Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge

The much-hyped Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge finally arrives, and while it might not satisfy everyone, there's plenty here to keep the rugby gamer happy.

First, the bad. Passes can be erratic at times, and you'll often be wondering why your prop is first receiver or your lock is lined up alongside the backs. The game isn't the prettiest - player models are solid but unspectacular, and perhaps rather unsurprisingly, Southern Hemisphere players seem to have been modeled better than their Northern Hemisphere counterparts. Commentary is bearable - not as bad as some people have made out, but at this stage of the next-gen life cycle, you would expect better. I haven't tried the career mode, but apparently it's quite limited in terms of player transfers and variety - for instance, you play the same round of fixtures every year. Licensing issues also prevent full player movement in the French and Celtic Leagues.

Now onto the good news. Player animations are fluid, particularly in the tackle area, and there is a wide variety of well-modeled stadia to choose from. The core game mechanics are solid - scrums involve pushing both analogue sticks at the optimum moment, while rucks are more strategic. Lineouts are well implemented, and kicking from hand in easier than in previous rugby games, as time slows down, enabling you to actually put some thought into your kicks. Drop goals are possible. It's also unlikely that rugby fans won't find their favourite player in the game, however accurate they might be, as there are licenses for the Aviva Premiership, French Top 14, RaboDirect Pro 12, ITM Cup, All Blacks and Wallabies, as well as the New Zealand and Australian contingent of the Super 15. There is also a good variety of tournaments to take part in.

So there you have it. Rugby is notoriously a difficult game to represent in video-game form; if it were easy, EA would no doubt still be making games. I'm guessing that Rugby Challenge has been produced on a fraction of the budget that EA allocates to its sports franchises. That said, it is what it is - a video game. It isn't real rugby, and it doesn't include all the intricacies of real rugby. But if you're prepared to put up with the erratic passing, and a few other niggles, there's a lot of fun to be had.

I think the majority of reviews for this game will be similar; It's the best rugby game available but there are flaws.

Pros:
Easy to learn, difficult to master
Gameplay is fluid
Graphics are great
Although the passing can be a little unpredictable, I do like that you can pick your receiver by holding Lb or Rb and pressing X, Y or A. This is also handy for making clever inside passes.
Tactical kicking is good
Goal kicking is good
Scrums are good, even though wins against the head happen a little more often than they do in real life
Line outs are just about right
The best representation of rucks I've seen in a rugby game
Creation options are good
Licenses for a plethora of club teams

Cons:
Passing is unpredictable for those who are used to EA Sports rugby, simply because you want to pass it out wide all the time rather than picking your pass. Once you're used to it, you'll find that the passing mechanics are pretty good.
Too many offloads (I personally fixed this for AI teams by downloading an unofficial patch with all offloading sliders decreased, you can also do this yourself)
Career mode isn't great
A few gameplay glitches such as play stopping when there's an injury, even if you're running with the ball
With the new patch you cannot alter the unlicensed national teams' squads ie you can't add the real players from the clubs into their unlicensed national team
A few of the stats are a little wayward (NZ are way ahead of the rest as expected from a NZ company making the game)
It's often too easy to break a tackle
No set plays, because of this attacking play usually lacks structure, you cannot choose to pass to a forward

Still, this is the most I've been addicted to a new game for a while, it's enjoyable despite the cons. It's a good base for new rugby games and trust me when I say it's better than RWC 2011.

To improve for a possible second installment:

Reduce offloads
Introduce set plays
'Beefier' defences
Minimise the glitches, including the injury glitch
Add to career mode, ie club transfers. Something similar to World League on EA Sports rugby would suffice
Refine and perfect the passing
Allow us in the UK to edit the squads of unlicensed teams
Different buttons to pass to a forward from a ruck
Don't have all New Zealanders choosing the team and player stats (heh heh)

Overall it's a 4/5.

A good game but with some real frustrating flaws, the passing is erratic at times and the amount of offloads is ridiculous !

Its a real shame that the unlicensed teams cant be changed and that you cant pass to forwards as a tactic for crashing through defenses or pass directly to fly half for kicks and also the tackle isnt as effective as it should be.

Overall its good to have euro teams and world club teams at last and its a vast improvement on world cup 2011

A bench mark for all other rugby games