IGN's Back Breaker E3 Press release with Trailer... - NFLHITMAN's Blog

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IGN's Back Breaker E3 Press release with Trailer...

Posted on June 11, 2009 at 03:08 AM.

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More Backbreaker Info

Backbreaker: The Art of Control

You've never played a football game like this before.

by Nate Ahearn

February 26, 2008 - For some time now Madden Football has been the only football offering on the market. While 2K tried to make a pseudo-comeback last year with All-Pro Football, it came out with more of a whimper than a roar. NaturalMotion is now trying their hand in the pigskin arena with Backbreaker, a game grounded in its physics and gameplay. Just recently we had the opportunity to speak with Ant Lewis, lead designer on Backbreaker, to talk about the unique control scheme that NaturalMotion is using within the game. Madden pros beware; Backbreaker is a different breed of football.

IGN: Can you give us a rundown, for those that don't know, of how Backbreaker is going to play differently than Madden in terms of control on the field?

Ant Lewis: Ok, the most apparent difference between Madden and Backbreaker is the perspective from which you view the game. It directly affects the control system and therefore the experience you have as a player. While Madden is viewed from a top-down camera perspective, Backbreaker views the action from a close third-person chase camera on the field. This makes the player feel very close to the action. This was a very deliberate design decision made early in the game's development cycle, primarily to deliver a completely different experience to Madden, but also to capitalize on the amazing euphoria tackles.

In terms of controlling characters on the field, Backbreaker supports all the moves and actions you'd expect from a football game, but with a different implementation to allow for the change in perspective and experience.

Someone's getting worked here.

IGN: There's no doubt that Madden football is one of the most popular franchises in all of gaming. Why not stick to a similar control scheme since it has worked so well for them?

Lewis: Backbreaker delivers a completely different experience than Madden. It's on the field and in your face. As a consequence, we've had to develop a control and camera system that supports the creative direction of our game. Essentially we've developed a system that is most appropriate to the unique experience we want the player to have.

Also, the change in perspective from an elevated third-person Madden camera to one which places you close to the action necessitates a different approach to controlling the players. Adopting the control system from Madden and using it in Backbreaker simply wouldn't work and would contradict the design goals of the game.

IGN: You mentioned that the right analog stick is a sort of "catch-all" in terms the actions that it performs. We can picture tackling and juking using the right stick, but what about passing? How will that work exactly?

Lewis: The gesture system is based on the premise that the actions the player performs with the right analog stick should closely mirror the motion of the action that is being performed on screen. So for basic passing when in quarterback mode, a tap up on the right stick performs a fast bullet pass while down and then up performs a deeper bomb pass. Our tests show that this system is more intuitive than assigning multiple buttons. Rookies pick it up quickly, but expert players can explore an incredibly deep skill differential.

Read more about IGN's hands on Back Breaker review here...

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/854/854993p1.html