Review - Monday 1st January 2007 - 12:00am
If you live in the UK, or indeed most parts of Europe, you are, no doubt, going to come across the rigorous practice of Rugby- a no-nonsense, high-contact “sport”, Rugby happens to be just the thing to relieve stress, have fun(in some twisted way) and to generally receive and inflict pain. It’s become famous in some parts of the world (go England!!) through events like the Rugby world cup and the Six Nations. It’s been somewhat underrepresented, however, in the games department-especially on the mobile platform. Perhaps the trend will change, starting with Alternative Software’s Super Rugby League.
The game is based, unfortunately, only around the UK league, and not the international rugby scene-so no England VS. Australia, I’m afraid. You do, however, get 12 teams to choose from, including the Leeds Rhinos and the Wildcats. As one of these teams, you can either play a quick game or enter the league, and slowly win your way to the top. There hasn’t been much demand for mobile Rugby games lately (or ever, I think), with gamers preferring to stick to football or cricket, so there isn’t anything to compare it to here.
The graphics and overall look are quite similar to some of the football games released on mobile- you’re given a corner perspective, which allows you to see the action clearly, along with a highly detailed pitch. The menu also looks quite smooth. Animation is fluid, with no pauses or problems. The only visual predicament here was the players themselves- they would often overlap, look grainy, or move slower than they ideally should. The sound was rather disappointing- all you get is the intro theme and a whistle heralding events in matches. The game would have been much more exciting had more modern sound been added.
The game itself is complex, in a way- and not only because I don’t play Rugby. Gameplay isn’t as straightforward as in other sports games, which might dissuade some players. The aim in matches is to get the ball over the railings on your opponent’s side-which is in no way easy. You will have to go through endless scrums, which would always end in the same way. On top of this, the game’s pace is painfully slow, which could get annoying often. The game does, nonetheless, load up incredibly fast, contrary to some other games.
So, in the end, Super Rugby League wasn’t altogether that impressive- the main problem was definitely its complexity and speed, which caused me to switch off and play something else after a while.. Perhaps it would be a bit easier if a pre-game tutorial was added?
