Backbreaker Conference Call

[jfsolo]

Quote: Originally Posted by JayBee74

No Injuries and No Fatigue Do Not An Arcade Game Make.

Yeah, it does. Hey, buy the game, enjoy the hell out of it, end up thinking its one of the best(or maybe even the best) football games you've ever played, but lets call it what it is. Arcade has somehow become a pejorative term, synonymous with being inferior, but that shouldn't be the case.

You can love the physics engine, the camera angle, and other game play design decisions, but a football game designed without fatigue or injuries can not be called a simulation.

Even if your game isn't trying to mimic the NFL, if you're trying to accurately mimic any sport, fatigue and injuries are a must. People often get hurt, and always get tired playing football. Unless your name is Kal-El.

[allBthere]

Quote: Originally Posted by DickDalewood

Lol, it amazes me how many excuses people will make up for this game lacking SO much because they want SO badly for it to be good. Meanwhile, another game will have the wrong colored shoelaces and it's a game killer

not really man. Should they have added broken gameplay elements to put on the back of the box to please you?

UFC '09 was a great game and was missing southpaw stances and bob/weave mechanics among other things. Those aren't sock colours type omissions, but the game was great and they built on it for this year's game.

Backbreaker has 2 franchise style modes w/ signings and drafting and stats and all that. Total team customization etc....so if the gameplay is good which from the videos I think it looks pretty good...they can add more things the next time. You don't want to be too limited, but you can't be Duke Nukem Forever either.

You're talking about these things as if they are 100% essential for a good football game, when clearly based on past titles, they are not.

Cut it out with the "tech demo" crap too. It's a full retail release football game with team customization, franchise with full stat-tracking and online play. If Backbreaker is a tech demo at this point, than so are all videogames. Gears is a tech demo of unreal, crysis is a demo of cry-tech, and madden is a tech demo for pro-tac technology lol.

[JayBee74]

Quote: Originally Posted by DickDalewood

Lol, it amazes me how many excuses people will make up for this game lacking SO much because they want SO badly for it to be good. Meanwhile, another game will have the wrong colored shoelaces and it's a game killer

Nocomprende either-I think "another game" has a lot more to deal with then wrong colored shoelaces, including the fatigue system being so bad they decided to release 07 without it.

[CreatineKasey]

I kind of like not having hot routes available. It forces users to call good plays. I do wish they had only 1 hot route.. and that's the actual hot route (turn and look for the ball after the snap)!

As for fatigue and injuries, it's not a huge deal to me personally. I'm still not sold on this game gameplay-wise and this conference call really didn't do much of anything to change my mind. We got a bunch of "no's" that they were avoiding mention of (hot routes, injuries, challenges, stamina) and nothing really new outside of that. I had enough issue with the game before this call and nothing really has changed.

I'll be looking forward to hearing solid reviews from those of you whom I trust. Hopefully there's a diamond in the rough here.

[JayBee74]

Quote: Originally Posted by jayhawker

Pretty much what I figured. there was just no way that this game was going to be compelling simulation of football out of the gates. I expected to play around wit ht eh game as rental, but never had an inkling that this was going to be the game I was hoping for. I'm wanting to see Madden go more in the Football Pro direction. BB is clearly more of a Blitz type game that might become a full featured game down the road. No matter how cool the animations are, this game will have zero effect on Madden. The main reason I had no expectations for this game was that their focus was clearly on animations and graphics. There was no buzz about realistic formations or stats. So really, it is a tech demo.

Will you guys stop the tech demo and arcade, Blitz type nonsense? How is this game anything like an over the top Blitz game? You said it yourself ,"there was just no way that this game was going to be compelling simulation of football out of the gates". You dissed this game at the beginning with little or no information about it. And then you talk about a zero effect on Madden-sheesh.

[kjcheezhead]

Quote: Originally Posted by bgeno

Madden laid down the groundwork years ago though, so that argument is completely invalid. I'd compare it to a new car company coming out and not having power steering, anti-lock breaks, or power windows. It may be the nicest car in the world with a beautiful body, sick wheels, and a terrific transmission, but no one wants to drive a car today without power steering or anti-lock breaks. And people would expect power windows in a car that nice. Would you give the excuse then that Ford has had over 100 years and still has recalls and some poor products and that we should give this new car company some time? Sure, that may be the case that Ford doesn't make a tremendous product, but it still does certain things right that you expect other companies to do as well.

Well, if you wanna compare companies, you need to compare BB to Madden 08. That is the same amount of development time. Oh, and don't forget Madden has 10 developers for every 1 BB developer. Oh yeah, and Backbreaker had to spend development time figuring a way to allow gamers to get the NFL into the game without getting sued. Oh, and 1 more thing, they were programming their players with behaviours and removing dice roll systems from their sports game which is something no other sports game has done and has the potential to make the game much less predictable.

Not to mention 2 franchise modes, a totally different control system and a unique camera angle and game experience.

Geez, Natural Motion is a bunch of lazy bastards aren't they? Why support them for making the first new football game in 3 years if this is what we get.

[Xaos]

Quote: Originally Posted by JayBee74

Will you guys stop the tech demo and arcade, Blitz type nonsense? How is this game anything like an over the top Blitz game? You said it yourself ,"there was just no way that this game was going to be compelling simulation of football out of the gates". You dissed this game at the beginning with little or no information about it. And then you talk about a zero effect on Madden-sheesh.

Why is it like Blitz? Because the #1 feature in this game is Euphoria, an engine that will make tackles better. Blitz had tackles .


And for everyone saying it will have an effect on madden, it can't be worse than madden, thats simply B/S. This game can be worse than madden. It will more than likely be worse than Madden. How are you telling me that the so called "Franchise" mode is going to be better than Madden's franchise mode? "Road To Backbreaker" seems just like a horrible idea. In the real franchise mode, you're going to need 22 players. 11 if you decide to make them uber-beast-99 players. "Uber-Customization is going to make backbreaker awesome!!!" No. YOU CAN'T EVEN CHANGE THE PLAYERS!!!!!! ALL OF THEM ARE THE SAME EXCEPT FOR RATINGS!!!!! Essentially your putting the same build of a WR as your G !!!! No hot routes a good thing? Ludacris! What happens if you call a deep pass such as 4 Verticals, and the defense comes up like they're going to run a cover 4 or in the Quarter defense, backing up their secondary? Your screwed. And how are you going to be able to tell apart the Linebackers from the corners? A formation like Nickel 1-5-5 is going to confuse people beyond BELIEF.


Mods, if this is trolling, excuse me but I had to get this out

[bgeno]

Quote: Originally Posted by JayBee74

What groundwork? The BB developers are going inside the Madden Code for a look at a below average fatigue and injury system? UPDATE:By the way, thanks for the conference call MMChrisS.

I don't give a damn about the "code" side of it. Sure, Madden could certainly use some improvements to fatigue, injuries, and even hot routes. I'm talking about the features in general. Madden has had fatigue, injuries, and hot routes for years. It's not like these features just came out. And with fatigue and injuries, it's not like they're simply fluff features. They're essential for a sim



I agree with DickDalewood that people are trying too hard to make up for the deficiencies in this game because they want it to be good.