Fed up with NCAA 11's Dynasty mode bugs? Unimpressed by the Madden 11 demo?

Well, fret not football fans, your favorite sport's season need not be hampered by a lack of new games to play.

Behind the public eye, in forums ill-frequented, an old, forgotten football game has quietly been reborn:

Natural Motion's Backbreaker.

With its sharp learning curve and "heretic" rendition of video game football, critics and casual football fans seemed collectively flustered by this bizarre football game from an unknown, British developer -- perhaps with good reason:

To enjoy Backbreaker's groundbreaking physics engine, football gamers had to look past a number of bugs, quirks and AI issues, all of which made Backbreaker's single-player gameplay a quintessential "love" or "hate" experience.

But while most gamers were quick to delete the Backbreaker demo and recoil to the cold, constrictive embrace of their aged Madden mistress, reports began to surface of an industrious group of football fans, who, with untold hundreds of man-hours, endeavored to re-skin Natural Motion's Backbreaker. This group set out to customize the game so it would no longer be a bald, albino outcast that continued to gather dust on store shelves. Instead, it would become a game for the face-painted, foam-fingered football fan whose high-fives and tireless hollering echoed each Sunday in stadiums throughout the National Football League.

NFL Team Kits

While the PS3 lacks a "definitive" set of NFL rosters, it does have a great set of logos, end zones, helmets and uniforms, all created by OS user, jondoe123.

"Little Manning" draws up the G-Men's next big play.
Source: imageshack.com

The rosters on this file are only complete for about a third of the NFL teams, but with the long, tedious work of logo-designing and uniform-editing already done (and done better than any other roster file on the PS3), jondoe123's edits are definitely the best-looking team kits the PS3 community has to offer.

Manually editing the remaining two-thirds of jondoe123's PS3 roster requires only a quick comb-over of NFL depth charts, available for free on Web sites like Yahoo Sports.

The one caveat to Backbreaker's editing system is that all player and team names must include an extra space (e.g., Green Bay SPACE SPACE Packers) to throw off the "name police," which was installed to keep NFL names from appearing during Backbreaker's online gameplay.

Complete NFL Package

For PS3 users who do not want to spend time entering player names, the OS user sketchone2K9 has created a complete NFL file, which makes the Backbreaker "NFL" conversion a more simplified, "plug and play" experience.

While the logos and uniforms are not quite as authentic as the ones found on jondoe123's edits, the roster portion of sketchone2K9's file covers all 32 NFL teams, eliminating the need to manually enter player names for the remaining teams.

In the end, both sketchone2K9's and jondoe123's edits have provided a great service for the PS3 community, and it's simply a matter of preference as to which file PS3 users would want to download.

Complete NFL Package

Due to a tremendous effort by OS users gjsii13 and Ba10, this roster file brings the full NFL experience to the Xbox 360 version of Backbreaker with a fine eye for detail and authenticity.

Only a few negligible backup players are missing from the team depth charts (backup offensive linemen, backup quarterbacks for teams like New England and Indianapolis, etc.), and while the logos and uniforms do not look quite as good as jondoe123's PS3 edits, they nonetheless capture the feeling that the user is not simply playing Backbreaker, but also a real NFL game.

Without question, gjsii13's and Ba10's "Backbreaker NFL 11" roster is the star performer for the Xbox 360.


Backbreaker PC Editor

NFL 2K5 fans are no doubt familiar with the OS user FlyingFinn and his PC editor, which helped turned Visual Concepts' final NFL game into an all-time legend.

To help solve some of the AI issues that plague Backbreaker's offline experience, Finn has launched a new edition of his PC editor that is designed for the Xbox 360 version of Backbreaker.

While some bugs currently hamper the editor's "export/import team" feature, the "global attribute edit" function has been a tremendous help in solving gameplay issues, such as rampant CPU interceptions or the CPU offensive lines being too easy to break through.

With a massive Backbreaker patch recently announced by Natural Motion, FlyingFinn's PC editor may or may not become an unfortunate causality -- keep an eye on the OS Backbreaker forums for further news as it develops.

With so much community support already available for Backbreaker, it's impressive to see that the game's developers, too, are putting a major effort into bringing out an official patch "sometime soon."

The major features of Backbreaker's first patch, codenamed "Greathouse," include:

• Brand new replay system with the addition of seven fully functional cameras, including free flight mode and a cinematic ‘ball-lock’ option.
• More than 100 new plays added, including an additional nine formations.
• A "user-catch" system, giving the player a much greater level of control over the on-field action.
• Comprehensive review of all football rules and penalty bugs.
• Improved quarterback AI logic.
• The quarterback camera has been pulled back and raised a little, keeping the feeling of being down in the action, but providing a slightly wider view and vision over the line.
• Added a "glance" button that allows quarterbacks to instantly check their blind-side.
• Improved pocket protection and general offensive line play.
• Reduced INT frequency.
• New running back focus mode and "stumble" mechanic.
• New ability to "show" and "hide" blitzes, pre-snap, by pressing the shoulder button.
• Users playing the defensive line can now bat down the ball (pull down on the right joystick).
• Spins, rips and swims are now more effective to help users get to the quarterback.
• Online lag reduced slightly.
• Built in a new protection system against people hacking the game to create a "super team" and taking it online.
• Tweaks made to prevent user exploits on the following: RB spinning through the line, QB sneak, FG block, punt block, and "nanoblitz."
• Stopped P.O.D.'s “Boom” from playing every kickoff. It now only occurs at the start of each half.

For an in-depth look at the "Greathouse" patch, head over to the official Backbreaker forums, which contain a complete log of all the gameplay changes (too many to list here!).

Though it remains a mystery as to when the first Backbreaker patch will finally be made public for download (today perhaps), Natural Motion's support bodes well for the future of the franchise and its small but dedicated fan base.