Backbreaker News Post

Backbreaker Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

07:23 AM - May 21, 2010 by wickedbadman

The Backbreaker demo is now available on the Marketplace. Post your impressions here.

Quote:


	"BACKBREAKER� is a new, revolutionary football experience that takes you straight onto the field. Breakthrough euphoria tackles, non-canned animation, and stunning on-field graphics make BACKBREAKER� the first truly live football game."

Game: BackbreakerReader Score: 6/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 51 - View All

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# 801 Methlab @ 05/24/10 02:49 PM

I don't think anyone ever said this game was a perfect sim. It just captures the feel of playing in a real football game and not being able to see the entire field. It still has an arcade feel to it, which I enjoy.

Not being able to see the safeties drop into coverage after the snap as easy is a lot more realistic then seeing exactly where they are going because you are so high up. Finally people who have never played QB can understand why their hero totally misread that slant route for a pick 6 last weekend.

Does the camera need tweaking? Sure..it's not perfect. It's a demo. I have to imagine that the release will be better and that there will be a patch or 2.

Frankly, I can not wait to play a full game. 1 short quarters with a limited playbook is a complete tease right now and I need more.

EDIT: Sorry, I had this post unsbumitted for a while and hit post before I saw the Mod warning.

# 802 Methlab @ 05/24/10 02:55 PM

One thing that is going to make this a lot easier is Practice Mode. I abuse pratice modes in 2k and Madden and they REALLY will help people get used to the new style of this game. I ran the QB exhibitions about 2 times just to really get down the Right stick reads.

# 803 allBthere @ 05/24/10 03:10 PM

Just had a good one, 2 diving catches by the TE, a crazy goal line dive and 2 forced fumbles.

The short games are really starting to kill me though. I may just get back to RDR, and try not to play it for a while. I really need full games now.

# 804 gridironjunky @ 05/24/10 03:14 PM

This is the first time in a video game that I have felt close to being back on the field playing especially on defense. The camera on offense would also be perfect if not for the mass of my own user controlled player blocking my view of oncoming tacklers. I hope they can fix that one problem. Maybe making the user controlled ball carrier semi-transparent would help. As for gameplay I've seen problems and possible glitches that are to be expected out of a first release or 21st release if you care to compare. The one thing that continues to stick out to me is the amount of fun! Fun factor in sports games is something I feel has been lacking for a long time and I find this game to be incredibly fun!

# 805 Skyliner80 @ 05/24/10 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allstar3970


	what? nobody's looking for jersey patches, hand towels, and where the cornerbacks eyes are at all times? it's funny how with Madden every single detail is nitpicked, but not so here. I just think everybody's so starved for something different that this is bound to be overrated a bit.

Well, this product isn't claiming "..if it's in the game, it's in the game", so it doesn't have to add all these things that by now, should have been in past games. This is their first try at it, and with a nice engine, gimmick or not, are giving it the old college try.

Madden or any other game in the future trying to emulate the Pros, license or not, would have should have had towels and such a long time ago.

# 806 Skyliner80 @ 05/24/10 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wheelman990


	The gamers that want those things probably wont even try BB. I think your preaching to the wrong crowd. Everyone here is more then likely concerned with gameplay first & foremost. Nobody said BB was perfect. But camera angles, music, and uniforms arent the same as broken gameplay and useless ratings. BB has a chance to evolve into a true next gen football game. Something we didn't get back in 06-07 as promised. Your comments seam as to stir up trouble & get things off topic. If you dont like BB, just tell us why. We want all the good and bad about the demo.

I'm all about patches, uniform accuracy, crowds and those little nuances but I can't expect that from BB. New kid on the block, showing off some pretty cool things..for ex...the uniform editor.

Joy.

# 807 RaginCajun @ 05/24/10 04:05 PM

I just played four games using the Cougars who have the worst defense and played against the Spartans who have the best offense. I played on Pro-Hard. On defense, I called the same play every time. No matter the situation, the same play. What would you guess happened?

In four games, I gave up a total of 31 yards. Thats right, 31 yards. Obviously I didnt give up any points. I didnt do anything fancy. Didn't move players pre-snap. Didnt call all out blitzes. Hell, I didnt switch players once the play started. I recorded 10 sacks, 3 fumbles, and 5 interceptions. Again, the worst defense against the best offense. And dont forget, the same play on defense every time. There is no excuse for this.

