Backbreaker Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

[mgoblue678]

I guess they weren't kidding when they said the Talons offense isn't very good. Just held them to negative 10 yards as the Scourge. Their qb threw 2 picks as well. My d-line and linebackers were in their backfield almost every play.

At this point I think I am pretty much sold, looks like I will be picking this up day one.

[ZeeAyKay]

Quote: Originally Posted by boritter

I wish that you controlled the same player as the play before. I always want to be the DE but this changes my player each time. I know I can pick the player in the playcall menu but I don't want to do that every down. Pre-snap is there a way to "aim" the defender you want to switch to or do you have to cycle through all the defenders? In other games you can hold A and point to a defender to switch but I cannot see how to do that in BB.

In the options menu under game you can lock offensive and defensive roles. So if you always want to be DE just check that box.

Pre-snap when you hold LB you use the left stick to choose what position you want to be.

[MiNiDiTkA]

Quote: Originally Posted by boritter

Pros: *The animations are phenominal. *Lots of features for a demo. (Training, tutorial, tackle alley, exhibition.) *The graphics including the crowd are top notch. Cons: *I hated the camera angle immediately. After 3 hours of non-stop BB I still can't stand it. It's way too sensitive to jukes and other movements. I wish they had a slider that controlled how jerky the camera shifts are. I know 505 wants to differentiate BB from Madden, but the fact that there is no other camera angles will turn off TONS of gamers. *The music is extremely repetitive. *Instant replay options are very limited. You cannot pause or adjust the camera angle or player perspective of the replay. The replay is literally a replay of what you saw during the play. As far as I know this is the only sports game that is missing these replay features. *The lack of an announcer is very noticeable. There are frequent moments between plays where there is no music and the crowd, players, and PA man are 100% silent. These awkward silences seem odd.

This pretty much sums up my feelings on the demo and because so will probably cancel my preorder. Nice first effort but not enough to get me away from 2K8/Madden. Will have some video up shortly.

[TreFacTor]

I was on the fence about BB. I couldn't make up my mind because on the one hand, I'm tired of the stagnant progression of Madden, on the other hand I know full well going in that BB is a new IP from a small group of European developers who have very little football knowledge or experience.

The good
The Euphoria engine is perfect for Football.
Running the football is easier than passing.

The Bad
EVERYTHING else.

Now before everyone gets their flame throwers ready, let me explain. I say everything else is bad because the game is clunky.

*The players all move the same, no matter whether they are a QB, TE, or DE. They run the same, and the animations for such a physics based game are stiff. Every time a player got knocked to the ground, they had the same robotic, stiff "get up animation".

*The camera isn't as bad as I previously thought, but the camera is erratic at best. I'm sure this is for effect, but the only time the camera feels right is right before the snap of the ball and when running the football.

*Passing the ball is a horse of a different color! Anyone who loved the vision cone in Madden should feel right at home. I for one hated the vision cone because of the flicking of the right thumb stick. It would often register incorrectly, and I would wind up taking a sack trying to get the cone back to the open receiver. The same can be said about the passing in BackBreaker. Yes you can change the control layout, but you are still forced to "cycle" through receivers. This is another half good half bad implementation. I can see that flicking the stick resembles an actual QB going through his reads, but it's far to clunky and slow. Yes I took a bunch of sacks playing the game.

*I often found that I would get knocked to the ground through incidental contact with anyone on the field which would indicate the need for more precision control so I could avoid contact, but the camera and player movements simply don't allow that to happen. Even when I didn't get knocked to the ground I had to make myself get involve in the plays because in about 3 hours of playtime the computer only ran one play in my direction the rest of the plays seemed to intentionally go to the opposite side of the field from where I was playing no matter what position I played. Even if you switch to the closest defender, it is often too late to have an impact on the play.

While playing the outside linebacker on one play, I was in the perfect position to pick off a pass, but couldn't jump for the ball. After the play, I went to the controls screen to see what is jump, and found that jump and catch are missing from the controls. Your player either does these on their own or they don't. Once you have the ball jumping is mapped to the thumb stick in the form of hurdling.

*Kicking takes waaaay too long.

*EXTREMELY generic plays (and yeah man to man coverage is abysmal)

*Replays, Ugh! I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say that 505 doesn't watch alot of football or even play a lot of football. Often the replay just follows the player you are controlling, and as stated before if you don't make your player get involved the replay is just irrelevant UNLESS its score or A POINT AFTER ATTEMPT. You cannot control the replay, switch cameras on the replay (which you can do during the player intro?!?).

