I am a huge fan of Rugby after having played all though out my senior school days and beyond. Sadly I have always been disappointed in the attempts to bring the world of Rugby and video games together over the years. Now a new title from developers Wicked Witch Software and published by Tru Blu Entertainment hopes to be the game changer. But can it score a much needed try for the sport of simply end up being kicked into touch?
The first thing to near in mind is that this game clearly lacks the development budget of the big EA Sports or 2KNBA series. This is highly noticeable in the game’s presentation and overall visuals. I am a big believer in gameplay over graphics however when the visuals break the immersive experience it is never a good thing.
Rugby Challenge 3 never feels like a next gen game on the Xbox One, it lacks the polish and shine that players of other sports titles have naturally come to expect and at times can be really cringe worthy and close to embarrassing during gameplay. Attempts have been made to make the actual Licensed teams look like the real life players, with the likenesses being more ok than great and it is a big distraction at times especially with the international teams. Only England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand are officially Licensed and therefore have their official kits and likenesses in the game. But that is it, all other international teams lack their kits and instead have a strip based loosely on their flag. As a result the Welsh players look like the Tongan players who look like the Argentinian players who look like the Japanese players. The player models all look the same generic size and shape with only skin tone changes to reflect the different nationalities which again adds to the cringe factor far more than it should. All of this simply highlights the limitations of the development budget and though I feel it gives the game a reduced authenticity, it does do the best with what it has to use, but still a real shame.
The key component to any sports game always comes down to how it plays. Rugby is a complex sport with many intricate factors which have never really been truly replicated in a game. I was pleasantly surprised to find the core gameplay to be actually very fluid and natural for a rugby title and whilst quite a few elements have been broken down to a simplistic level, I found it highly playable and picked up the basics really quickly. It has a great tutorial which teachers the fundamentals really well and once in a match I was able to play just how I would expect a real rugby match to play out. I was disappointed that the game lacks the ability to have set pieces with focus really being on a more arcade ‘play the ball’s style than overall simulation. Scrums boil down to a twin stick mini game where timing to push forward in the right marker will strengthen the forward drive in a scrum after the put in with the successful forward pack winning possession. Lineouts are also simplified just to keep the action focused on the ball movement. Passing requires some control and if you try for the quick ball through the backs more often then not it will end up in a knock forward or interception which was a shame and even at times the knock ons felt a little scripted just for effect.
The kicking game felt far too easy especially in kicking for goal or conversions with a simple ‘Press A’ in right marker point to aim the kick straight and true what ever the angle. The aim is clearly to make the more complicated elements of the action less of a hindrance to the action but at times it feels far too much has been sacrificed in order to have the more arcade style of play. Using the forwarding make the game line over and over before releasing the ball to the backs is highly effective and defensively tackling works very well even if trying to bind forwards to a truck and mail can be cumbersome when he AI is slow to react to your call. I did find that the referee AI could be staggeringly off in its decision making at times, no more so than in punishing high tackles that the AI controlled team would often put in with little punishment from the ref despite the high tackle being a full on clothesline from hell straight from a WWE ring. The dramatic animation of some high tackles simply cries out for a good ol Jim Ross ‘Good God almighty he’s broken in half!’ and to not have the ref issue a yellow or a sending off is mind boggling. The ref can call in the TMO to question a try decision but will frequently comeback to say no try due to ball being held up even if the replay never shows the ball being held up, another example of possible scripting for dramatic effect.
The action is fun and once you have a handle on how the game works you will want to try out the different game modes and tournaments Rugby Challenge 3 offers. The traditional Career mode and Be a Pro mode are here with Be a Pro will see you create a 17yr old rookie player and join a club in order to work your way up over 13 seasons. You can customise the look of your player and select which positions you want to play in with challenges set to complete during matches. The licensing issue raises its ugly head when it comes to tournament mode in that whilst the game does have the full SANZAR and full Super Rugby Licenses, tournaments such as the Rugby World Cup, British Lions Tour and Six Nations are absent, instead replaced by generically named World Championship and ‘International Competition’ for the Six Nations. It does have many Licensed tournaments but again, the absence of the more well known ones is obvious and stands out.
The highlight extra game mode for me is the addition for the first time of Sevens rugby, a much faster and exciting form of Rugby consisting of only seven player teams. This works really well with the arcade style of gameplay and is great fun and along with the traditional 15s adds a great new experience to the game for those both familiar and unfamiliar with Rugby 7s. The Fan Hub is an area that allows you to edit, customise and change players and teams which can then be shared with other players of the game. Taking the game online was problematic with long matchmaking times and sadly when I was able to get a match going would suffer from either lag or the dreaded rage quit which never seemed to have any punishment for the culprit which put me off the online.
Rugby Challenge 3really attempts to provide a complete rugby experience that is accessible to players and fans of all types. Though unfair to criticise its flaws due to the limitations of licensing and clear development budget, they do hold the game back to simply being good but not great. The visuals are a negative distraction and the audio quality of the commentary is really poor despite the team of Grant Insert and Justin Marshall doing a nice job of following the action and again only serves as a reminder of the limitations rather than enhancing the experience.
The gameplay is fun and easily the best rugby game to date but I was left wishing a bigger publisher that could invest more into development had worked on this game. But Wicked Witch Software have delivered a fairly decent rugby game that fans can still enjoy, but the niggles do hold it back and the flaws are glaring in the face of what it does manage to do well.