This game is nothing more than a tech demo. There is no real game of football here and this proves it. I cant believe some people actually think this game is a sim experience. The developer focused solely on the animation tech and nothing else.

# 808 dmick4324 @ 05/24/10 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaginCajun


	I just played four games using the Cougars who have the worst defense and played against the Spartans who have the best offense. I played on Pro-Hard. On defense, I called the same play every time. No matter the situation, the same play. What would you guess happened? In four games, I gave up a total of 31 yards. Thats right, 31 yards. Obviously I didnt give up any points. I didnt do anything fancy. Didn't move players pre-snap. Didnt call all out blitzes. Hell, I didnt switch players once the play started. I recorded 10 sacks, 3 fumbles, and 5 interceptions. Again, the worst defense against the best offense. And dont forget, the same play on defense every time. There is no excuse for this. This game is nothing more than a tech demo. There is no real game of football here and this proves it. I cant believe some people actually think this game is a sim experience. The developer focused solely on the animation tech and nothing else.

Here we go with the tech demo thing again lol. In all honesty I agree with your complaints, the offensive AI is at the very least, terrible. There's still hope that this can be fixed or improved slightly before retail or through patches like many of you guys have posted.

But if you can stomach the camera angle (I personally am a HUGE fan) then there's no denying that this game plays a fun brand of football. Which is exactly what the developers were going for, an in your face, jaw dropping, fun experience.

# 809 RaginCajun @ 05/24/10 04:22 PM

I wouldnt call giving up 8 yards a game fun...

# 810 jdareal21 @ 05/24/10 04:32 PM

I was pleasantly surprised, it's not as derivative as I thought it would be. That being said, it definitely takes some getting used to, and I'm still not sure if it would warrant more than a fleeting novelty interest

# 811 jdareal21 @ 05/24/10 04:34 PM

Edit

# 812 swaldo @ 05/24/10 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swaldo


	OK as promised I played 8 games and tracked the stats in pro mode on hard difficulty. In every game it was Indy (CPU) at Columbia Colonels (me.) I chose to play left defensive end so as not to effect the result of plays too much. In other words, I didn't want to play CB and get burned thus skewing the stats. I kept playing until I got at least 60 plays out of Indy, this would replicate one full game of plays from scrimmage. Also, on defense I called a wide mix of plays - man, zone, blitz etc. And here are the results... INDY SPARTANS: 33 OFFENSIVE POINTS (3 TD'S) PASSING: 38 ATTEMPTS 29 COMPLETE 76.3 COMPLETION % 428 YDS 5 INT 5 SACK 1 QB FUMBLE RUSHING: 28 RUSH ATTEMPTS 65 YARDS 2.32 AVG YARDS PER RUSH 0 FUMBLES So the devs claim that INDY has an excellent offense, should pass the ball well and dominate teams in the lower league is accurate. They had some really nice drives and some plays were killer to watch. As for me and the sad sack Colonels...on offense I mostly ran running plays so I could get the ball back in the hands of INDY. I also wanted to test outside runs so 2/3 of my calls were east/west. I played QB and let the CPU do the running. Here are the results... 47 ATTEMPTS 54 YARDS 1.15 AVG YARDS PER RUSH

So now that I established that INDY can be effective against a weak team (as shown above) I wanted to see how they would hold up against a good secondary, so I put them up against the OAK Scourge. This time I had to play 7 games in order to get the minimum 60 offensive plays out of INDY.

First off, here is the description of OAK in the devs demo guide (the Scourge is in the best/BBFL league)....

Oakland Scourge
---------------
The scourge are a team built from the backfield. Their secondary is amongst the best the league has to offer, and they tend to keep a lid on some of the league's toughest offenses. Their star player on offense is Dexter Houston at Running Back, renowned for being tough and reliable. Houston is at his best when running downhill for consistent gains that are tough to stop. Strong fast and agile, Houston embodies the way the Scourge play. It's often said that the addition of a world class QB would put the scourge right up there amongst the best of the best.