Playing BB is much like playing Superstar mode in Madden which I never cared for with the exception that you can switch the player your controlling, and you call the plays. I can say that after playing the demo for a few hours that 505 did a good job. BackBreaker will please those who hate Madden but like football. If you were already going to purchase the game, nothing anyone can say will change your mind. I have however decided against buying BB. I wasn't excited while playing the game. While Madden has it's faults (repetitive commentary, cheating AI, sliding and morphing players), it has far more control, and player involvement where as in BackBreaker, your involvement in the play is determined by where the play is going. If the play isn't going to your side of the field, your just there, and that's the way it is in real football but there just isn't any excitement on the plays your not involved in. I actually found myself missing Chris Collingsworth's repetitive commentary.

[str8artist]

WOW!!! I am shocked how good the controls are.

Based on training mode:

Player movement +
Footplanting +
Spin moves +
Block Evade +

[fldash]

For those bitching about replay, seriously. The devs said there is only basic replay functionality in the demo and the full game has full replay, which most likely means the ability to watch from bird's eye view or even from a different players perspective.

[mgoblue678]

Quote: Originally Posted by TreFacTor

I was on the fence about BB. I couldn't make up my mind because on the one hand, I'm tired of the stagnant progression of Madden, on the other hand I know full well going in that BB is a new IP from a small group of European developers who have very little football knowledge or experience. The good The Euphoria engine is perfect for Football. Running the football is easier than passing. The Bad EVERYTHING else. Now before everyone gets their flame throwers ready, let me explain. I say everything else is bad because the game is clunky. *The players all move the same, no matter whether they are a QB, TE, or DE. They run the same, and the animations for such a physics based game are stiff. Every time a player got knocked to the ground, they had the same robotic, stiff "get up animation". *The camera isn't as bad as I previously thought, but the camera is erratic at best. I'm sure this is for effect, but the only time the camera feels right is right before the snap of the ball and when running the football. *Passing the ball is a horse of a different color! Anyone who loved the vision cone in Madden should feel right at home. I for one hated the vision cone because of the flicking of the right thumb stick. It would often register incorrectly, and I would wind up taking a sack trying to get the cone back to the open receiver. The same can be said about the passing in BackBreaker. Yes you can change the control layout, but you are still forced to "cycle" through receivers. This is another half good half bad implementation. I can see that flicking the stick resembles an actual QB going through his reads, but it's far to clunky and slow. Yes I took a bunch of sacks playing the game. *I often found that I would get knocked to the ground through incidental contact with anyone on the field which would indicate the need for more precision control so I could avoid contact, but the camera and player movements simply don't allow that to happen. Even when I didn't get knocked to the ground I had to make myself get involve in the plays because in about 3 hours of playtime the computer only ran one play in my direction the rest of the plays seemed to intentionally go to the opposite side of the field from where I was playing no matter what position I played. Even if you switch to the closest defender, it is often too late to have an impact on the play. While playing the outside linebacker on one play, I was in the perfect position to pick off a pass, but couldn't jump for the ball. After the play, I went to the controls screen to see what is jump, and found that jump and catch are missing from the controls. Your player either does these on their own or they don't. Once you have the ball jumping is mapped to the thumb stick in the form of hurdling. *Kicking takes waaaay too long. *EXTREMELY generic plays (and yeah man to man coverage is abysmal) *Replays, Ugh! I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say that 505 doesn't watch alot of football or even play a lot of football. Often the replay just follows the player you are controlling, and as stated before if you don't make your player get involved the replay is just irrelevant UNLESS its score or A POINT AFTER ATTEMPT. You cannot control the replay, switch cameras on the replay (which you can do during the player intro?!?). Playing BB is much like playing Superstar mode in Madden which I never cared for with the exception that you can switch the player your controlling, and you call the plays. I can say that after playing the demo for a few hours that 505 did a good job. BackBreaker will please those who hate Madden but like football. If you were already going to purchase the game, nothing anyone can say will change your mind. I have however decided against buying BB. I wasn't excited while playing the game. While Madden has it's faults (repetitive commentary, cheating AI, sliding and morphing players), it has far more control, and player involvement where as in BackBreaker, your involvement in the play is determined by where the play is going. If the play isn't going to your side of the field, your just there, and that's the way it is in real football but there just isn't any excitement on the plays your not involved in. I actually found myself missing Chris Collingsworth's repetitive commentary.

Completely disagree about man coverage being abysmal, at least on medium and hard that is not the case at all.

Your certainly entitled to your opinion and would tend to agree with a couple of them, but those other complaints are pretty weak. Some of them amount to not being used certain aspects of the game, so that part of the game is bad according to you.

I mean honestly your complaining about not enough plays being run by the CPU in your direction, what exactly did you expect. That is football, a lot of plays the ball doesn't come a certain players direction.

[TracerBullet]

I like but I'm still renting it first to see the full game. also if backbreaker 2 is coming out next year I may just wait for that one and buy it then. However, right now there is justs a ton of stuff coming out these next few months that I want.

The QB on the other team pulled a Tebow and did a jump pass!