers]

Well, I don't really care about DLC, but if they want my money for BB2, they sure as hell better release a patch or two to fix some of the shit that I KNOW can be fixed. If they just hop right to BB2 and don't support this after release a bit, there's absolutely no way I'm going to support them any further. They can easily patch the responsiveness the right stick, improve the AI in certain situations, and hopefully do something about what I posted earlier:

This is baffling. I don't understand how one of the dumbest things in EA's football games somehow makes it into another company's game. The defensive players' awareness of where the ball is is much, much greater than the offensive player. I tried it a bunch more today and just ended up pissing myself off. The defensive player will actually under cut the route and go for the ball. The offensive player will just continue his route and wait for the ball to come to him. So naturally, the one way to combat this would be to user catch like in NCAA/Madden, but you can't do that. The other possibility is to lob the ball, but the stupid controls for lobbing the ball are so damn hit or miss that I often end up switching to another receiver and taking a sack.

Very fucking annoying, indeed.

I was almost heading to bed at that point, meant to say that post release, I wouldn't expect anything. But you never know.

[JBHuskers]

Reviews should start pouring in tomorrow I'm guessing since the game came out early, and most publications probably got it before that. So far scores of 70 and 57 according to Metacritic.

[JBHuskers]

505 is playing the blame game it seems....word to the wise, don't blame Sony for your inability to not pass certification. Below is a comment from one of the better commenters on PastaPadre's site from this story.

The PSN store update just hit for Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 and the Backbreaker demo was not among the offerings for download, despite the game being released in stores across the U.S. today.

This development makes the earliest probable demo release date next Tuesday, June 8th, 2010. This matches up with an email written by 505 Games customer service in late April/early May saying that the demo would be available for PS3 on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010--the store update day for the European PSN store.

http://www.digitalsportscene.com/for...s3-owners.html

It has become clear that this delay was the decision of 505 Games, not Sony, despite prevailing opinion that it was Sony that was at fault for the demo not coming out at the same time as the Xbox 360 demo.

Not a good way to start putting the franchise out there to PS3 owners.

[cdj]

IOU - Have you played it much since the weekend? Just wondering if it grew on you or not. Are there many people in the lobbies or on the leaderboards?

[JBHuskers]

Enough scores now for a Metascore. Early ones are not good as expected. 56 on PS3 and 60 on the 360.

[I OU a Beatn]

IOU - Have you played it much since the weekend? Just wondering if it grew on you or not. Are there many people in the lobbies or on the leaderboards?

I've been playing it here and there, mostly Tackle Alley trying to get the Wave 100 trophy. As for as Exhibition/Season/Online games, I'll do what I have to for the trophies, but beyond that, I'm not interested. The AI is way too bad for me to be able to get into the game. I'm playing on the hardest difficulty and I think my closest game was like 52-10. I've only given up one touchdown to the CPU in around 10 full games. Online isn't fun because the defense is so bad that if you get a stop, it's because your opponent doesn't know what they're doing. Not very many people play it online. I think the leaderboards just barely go past 100.

[cdj]

Well, I don't really care about DLC, but if they want my money for BB2, they sure as hell better release a patch or two to fix some of the shit that I KNOW can be fixed.

In this thread at the BB forums, the dev only posted once but he didn't commit to saying there will be a patch. He only explained a little how it works.

We may be getting ahead of ourselves (yourselves) but patching works by replacing the executable. Not sure how big it is for BB, but probably a few megabytes (4 or so).

Things that are possible are pretty much anything that doesn't require data... ie, we couldn't change elements of the stadiums since the is held is large data files, or specific animations as they are held in asset files, but most logical things we can change.

Hope that helps - note Im not saying we are patching, just discussing how patches work

Todd.

[JBHuskers]

That's pretty lame to come right out and say "I'm not saying we are patching", considering you should be patching before release on what was wrong with the retail disc.

[cdj]

That's pretty lame to come right out and say "I'm not saying we are patching", considering you should be patching before release on what was wrong with the retail disc.

It's probably 505 Games' decision and they are likely waiting on sales numbers to justify the cost & dev time. Just a guess though.

[JBHuskers]

It's probably 505 Games' decision and they are likely waiting on sales numbers to justify the cost & dev time. Just a guess though.

At the same time, they should have just not said anything if they're not sure, that just stirs the pot even more considering they just released the game, and they bring out a statement like that. I don't think that statement of "I'm not saying we're patching" really has any time of being a good time to say. They're already getting it for blaming Sony on the PS3 demo. It just seems like all news is bad news when it comes from 505.

[I OU a Beatn]

505 Games still has Naughty Bear coming out, they'll be okay.

[cdj]

505 Games still has Naughty Bear coming out, they'll be okay.

And the Michael Phelps swimming game. (If that's still in development.)

[I OU a Beatn]

I got to wave 89 before I used all my lives. This shit is just impossible.

[JeffHCross]

IGN review: 5.0

If the XFL was still around today, Backbreaker would be its videogame incarnation. It feels as though Natural Motion's first venture into the sports arena is trying to be over the top but isn't sure if it wants to leap head-first into the arcade realm. I think I would have been fine with the blend of arcade and simulation-style gameplay, but it's some of the game's poor design decisions that ultimately tackle it for a loss.

[JBHuskers]

if the xfl was still around today, backbreaker would be its videogame incarnation.

x

[JBHuskers]

I don't get how people are trashing the IGN review. Maybe they didn't get past that first XFL sentence because the score and most of the review are spot on I think.

The end of the review stated:

As it stands, this game feels more like a beefy Xbox Live Arcade or PlayStation Network release searching for its identity than something that belongs on retail store shelves.

I think I remember CDJ saying that exact same thing in regards to it being a PSN Store, XBLA title.

[JeffHCross]

Agreed JB. Anybody trashing the IGN review is a fanboy. You might not agree with the IGN review, but he explains the reasons for his score. You can't fault the reasoning.