Backbreaker Preview - Natural Motion based football title

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 2:59 pm

This game just isn't doing it for me and I love football almost as much as my children. Probably more than my wife.

j/k

The tackles might be varied but they are way too exaggerated and not very realistic to me. That takes me right out of the game as does the 90's era Fox Sports presentation and the NFL 2k slouched over monkey arms.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 3:50 pm

Umm

How do you show an Alpha build at GDC when the game is due out in May? That's only two months away, shouldn't you be in beta? shouldn't you be showing a beta game at GDC?

Something doesn't smell right to me. That video looked far worse then anything I've seen so far so maybe it really is an Alpha video, just don't understand why you would show that if the game is much further along.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 4:34 pm

Another new Gametrailers interview:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gdc-1 ... aker/63326

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 6:56 pm

How awesome does that diving catch look at 2:14.
Im gonna take a serious look at this game it looks great.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:30 pm

This game looks to be destined for the bargain bin within 6 months. The only value this game has to offer is the tackling system and whoa they made a tackling mini game, who would of thought. And you can also customize the hell out of the game so maybe some talented guys out there could do NFL teams.

I don't like the way the QB moves around and throws the ball. It reminds me too much of APF for some reason.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:37 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:This game just isn't doing it for me and I love football almost as much as my children. Probably more than my wife. j/k

The tackles might be varied but they are way too exaggerated and not very realistic to me. That takes me right out of the game as does the 90's era Fox Sports presentation and the NFL 2k slouched over monkey arms.

I agree, I can't get past how it looks like teams of Fox NFL robots playing each other. I find it surprising since they've gone to such great lengths to have realistic motions.

The tackling does look completely freaking amazing, I will give them that. The catching motions look sweet as well. But the passing looks like NFL Gameday on PS2 and the running has that stiff NFL 2k3 look to it.

I hope it is cool, but I worry that the developers know a hell of a lot about kinetics and not necessarily that much about football strategy. I'll definitely give the demo a try when it hits XBL.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 12:21 pm

Here's a hands-on preview from someone who played the game at GDC:

http://www.gameplaybook.com/news/backbr ... station-3/

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 6:33 pm

Another new developer interview, with lots of gameplay footage. Looking good! I think it will be awfully difficult after playing this game to ever go back to a system with canned tackles again.

http://g4tv.com/videos/44920/Backbreake ... quality=hd

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:27 am

http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/9580 ... 32310.html

First one that actually got my interest level up a little. Although I wonder if these guys could do a single video without talking about Euphoria.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 1:37 pm

Brando70 wrote:I agree, I can't get past how it looks like teams of Fox NFL robots playing each other. I find it surprising since they've gone to such great lengths to have realistic motions.

The tackling does look completely freaking amazing, I will give them that. The catching motions look sweet as well. But the passing looks like NFL Gameday on PS2 and the running has that stiff NFL 2k3 look to it.

I hope it is cool, but I worry that the developers know a hell of a lot about kinetics and not necessarily that much about football strategy. I'll definitely give the demo a try when it hits XBL.

I get the same feeling.. I'm pretty much meh.. right now.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 6:29 pm

Any word on when we can expect a demo on XBL?

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 5:25 pm

http://gameinformer.com/games/backbreak ... ds-on.aspx

Ouch.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 4:46 pm

So according to OS conference call.

No Injuries
No Fatigue
No Hot Routes

Only difference between Pro and Arcade is play art.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 4:59 pm

It sounds and looks like it's turning out to be a tech demo. I'll try the XBL demo but I seriously doubt i'll buy this. I don't hate EA that much.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 5:11 pm

Rodster wrote:It sounds and looks like it's turning out to be a tech demo. I'll try the XBL demo but I seriously doubt i'll buy this. I don't hate EA that much.

No it's a game, but it's the game I expected it to be when we started discussing this like 2 years ago. People let their expectations and hatred of Madden get the better of them, a lot of them are disappointed today.

Me I had no expectations so I am not disappointed, I'll give it a try for sure but I'll dump it as soon as NCAA comes out.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 5:37 pm

The reason I mentioned tech demo is because other than the tackling which in and of itself is a new technology there's not much more to the game. And given the fact that they even made a game mode out of the tackling tells me it's nothing more than a way to show off the natural physics of tackling.