Strengths:
Very strong secondary makes it difficult for opponents to make big gains. Often teams will be reluctant to throw long against the scourge, as it's a team that prides itself on Ballhawking.

Weaknesses:
They talk about replacing the QB for a reason. Corey Stark could be generously described as an average BBFL QB.

Here are the results...

INDY SPARTANS:

33 OFFENSIVE POINTS (3 TD'S)

PASSING:

36 ATTEMPTS
23 COMPLETE
63.8 COMPLETION %
426 YDS
7 INT
3 SACK
2 QB FUMBLE

RUSHING:

33 RUSH ATTEMPTS
88 YARDS
2.66 AVG YARDS PER RUSH
0 FUMBLES

And below are my offensive numbers. Once again all I did was run the ball with 2/3 of them going east/west.

56 ATTEMPTS
75 YARDS
1.34 AVG YARDS PER RUSH

So the devs statement that the Scourge will "put a lid on top rated offenses" seems to be inaccurate, at least in this one full game sample. The stats were nearly identical in all areas as the Columbia games I tested. OAK did have more INT's and the completion ratio was lower, but still they allowed 64% completions, gave up 33 offensive points and 428 yards in the air! Hardly one of the "best secondaries" according to these numbers.

Meanwhile, INDY's running game performed the same as they did playing a weaker team. I dunno, this may be a bad sign for people wanting ratings that really matter. These were alll played on hard level so perhaps the ratings will have more of a spread on medium? However, there seemed to be way too many INT's when I played on that level.

Also, this Houston guy is supposed to be a stud running back for OAK, but he did no better than the lousy Colonels in my last test. 1.34 yards per rush! The east/west running game is pathetic and completely broken.

In this test I played "D" as the outside linebacker and had a blast. The control is amazing and getting involved in plays is such a great feeling. My only gripe is that in EVERY SINGLE GAME I'VE PLAYED NOT ONCE HAS THE CPU THROWN MY DIRECTION IN PASS COVERAGE! Is anyone else having this problem? At first I thought "Well, I'm just awesome so he doesn't want to go near me. But then I see him throw into double & triple coverage away from me so what gives? They do run the ball at me though. This happens whether I'm playing CB or LB (haven't played much safety.)

All gripes aside this game is addicting and I will still be buying it. Punting the ball then sitting there watching their return man dance around and break through the pack and you go "Holy Crap!" as he and 3 blockers are coming straight at you in open pasture....and somehow you are able to trip him up and save a TD. When things like this happen it's just sick and makes every other football game look like it's from the PS1. This is going to be one of those "mess around games." It won't be 100% realistic and it has glaring issues, but I'll be messing around with ratings, creating teams, uniforms then jumping in games and just messing around and having as much fun as I can get out of this thing.

Oh, a couple more notes: Yes as it's been mentioned you can cheese on field goals. Just line up in the A gap, rush then hit the right stick up for the block. If the CPU is running down the clock they always hike at 2 seconds left so you can actually time it.

Fumbles: have seen none yet from RB's. There have been three QB fumbles though.

Punting: when you aim at the highest level you'd expect a high kick at shorter distance with a fair catch right? Nope, doesn't seem to make a difference. The PR always has plenty of time to catch and move. Meanwhile, if you aim a punt at it's lowest setting for a line drive the PR will rush it, then the ball bounces over his head, even though the punt is short. I imagine this will lead to some interesting outcomes as he has to turn around and chase a bouncing ball.

# 813 jmood88 @ 05/24/10 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmick4324


	Does anyone have any impressions on the crowd? Personally I wasn't that impressed. Except for the first kickoff and when my team enters I didn't really hear the crowd. I'm thinking I could be wrong and it could be 1 of 2 things, or maybe both. 1. The menu sounds were extremely loud because I pumped the volume so maybe it's my TV or the way the audio options were setup? But I'm pretty sure I didn't see a crowd volume slider in the options. 2. I was extremely focused on the action on the field and didn't notice the roars of the crowd. I really hope it's something on my end and other people really feel the crowd. I'm a freak when it comes to crowd noise and I always think the crowds in video games can be more energetic.

The crowd didn't stick out at all, which is pretty important for a game with no presentation outside of instant replays.

