Sidhe have been very receptive of suggestions from critics and the Rugby League fan base alike, with many suggestions for improvements from these two parties having been included in the sequel. New features include a fleshed out franchise mode with full representative commitments, online play, improved AI, more statistics, improved graphics and updated rosters. All of these new features make Rugby League 2 seem a lot more complete than its predecessor, but there’s still a few rough patches spread throughout the game, and a bit of room for improvement.
The flow of the game was the biggest strength of the first Rugby League, and continues to be one of the most outstanding features in the second game. However, with the default options, the game will contain a number of small real time cutscenes related to various situations which severely interrupt the game due to the load times experienced on either side of them; while they look pretty good, and are certainly realistic from a match point of view, they’re very disruptive – thankfully, you can turn these off. There are also a lot of hiccups experienced with tries being held up and the video umpire being called for – these events seem to be tied to the somewhat random tackling process. It’d be a little bit better if there was some prior warning from the referee that the video ref was going to be called.
A bunch of grown men stick their heads up each other's bums, yet Soccer's the "gay" sport
On field play has been tightened up a lot, with the passing and kicking portions of the game boosting some minor enhancements. Passing benefits greatly from an easier cut-out pass system, which can also be executed from dummy half, allowing for the player to get the ball out to the wings quicker for those line breaks. The kicking game returns in the same style of the first game, though seems slightly tighter – just make sure that your kicker is facing forward when you hit the punt button, as the game is quite finicky about the angle on which a player can kick. The mechanism for place kicks and attempts on goal has changed and seems to be much more workable than the first game’s method, though players will take a couple of matches before they can nail the most basic kicks with relative ease. The number of tackling styles has been increased and players can now hold their opponent down after a tackle (at the risk of a penalty) and try to strip the ball from the opposing player. A minor problem with the variety of tackles is that they do not take player size into account, so a smaller guy like Darren Lockyer can fling a big second rower like Willie Mason around like a rag doll. There are also a small number of problems with setting up a pass before the play of the ball, as players will sometimes change their position from the left side of the dummy half to the right (and vice-versa), making the resulting pass either look really silly as the dummy half passes left and the ball goes right, or ends up with a knock on.
AI was one of the areas that needed a lot of attention after the first Rugby League, and Sidhe appear to have had this high on their priority list. There are four difficult levels to begin with, and each seems much tighter than the equivalent from the first game. Once players’ skill level outpaces that of their AI opponent, they can give the CPU a bit of a boost in a number of different aspects of skill used in the sport. This does result in a much more challenging experience, though we’re kind of disappointed that Sidhe hasn’t included fully fleshed out sliders like they’d previously promised – these options feel like something of a minor compromise. Rugby League 2 is also boasting support for four players both online and offline, with full stat tracking and ranking matches for the online community.
Moments later, ol' Monkey Boy here was feasting on the lucious turf against his will
Probably the most important addition to the single player aspect of the game has been the franchise mode. Simply put, you chose your favourite team from either the NRL or Super League (or your own created team), and compete in the chosen competition over a number of years, managing your team’s training schedules, rosters and most importantly, winning matches and hopefully championships. Franchise mode is a little demanding, needing over a megabyte on the memory card, and a lot of time to get through each season, but this really helps the long term value of the game. Each season also contains a full representative calendar, so you can play City vs. Country, State of Origin and Test Matches. Managing your players is a big task – many of them will remain well behaved and loyal to your club, while others can end up at the judiciary, on the injured list or just be a pain in the bum and want more money. Many aspects of the franchise such as training schedules and roster management can be automated for those who don’t wish to dabble around backstage. There’s also full statistics tracking for the number crunchers out there. Franchise mode isn’t without its problems though; the selection of players for representative fixtures seems to have something of a random element to it (a player can get picked for a Test spot, perform well during the regular season and not get an Origin call up), club finances don’t play too much of a role, there’s no player awards and the atmosphere surrounding the representative matches doesn’t differ much from that of the regular matches. Nonetheless, franchise is a vital addition to Rugby League 2, and will ensure significant long term play time.
Rugby League 2 is also packing a much improved style of presentation, with slicker menus and better television style overlays. Menus do seem to be a little sluggish with regards to reaction time, which is a minor annoyance, but they’re easy to navigate. The in-game graphics appear to be so much more polished than the first game, with 500 players individually modelled for realistic likenesses and 40 of the best stadiums from around the world recreated, including favourites like Aussie Stadium, Telstra Stadium and Suncorp Stadium. Crowds, advertising boards and the stadium surface still look a little bland and are somewhat lower in quality than other aspects, though. Sidhe teamed up with fellow New Zealand special effects gurus WETA Digital (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong) for motion capture, and as a result, the players move much more realistically than they did in the previous game – some of the tackle animations look downright brutal. The game’s framerate can jump up and down a bit – it hits 60fps during points in the replays, but generally sticks closely to the 25-30fps mark.
A dirty chav tries to get homely with one of the Kangaroos
Channel 9’s World Wide of Sports commentator Andrew Voss returns to do the play-by-play work for Rugby League 2, and he does a rather good job of it when focusing on the action of the game – Mr. Voss’ colour commentary abilities seem to be quite lacking and, well, out of character if you’ve heard him calling matches over the last couple of years. It would be nice if the next game in the series has a dedicated colour commentary announcer (Paul Vautin was an excellent second man in ARL ’96). There’s also a lot more talk out on the field, mostly from the referee yelling out instructions to keep the players in check – this really adds to the game’s atmosphere. The TV style presentation of the game has improved, but it would be nicer if there was some sort of licensing from Channel 9 or Fox Sports for some extra authenticity – using a bigger variety of camera angles in the replays would also go a long way.
Sidhe Interactive set out to improve every aspect of their game for Rugby League 2, and they have more or less succeeded, as the end product is much better than the game released in 2003. That’s not to say that the game is perfect; there’s a few areas of the game that need to be cleaned up, namely the menu system, some of the replays and the video referee decisions – all other possible improvements to the game would merely be incremental. Nevertheless, the New Zealand developer continues to display a great understanding and respect towards local sports games, once again producing a faithful digital version of one of Australia’s favourite past-times. Rugby League 2 is a must-buy for any fan of the sport.
) all are crap. Don't give me rubbish about budget - what about my budget $100 for a POS like this game doesn't make for a happy camper. I can't see how any one could reccomend this game even to a die hard rugby leauge fan
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