Released a mere eight months after AFL Live 2004, AFL Live: Premiership Edition features fully updated 2004 team lists and players. Premiership Edition also features weather effects and all the AFL stadiums are featured. The MCG has been updated to resemble its ever changing look.
The three mini games from AFL Live 2004 have been retained. (Superkick, handball challenge and around the world) No enhancements have been made to these mini games which is a shame. The mission mode is extensive with historical missions, fictional missions and user created missions. This serves as an effective diversion from the single player Premiership mode.
The wizard cup is also present with full wizard cup rules. The 9 point rule and the other rules have all been retained. Heritage jumpers have also been included for heritage week which is an appreciated little addition.
A multiplayer mode is fully supported with up to four players able to play the game at once with a Playstation 2 multitap. This should extend the longetivity of Premiership Edition.
As certain criteria is fulfilled (for example completing a premiership season in first) players unlock video highlights. Over 70 video clips are unlockable, with the top ten marks and goals included. Other additions include humorous clips from the coaches box. After watching these clips players are subjected to fifteen seconds of loading to get back to the video menu which may serve as a hindrance to watching the clips.
All the action can be replayed and an extensive training mode can also be selected. The training features assistance in areas such as movement, handballing, kicking, tacking, bumping and marking. This is a novel inclusion and gamers won’t spend more than ten minutes in training.
Unfortunately all these features are in vain in the game doesn’t play well and unfortunately Premiership Edition is lacking in the game play department. No refinements have been made to improve the most lacking aspect of the game. Tacking is slow and non responsive and there is a terribly delayed reaction time from the players. Premiership Edition doesn’t flow as well as it should.
Glitches which were present in AFL Live 2004 have not been fixed. Rosters will change back to the original roster after the user has chosen the team. Consistently a button will be pressed and it will take a few seconds for the player to carry out an action. Games can be won or lost because of this inconsistency resulting in frustration. Loading in the game is impressive with games taking less than five seconds to get started. The initial bootup takes more than a minute after encountering the many developer logos.
Gerard Healy, Christi Malthouse and Dennis Commeti provide the main commentary and it is extremely lackluster. Just like in the previous titles the crowd can drone out the commentary. The commentary is so generic and cut up that it becomes tedious. The crowd noises authentic with the crowd reacting fittingly well with goals and umpire decisions. Umpires whistles, kicks and tackles are all authentic.
One of the major problems AFL Live 2003 and AFL Live 2004 had were the graphics. No enhancements have been made to the graphics and they were beginning to look dated in AFL Live 2003. AFL does not look like a next generation title. After three attempts we were expecting the game to have advanced graphically.
Umpires look like Lego blocks and it is hard to distinguish players, it is impossible for Premiership Edition to measure up to other high profile games when it looks so ghastly.
It has been over a year and a half since AFL Live 2003 was released and yet Premiership Edition feels the same as the previous titles. Graphics and control need to be refined before Premiership Edition could be considered a great game. There are numerous features but these are pointless if the game doesn’t play well.
If you can look past these problems and are an avid AFL fan then Premiership Edition should fulfill your needs. Premiership Edition retails for $69.95 and is best described as AFL Live 2004 with updated lists. After eight months of development this is simply not good enough.
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