# 814 jmood88 @ 05/24/10 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmick4324


	HBut if you can stomach the camera angle (I personally am a HUGE fan) then there's no denying that this game plays a fun brand of football. Which is exactly what the developers were going for, an in your face, jaw dropping, fun experience.

The tackles look nice but playing against the computer is boring. I don't like being able to easily shut down everything the AI does.

# 815 tswiatkowski @ 05/24/10 05:20 PM

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.

Amen, the game looks and feels a bit clunky. My dad and I were playing this one (yes, my 54 year old father plays sports games with his 19 year old sons) and he immediately noticed the way that the players all moved and acted the same. There is no differentiating between any of these guys. It reminds me so much of Blitz: The League (which I HATED) so I can't really like this game enough to pay 60 bucks for it. I will admit that I like running the ball and the Euphoria engine but that was about it. I really need authenticity in a game that I plan on buying, especially for football because I love the sport so much. I didn't know there was a tackle alley mode so I am going to have to re-download this game to see what that is like. My friend says he is going to buy it so I'm assuming his copy will provide me with more than enough BB time.

I did like the game, but certainly not enough to buy and probably not enough to rent. It accomplishes its goal of being new, but it has a long way to go IMO

# 816 swaldo @ 05/24/10 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Illustrator76


	Can we please get off of this God-view camera crap?, I'm so sick of these OS follower "pop-culture" words that I'm going to puke. I mean you can't see one pro-Backbreaker camera post without it having "God Cam" in it....OS "pop-culture" really sickens me sometimes.

Awhile back I remember a gaming magazines was ripping devs in general for having a "God complex" for such things as not allowing saved games. They were basically saying devs attitudes are like "No, you have to earn your way through our game so we're not going to let you save a game!" Ok thanks, so I have to rewind and retrace my steps for the next 45 minutes, great!

So I've got a new pop-culture buzz word..."God Complex Cam." You're going to get one camera you maggots, and you're going to like it!

All kidding aside, I don't hate the camera. I just want more options.

# 817 SuperBowlNachos @ 05/24/10 05:50 PM

So can you change the camera? It's impossible to cover a kick or basically play the game witht he stupid following right behind camera.

# 818 jmood88 @ 05/24/10 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olliethebum85


	So can you change the camera? It's impossible to cover a kick or basically play the game witht he stupid following right behind camera.

No you can't change the camera.