They really need to sell the technology to EA so they can put it in a future Madden.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 5:58 pm

Rodster wrote: They really need to sell the technology to EA so they can put it in a future Madden.

I think they tried that and didn't get any takers so they went out on their own.

They're going to have to get some traction, not just for 1 year but a couple of years before EA takes notice.

Good reviews might help mindshare.

They should be given some leeway as this is a first game. But it would help their cause if they come out with big improvements -- catching up on a lot of features -- quickly in new versions.

Or better yet, add some new features in software updates throughout the year, so that people who try their games have a reason to keep playing it, to see progress.

But if they just do a one-off and hope it strikes gold, like APF2K did, then it'll be quickly forgotten.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 9:07 pm

I'm still looking forward to this game, mainly because it will be something different. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed playing the tackle alley game on the IPhone (especially after the updates), and that was just running the ball upfield against waves of defenders.

Obviously, not having injuries, fatigue or hot routes is disappointing, but they're not deal breakers for me by any stretch. I usually turn off injuries anyway because I've always hated using the Steelers' scrubs in a game, and I've never even really had to pay attention to fatigue in a football game before as its usually implemented so poorly. Hot routes I'll miss but I won't know just how much until I see how the audible system (confirmed as being in) is set up. Frankly, I'll miss broadcast style replays more than I'll miss those 3 things.

Maybe it will turn out to be a waste of $50, but I'll support 'em and hope they really utilize fan feedback for Backbreaker 2 a couple of years down the road.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 9:47 pm

I'm sorry and I don't mean to pick on you GT, but for someone who has been so steadfast on a realistic football game, how can you live without injuries?

I'll give you fatigue because as you said they can never seem to get it right but injuries?

If I sat down to make any sports game and built a design document injuries would be on the must have list, especially for a sport like football. I also don't buy their excuse that they want to do injuries right. They have had this game in development for 5 years, injuries should be in period.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:09 pm

No worries, Dan, and I can see where you're coming from. It's just a personal preference; I turn off injuries because (1) the backups in these games are usually so terrible that it's just not as much fun for me to play, and (2) if Hines Ward or James Harrison or someone else is not injured in real life, it takes me further away from reality if they're injured in my game. I do like how the Show allows you to force injuries, so you can match what's going on in real life. I don't think I've ever seen that option in a football game before; in that case, I'd miss it.

CastrolRankings · Post by **CastrolRankings** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:43 pm

I'm guessing this will have a sub-65 Metacritic, ship out fewer than 60k units, sell less than 10k in May (week 1), and be $20 by August.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:25 am

CastrolRankings wrote:I'm guessing this will have a sub-65 Metacritic, ship out fewer than 60k units, sell less than 10k in May (week 1), and be $20 by August.

Considering the number of people who guessed (quite confidently) it would never be anything more than a tech demo that would never see the light of a retail shelf, I suppose on some levels that would still be a success.

I did read they'd have a commercial on during the NFL draft tonight, so it's good to see there will be some level of marketing at least.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 7:44 am

GT, I like you man and I respect you for sticking to your principles in the EA vs 2K debate but Backbreaker IS a tech demo. The game is built around tackling. And other than that there's not too much to it. The fact that they've made a game mode around tackling is another example of what the Euphoria engine can do.

That's what a tech demo is. They just polished it a little for the commercial side. Motorstorm on the PS3 started out and basically was a tech demo to show what the PS3 was capable of doing graphically. That's why the game was so limited and stripped on it's release. And the publishers admitted later on that's what Motorstorm really was a tech demo. Motorstorm 2 was not.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:24 am

Thanks, Rod...and you're absolutely right. I've read where the developers built a football game with the technology basically to see if they could. But having enjoyed the dumbed down version on the IPhone, I feel like it crossed over the line between tech demo and game (albeit one that's not allowed to use the NFL license) somewhere during the 3+ years it has been in development.

Then again, until I play the game on my PS3, I can't say with any certainty that I really know what to expect. Glorified tech demo, or something that will scratch my football fix, remains to be seen.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 4:06 pm

Here's the link to the TV commercial...one thing's for certain, it sure beats the hell out of 2k's old commercials:

http://g4tv.com/videos/45471/Backbreake ... t-Trailer/