Backbreaker News Post

Backbreaker Hands-On Preview (Gameinformer)

06:59 PM - April 2, 2010 by Steve_OS

Gameinformer has posted their hands-on preview of Backbreaker.

Quote:


	"With All-Pro Football and Blitz hanging up their cleats, EA is the undisputed king of football games. That isn�t stopping Natural Motion from going for it on fourth down with Backbreaker. Armed with the Euphoria engine that has powered the impressive animations for games like Grand Theft Auto IV and The Force Unleashed, Backbreaker aims to take down the NCAA and Madden publisher with its gritty, up close and personal brand of football. To get a better sense of what this game�s about, 505 Games supplied us with a preview build."

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

Backbreaker Videos

Member Comments

# 21 SouthernBrick @ 04/02/10 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Afrikan


	I don't get that either....I don't know if he explained it fully. no custom player heights as in anything we want or is it limited to how tall or heavy you make players per position.... I mean, how would the game generate our custom teams?...would it do it randomly..hmm I don't think so.... so for now I'm just going to wait until getting more info....it could just not be "fully" customizable. again, how would the game create players for us...will they all have the same height and weight?....from what we have seen there are different builds for the players....so are all the RBs the same height and build....no, we have seen different types of RBs.... I'm sure now that this is out the devs can comment on it more.

It wouldn't create players for us just a certain physical attribute(pending position) which wouldn't be very hard to make the computer do because, there don't seem to be hardly any differences between players anyway. I'm just sayin don't be surprised when we have absolutely/hardly any control over player height or weight.

I'm tired of waiting, I'm calling it right now. Might be wrong, might be right but I'm not going to hold my breath on this one.

# 22 canes21 @ 04/02/10 10:24 PM

Like I said at thee official forums. This preview has made this game sound a lot worse than I thought it would turn out to be. This guy has managed to destroy most my hopes for the game. I still want to give it a try, but I almost need a demo now before I buy it. I used to be a Midnight buy type of guy, but this article has turned me to a maybe type of guy for the game.

# 23 mvb34 @ 04/02/10 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THEBEAST454


	Looks like EA SPORTS got scared and decided to throw money at GAMEINFORMER for that very PRO MADDEN, anti BACKBREAKER ,biased,new comer ***** write up it's real clear who's in bed with who around here. This website is evidence of the EA SPORTS love affair. People will have to make there own judgements come May 25.

You are joking right??

# 24 Mbalmer @ 04/02/10 11:23 PM

When I first heard about this game a long time ago I thought it could be pretty good. However, the closer we get to release date the worse it sounds. So many hopes for alot of people are going to be crushed after they play this for about 2 hours.

# 25 bjf1377 @ 04/02/10 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mvb34


	You are joking right??

I would be mildly amusing if he was cause its a pretty good parody of an internet conspiracy theorist. But when you realize he probably thinks that's true, its just sad

# 26 TracerBullet @ 04/02/10 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THEBEAST454


	Looks like EA SPORTS got scared and decided to throw money at GAMEINFORMER for that very PRO MADDEN, anti BACKBREAKER ,biased,new comer ***** write up it's real clear who's in bed with who around here. This website is evidence of the EA SPORTS love affair. People will have to make there own judgements come May 25.

Really? Game Informer has no affiliation with EA. In fact the last time when they previewed madden they started off by talking about disgruntled fans at the lack of change from year to year. They also had a huge feature about All-Pro before it came out. This was the first year that live even came anywhere close to 2k in basketball this year when they reviewed it. I can tell you that there is no way that they are a biased magazine especially with sports titles. This isn't IGN where they pretty much always love Madden. And if you think Game Informer is a new comer then you're completely wrong. They say they don't like a lot of things and instantly they are EA lovers. You've got to be kidding. The only truthful thing you said was that people will make their own judgement on May 25.

# 27 GIveMeR3alFooTball @ 04/02/10 11:47 PM

i honestly think the person that wrote this article was being very bias on certains aspect of BB im srry if yu think im wrong or just being a fan boy thats your opinion. from sum of the things he said i just dont see it in the vids and i dont think the vids were just sum CG bull NM made up to impress us. like the fact he said sumthing like yu cant run between the tackles or between ppl however in BB dev diary 3 yu cleary see that they can. as far as the shoe string tackles FINALLY a football has put that in. i see shoestring tackles more often than any other tackle on sundays. also wat he says about the AI doesnt bother me at all bcuz he said he was playing on arcade mode which is equivalent to a easy or rookie mode in other football games. where in those modes the AI is terrible bcuz it is dum down to the point anyone can pick the game up play and win. and i also think the lack of defensive shifts and audibles were left out due to the arcade mode as well. if that is true or wishing thinking i will have to see for myself.

there are however sum things that was said that have me worried. the lack of control over the passing game has me bum out a lil bit i was hoping for more control (read my thread to see what i'm talking bout at http://www.operationsports.com/forum...l-control.html if yu are interested) but i can live with the control they have for now bcuz they still dont seem automatic like in madden. i believe it will take time to master the timing and i like that. i cant stand that yu cant fully customize the player and weight but im hoping that they at least have different generic based height and weight for each position like small backs, big backs. tall receivers, short receivers etc etc. also i hope injuries are in season mode and road to backbreaker at least. sense there is no word on a online franchise mode i wudnt care if they dont have it for online play. but overall it must be in the game some how hands down.

as far as the penalties not being in the demo and the sounds being f'd up i'm pretty sure they both will be addressed before the game come out with out a doubt.

this preview all in all has made my hype meter go down but i'm still goin to check this game out instead of madden unless madden doesnt the unbelievable and fix their problems instead of pushing graphical improvements to hide them.