# 819 allBthere @ 05/24/10 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swaldo


	So now that I established that INDY can be effective against a weak team (as shown above) I wanted to see how they would hold up against a good secondary, so I put them up against the OAK Scourge. This time I had to play 7 games in order to get the minimum 60 offensive plays out of INDY. First off, here is the description of OAK in the devs demo guide (the Scourge is in the best/BBFL league).... Oakland Scourge --------------- The scourge are a team built from the backfield. Their secondary is amongst the best the league has to offer, and they tend to keep a lid on some of the league's toughest offenses. Their star player on offense is Dexter Houston at Running Back, renowned for being tough and reliable. Houston is at his best when running downhill for consistent gains that are tough to stop. Strong fast and agile, Houston embodies the way the Scourge play. It's often said that the addition of a world class QB would put the scourge right up there amongst the best of the best. Strengths: Very strong secondary makes it difficult for opponents to make big gains. Often teams will be reluctant to throw long against the scourge, as it's a team that prides itself on Ballhawking. Weaknesses: They talk about replacing the QB for a reason. Corey Stark could be generously described as an average BBFL QB. Here are the results... INDY SPARTANS: 33 OFFENSIVE POINTS (3 TD'S) PASSING: 36 ATTEMPTS 23 COMPLETE 63.8 COMPLETION % 426 YDS 7 INT 3 SACK 2 QB FUMBLE RUSHING: 33 RUSH ATTEMPTS 88 YARDS 2.66 AVG YARDS PER RUSH 0 FUMBLES And below are my offensive numbers. Once again all I did was run the ball with 2/3 of them going east/west. 56 ATTEMPTS 75 YARDS 1.34 AVG YARDS PER RUSH So the devs statement that the Scourge will "put a lid on top rated offenses" seems to be inaccurate, at least in this one full game sample. The stats were nearly identical in all areas as the Columbia games I tested. OAK did have more INT's and the completion ratio was lower, but still they allowed 64% completions, gave up 33 offensive points and 428 yards in the air! Hardly one of the "best secondaries" according to these numbers. Meanwhile, INDY's running game performed the same as they did playing a weaker team. I dunno, this may be a bad sign for people wanting ratings that really matter. These were alll played on hard level so perhaps the ratings will have more of a spread on medium? However, there seemed to be way too many INT's when I played on that level. Also, this Houston guy is supposed to be a stud running back for OAK, but he did no better than the lousy Colonels in my last test. 1.34 yards per rush! The east/west running game is pathetic and completely broken. In this test I played "D" as the outside linebacker and had a blast. The control is amazing and getting involved in plays is such a great feeling. My only gripe is that in EVERY SINGLE GAME I'VE PLAYED NOT ONCE HAS THE CPU THROWN MY DIRECTION IN PASS COVERAGE! Is anyone else having this problem? At first I thought "Well, I'm just awesome so he doesn't want to go near me. But then I see him throw into double & triple coverage away from me so what gives? They do run the ball at me though. This happens whether I'm playing CB or LB (haven't played much safety.) All gripes aside this game is addicting and I will still be buying it. Punting the ball then sitting there watching their return man dance around and break through the pack and you go "Holy Crap!" as he and 3 blockers are coming straight at you in open pasture....and somehow you are able to trip him up and save a TD. When things like this happen it's just sick and makes every other football game look like it's from the PS1. This is going to be one of those "mess around games." It won't be 100% realistic and it has glaring issues, but I'll be messing around with ratings, creating teams, uniforms then jumping in games and just messing around and having as much fun as I can get out of this thing. Oh, a couple more notes: Yes as it's been mentioned you can cheese on field goals. Just line up in the A gap, rush then hit the right stick up for the block. If the CPU is running down the clock they always hike at 2 seconds left so you can actually time it. Fumbles: have seen none yet from RB's. There have been three QB fumbles though. Punting: when you aim at the highest level you'd expect a high kick at shorter distance with a fair catch right? Nope, doesn't seem to make a difference. The PR always has plenty of time to catch and move. Meanwhile, if you aim a punt at it's lowest setting for a line drive the PR will rush it, then the ball bounces over his head, even though the punt is short. I imagine this will lead to some interesting outcomes as he has to turn around and chase a bouncing ball.

I actually love playing as the scourge, and just had a 110 yard performance (one was an 70 yard run outside). I had gains of 8, 5, 4, 3, 13 etc...I played vs chicago. First big run game I had. I think the scourge match up well against chicago.

Also Houston has burned me a couple of times playing against oak. a couple of 30+ yard runs. He's usually in the 4-6 ypc zone against me.

The major problem with your numbers are that you just kept giving the ball back. Yeah that was big yards, but those ints would cripple the qb rating. They were also ineffective running, so kept passing where they could actually gain yards.

Judging by your 2 game samples (thanks btw), the retail game will have fairly normal stats, with the exception of big inflated, record breaking int numbers.

I thought I could stop playing, but I'm actually stopping RDR to get in a few more snaps. I've played the ship out of this demo, it's just like ufc 2009 all over again.

I've also really learned to throw the deep ball very well (I'm talking at least 40 yards in the air from scrimmage) when you see the safety playing too low and you know you've got a couple of steps, step up in the pocket and lead them a little it's awesome, sometimes they have to stretch out for it too.

More than anything though, I'm really glad I'm getting a hold of the run game. It's mostly about your first decision when you get the ball, and when/where to cut. I can't wait to play full games.

# 820 swaldo @ 05/24/10 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allBthere


	I actually love playing as the scourge, and just had a 110 yard performance (one was an 70 yard run outside). I had gains of 8, 5, 4, 3, 13 etc...I played vs chicago. First big run game I had. I think the scourge match up well against chicago. More than anything though, I'm really glad I'm getting a hold of the run game. It's mostly about your first decision when you get the ball, and when/where to cut. I can't wait to play full games.

Yea, if ratings can be tweaked enough to make the CPU competitive along with the feel of different team personalities it's going to be a blast. I can't wait to see what the full game offers.

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