Rugby League

"A great game! Any xbox owner who likes league should get it!"

Okay, Rugby League is a great game. It’s the first game on the sport since 1996. The game is obviously much better. Anyway, hopefully this review will help you decide if you would like to buy it or not.

Game play- 9/10

It’s fun when you learn the controls, and they are pretty easy to learn. Running and tackling is fairly simple, and kicking is a breeze. You can spear tackle, ankle tap, and you can cause serious injury with head-high tackles. While attack you can fend, sidestep, and dummy which further enhances your attacking arsenal. A thing that brought this down was the fact that sometimes, you can not catch up to players who make line breaks or intercepts, and once, my winger could not catch up to a prop who made a break. But usually you can catch up to slower players. There a couple of wrong rules like when you knock on after the siren the ref lays down a scrum, when really it should be the end of the half. But it is pretty realistic, for example when it rains and the ball is slippery you are more likely to knock on. When it’s hot and you have had your front rowers running around all day they might get fatigue and pass it forward, miss easy tackles, etc. As well as the NRL and Single games, you have the English Super League, the World Club Challenge, The World cup, State of Origin and City Country origin.

Graphics- 8/10

They are not brilliant but they are quite nice. Willie Mason has an afro, the kiwis are easy to pick out, and Johns, Fitler and Tallis are hard to mistake. The font is very bad and hard to see, but you should get use to it. The stadiums are absolutely brilliant, but the people are not. The sky though is absolutely stunning. The rain is quite well done, and tackles look great. Overall the graphics are satisfying, and the stadiums are the main reason why the graphics score so high.

Sound- 9/10

Very good commentary from Andrew Voss and Steve Clarke is great to. So far I have hardly ever heard Andrew Voss say something twice, and have certainly not heard him repeat something in the same match. Soundtrack is middle of the road.

Replayability- 10/10

With behind the scenes movies and a documentary on cheerleaders, also adding highlights of a match between Parramatta and Canterbury, plus the NRL, Single games, English Super League, the World Club Challenge, The World cup, State of Origin and City Country origin, and the fact that rugby league is the greatest game on the face of the earth make this game have lots of replayability.

Overall- 9/10

I would buy the game, as it is a great game. Have fun playing!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/28/03