# 28 taqiyya @ 04/03/10 12:20 AM

Yes I am on the edge about jumping up and throwing my money in this collection bowl here. I will most likely give it a rent first. This game is to new for me to put it on lock in our household. We shall see..

# 29 p_rushing @ 04/03/10 12:26 AM

Quote:


	As with the juke moves, there seems to be a slight delay between flicking the analog stick and actually switching receivers. The system also had trouble rotating between options when the receivers were closely bunched together. This could be a major issue when facing a heavy blitz. You can throw the ball without using focus, but I found the accuracy was severely compromised; balls flew all over the place with no rhyme or reason as to why they would be so unruly. Every once and a while, however, a blocker tripped the quarterback by running into him. I often found myself the victim of shoestring tackles from interior defenders who simply reached around their blockers. I saw several instances where the quarterback tripped on an offensive lineman before handing the ball off. I also witnessed more than one fumble where the quarterback pitched the ball into the side of the fullback when it was intended for the tailback, resulting in a frantic scramble to recover the ball.

How is any of that a bad thing.

Quote:


	Given the quickness with which an offensive player can change direction in Madden, my defensive strategy is frequently to get close and attempt a diving tackle. In Backbreaker, I felt much more in control of my player and less worried about a split-second move leaving me in the dust. Maybe it was just the difficulty setting, but in Backbreaker it seemed easier to keep up with the kinetic action, which made the process of hunting down and burying ball carriers in the turf a lot of fun.

I thought the players were slow on offense, but on defense they are great?

I'm worried about some of the franchise and stats stuff, but I don't know how much "truth" can be taken with thise preview. There was just too much that he said was bad, when in fact, that is how it should work.

# 30 booker21 @ 04/03/10 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lofeazy


	The one thing I like from the article [ You can throw the ball without using focus, but I found the accuracy was severely compromised; balls flew all over the place with no rhyme or reason as to why they would be so unruly.] About time we have throwing errors in a next gen football game. Like I said before the AI make are break this game.

i was happy as you were, BUT.. after reading the part were it says the CPU couldn`t move the ball at all with a higher pass % of 30!! i felt saaaaaaaaaaaaad.

this is what i was saying all this long...when everyone were claiming this game would be great.

Tackles are only 1 part of football... what about the rest?.. it seems, it sucks. At least by reading GI preview.

# 31 Hooe @ 04/03/10 01:00 AM

If I really can't edit player ratings, I'm cancelling my reserve tomorrow.

# 32 KBLover @ 04/03/10 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by p_rushing


	How is any of that a bad thing.

Depends on how frequently that stuff happens, imo

It's great it happens - because it can and does happen in real life.

But it depends on frequency. "Several" isn't a good enough barometer for me.

# 33 booker21 @ 04/03/10 01:23 AM

exactly.

Like Bad snaps.. every once in a while is cool.. but if every 3 or 4 snaps, 1 it`s wrong.. it`s not good.

# 34 TreyIM2 @ 04/03/10 01:54 AM

Well, this doesn't sound much diff. than some of the other hands on prevs that were given a month or so ago. While I look forward to the game, this is just a tad disheartening that the game is still looking pretty much the same since those last previews yet I didn't expect much to change in so little time.
To me, it sounds like they're rushing this game. It sounds like it could use a year or so to get itself in a better position because, possibly by now, the game should have "gone gold" which means the final code is complete and ready for production. If it hasn't by now, it will soon. The retail game is due next month.
At any rate, like I last said, a rental, at least, from me. It will just be something different to fart around with til NCAA/Madden 11 hits.

# 35 Crimsontide27 @ 04/03/10 02:06 AM

I have become critical of Madden and Ncaa over the past few years and it would be unfair to criticize them over some of the major issues I see them having, and yet giving another football title a break.

Having read the preview multiple times, I see some huge deal breakers " to me" . What is a gamebreaker for some, may not be a gamebreaker to others.

Graphics = Mentioned they were robotic looking in nature, no cloth movement, all tinted visors etc... I can handle that, no problem

Recreating NFL teams, names , and logos= Cant take them online, but can mis-spell some names, add abbreviations etc.. I can handle that as well. Its not really an issue to me either

Customizing your players = Cant edit hight and weight. Can handle that as well. I dont play online, but I can see all the online players making every lineman as big as possible, making the WR as tall as possible, etc... So I see where they are coming from here...so I dont have an issue there.

Ratings = Limited rating system. Game only uses 4 ratings. Not an issue for me either. Madden probably has 20+ ratings for every player, but only 1-2 ratings have any impact anways. Since Maddens rating system is nothing more than a glorified spreadsheet with random numbers plugged in with no value, that makes no difference to me.

Gameplay = ================================================== =====

Offense

Good-

Offensive line formed pockets and had a decent blocking scheme.

Bad-

No team had over a 30% completion rate. Computer AI had no sideline awareness . End game clock management works for timeouts only. Computer would be down, yet still run the ball to let time expire. Qbs seemed to have no awareness when flushed from the pocket.

Defense

Good- Felt more fluid controlling the defenders.

Bad- Everything else. Almost zero defense logic. DBs didnt react to the balls , nor did they react to a QB taking off and having to run. Very easily exploitable by sending your recievers out for a deep pass and just running with the QB. Balls ghosting through DBs or WRs hands.

Presentation

Good = Nothing

Bad = There is none. Crowd is nothing more than white noise, however its still being worked on and will get refined down the road. Zero presentation with banners, stats overlays, etc. Cant pause the game to even look at the stats. Zero commentary, no play by play or nothing. Weve had play by play commentary in football games since 1992. There is no excuse for this to be left out 18 years later, none.

I can buy into the Backbreaker game and what its trying to accomplish. However, I pick up a football game to play a good game of football. If the core game is not good, all the wonderful animations and sequences are useless. It sounds like they forgot to program in the actual " footall " part of the gameplay so far and thats troubling.

I was VERY excited about this product, but I dont cut Madden and NCAA any slack, and Im not going to do it here. Everything about this game sounded great until the actual game of football was brought up.

# 36 nyj721 @ 04/03/10 02:59 AM

OK so no viewing stats in the pause menu, no challenges, no editing player attributes (if they even exist, other than the ones he stated), no editing player size (linebackers the same size as kickers?), and what appears to be a modified version of the QB vision from Madden 06 (which a lot of people hated with a passion), and thats not even going into the AI issues he mentioned.

Does it even matter if I can make Peyton Manning, but he has the same attributes as Jamarcus Russell. The only hope there is for the game now is if the AI is better on the pro mode with higher difficulty settings for both the CPU and the players AI controlled teammates. Either way this game just went from a first day purchase to a "if there isn't a demo I'm not touching this" game. Thank God for gameinformer

# 37 t11 @ 04/03/10 03:50 AM

Might as well take that whole portion about AI and throw it out the window...

He was playing on arcade and there was no mention of the difficulty he was playing on. But the numbers sound like Rookie Difficulty on Madden/2k.

When will previewers realize they need to tell us ALL of their variables?!?!?

This previwe raised more ? than it did answers...

# 38 JayBee74 @ 04/03/10 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nyj721


	OK so no viewing stats in the pause menu, no challenges, no editing player attributes (if they even exist, other than the ones he stated), no editing player size (linebackers the same size as kickers?), and what appears to be a modified version of the QB vision from Madden 06 (which a lot of people hated with a passion), and thats not even going into the AI issues he mentioned. Does it even matter if I can make Peyton Manning, but he has the same attributes as Jamarcus Russell. The only hope there is for the game now is if the AI is better on the pro mode with higher difficulty settings for both the CPU and the players AI controlled teammates. Either way this game just went from a first day purchase to a "if there isn't a demo I'm not touching this" game. Thank God for gameinformer

As I stated in another thread the Gameinformer "previewer" didn't even have the presence of mind to say what difficulty level he was playing on, or explain why arcade mode was the only properly balanced mode in the build that they got.
Having said that the developers are not doing a good job promoting the game if a good game actually exist here. The main speculation on my part to come to this conclusion is that the game could have been set to "kiddie mode" (Arcade, Easy difficulty), but that may not be the case because default settings usual start at Medium. It is also curious why custom mode (1 of 3 modes-arcade, pro, and custom) wasn't at least explored from a settings/sliders point of view.

# 39 Crimsontide27 @ 04/03/10 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t11


	Might as well take that whole portion about AI and throw it out the window... He was playing on arcade and there was no mention of the difficulty he was playing on. But the numbers sound like Rookie Difficulty on Madden/2k. When will previewers realize they need to tell us ALL of their variables?!?!? This previwe raised more ? than it did answers...

We have all heard that story before. Doesnt matter which game is previewed early we always have others stating that its somehow because of the mode / settings / skill level that everything appears out of whack. Fast forward to release day and SUPRISE!! same issues seen in videos and mentioned in reviews are the exact same issues you get in release.

Until a game comes out that breaks this trend, I tend to err to the side of caution.

# 40 GIveMeR3alFooTball @ 04/03/10 08:53 AM

i think there is still more to be seen on this game that will get ppl hype in this game back. because from what i have seen in the dev diary 3 look so promising and i dont see how this game wudnt be fun and a closer simulation than anything else out there. if BB get a balance on the mishaps in the game like the fumbles and other things like miscommunication between players down to a minimum and balance it out those are thing that do happen on the field in real life. however the AI is a make or break for me they need to get it down pack and hopefully make it more challenging this game wud be worth $50

« Previous 123 4 5 6 7 8 Next »

More Links

Backbreaker Hands-On Preview (Gameinformer)