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Backbreaker |OT| of FINALLY next-gen football

The M.O.B

Member
Thanks to Afrikan, mbmonk and kjcheezhead for Info,gifs,n vids.

BackBreaker.png
*Blame chubigans for thread title

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Backbreaker-Box-Art-Released.jpg

On Xbox 360 and PS3

Release Date: June 1st, but you can get it now at GameStop's Everywhere, and some Best Buy stores.

Demo out now Xbox360 and PS3. Includes an exhibition mode and tackle alley.


Controls.png


*courtesy of operation sports member kjcheezhead

Ball Carrier:
Analog running, no turbo.
Right stick does jukes to left/right, flick up makes you leap a defender while rotating the stick in a circle does spin moves.
Holding the right trigger does power moves with the right stick. Left/Right would be stiff arms, up would be “trucking”. “A“ button on X-box switches ball hand. (IGN: August 2008 and June 2009)

Passing: Primary WR can be set pre-snap by holding Left trigger and flicking the stick. After the snap, flicking the stick right/left scans field. Flicking up is a bullet pass, pulling back is a lob pass. (IGN March 2010)
Left trigger puts the QB into focus mode. It tracks the movement of your primary receiver during the play while narrowing field of vision. Ability to lead your wr confirmed through twitter of Todd who is a staff administrator.

Defense: Defensive players controls built with evasive and aggressive mode similar to ball carrier. Evasive mode gives defender maximum agility. Rt trigger enters aggresive mode. Aggressive mode on defense allows the player to take down the ball carrier via a number of tackle types that are triggered by gestures on the right analog stick. Not only can the type of tackle be chosen, but also whether the tackle should be aimed high, to the torso or low to the legs. (Ask a Dev Response)

Kicking: Aim with the left stick, pull back on right stick to start and release as kicker reaches football.(Similar to All Pro Football)

Gamers will also have the ability to maps controls to the face buttons if they choose so.

Modes.png


*courtesy of operation sports member kjcheezhead

Traditional franchise with 8,16, or 32 team leagues involving either pre-existing or custom teams. Includes trades, scouting and drafting players. (Gamerpops March 2010) This franchise mode will allow gamers to play games for every team in the league or sim them. Gamers have the ability to name their leagues, conferences, and divisions.

“Road to BB” Franchise. Try an conquer an 8 team league, finishing in top moves you to a 16 team league. Finishing in the top again moves you to a 32 team league. Finish in the bottom and go down to the lower league. (Gamerpops March 2010)

Improving teams is different between these modes. Road to BB allows gamers to earn credits by accomplishments which they can use to buy better players. Traditional franchise is done with scouting, drafts, trades etc.

Tackle Alley mini game online and locally. (Gamerpops March 2010) Can be played 2 player split screen or 1 player vs cpu.

Additional unnamed minigames. (Destructoid, March 2010) Training drills among these. Some examples are running play drills that allow gamers to practice inside runs, counters, and toss plays.

3 ways to play each mode. Arcade, Pro and Custom. Arcade gives the user on the field glowing indicators and 4 play types: Run, Pass, Special and Ask Coach. Pro turns the indicators off and allows the user to choose specific plays. Custom would appear to allow you to choose parts of Arcade and Pro.

3 levels of difficulty for each mode. Easy, Medium and Hard. You can also select the form of your team on a sliding scale that goes from very poor to very good. This is a feature commonly seen in soccer games.

OTHER DETAILS


Regular NFL Rules Apply

Team playbooks. Not customizable due to balancing issues

13 Huge Stadiums

You can select day or night and rain or sunny.

No commentary, but you can use your own music.

No Injuries or Fatigue, "Devs explained the injuries were left out intentially because they want them determined by physics and not "dice rolls"."


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60 Teams from major cities in the US

Players can also be created, however the game will not allow gamers use exact names of past or present players. For instance, the game will not accept Adrian Peterson or Peyton Manning but will allow Adriun or A. Peterson. The player name limitations appear to be for online teams only. Exact size and weight are not customizable. Offline teams/players are not limited according to the devs.

NFL TEAMS *From member Futurevoid

Baltimore Ravens
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Pittsburgh Steelers
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New York Giants
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Other Custom Teams *From members MiniDitka and sportzhead

London Bridges
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Saint Larimah Dragons
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screenshots.png


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Euphoria.png


This is Easily summed up if we just refer to the developer directly

Backbreaker Team said:
Each tackle will be uniquely simulated on the fly by euphoria. It will take into account the angle of the attacker and defender(s), players’ weights and body dimensions, their body postures and limb velocities at impact, absolute and relative speeds, the ground conditions (such as wet or slippery footing), in addition to individual players’ characteristics like strength, speed, and reaction times. Each tackle will be unique, deliver realistic results and allow multiple character interaction such as gang tackles. Now, instead of just two, there can be three, four or five defenders smashing into a ball carrier to halt his forward momentum, jar the ball loose, or just punish him physically for trying to gain an extra yard. Furthermore, limbs won’t ghost through other players to accommodate repetitive pre-canned animation.
From the offensive side this will make a drastic difference. No longer will you enter into a tackle situation knowing there is a predetermined outcome. Your quick and elusive back may get hit, but be agile enough to avoid a direct shot, momentarily losing his balance only to regain it just in time to elude another tackler on your way to the end zone. Your hard-nose fullback may out-muscle and out-power defenders by continuing to pump his legs and truck through defenders on his way to a tough fourth-and-1 conversion. How and when the player times and delivers a spin move, stiff arm, juke or hurdle in conjunction with the characters personal attributes will help calculate and create the tackle as it would happen in real life. Ball carriers will now be able to bounce off, or drive through and carry defenders for extra yards. Players will not just be simulated in real time, but will have advanced artificial intelligence to determine when to act with certain behaviors. For example, the running back preparing for contact will lower his shoulders to deliver the hit, cover the ball with two hands as he fights for extra yards in heavy traffic, and pump his legs to keep his forward momentum and balance as he strives to reach the end zone.
Defense will be a much more dynamic and involved experience as well. You won’t have to be the first defender to engage the ball carrier to have an impact on that tackle. You can now have a role as the second, third or fourth defender entering the tackle. As in real football, this will often be the best shot that may knock a ball loose from a vulnerable ball carrier that has tried to spin away from one of your teammates, or is fighting relentlessly to pick up the first down. euphoria is going to fundamentally change football tackles, each one unique, each one authentic, and each one realistic with multiple characters interacting as they would be based on realistic behaviors and physics!
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Random Vids of Euphoria in Action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEAUPU3Q6G8&playnext_from=TL&videos=DhORXInOe9s&feature=recentu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMtrk4_d3MI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1WXOAJtUiU&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR2LXFKw_f8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlA1tJKMuYU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW8cXf9POzE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzLQrnMZJew&playnext_from=TL&videos=Z88lVrBXXi8&feature=rec-LGOUT-exp_stronger_r2-2r-1

TIPS & HELP*Big thanks to mbmonk with this one

-To avoid your receiver dropping the ball every time, hold aggressive mode and hold down on the right stick!

WHY.png

- Nobody believes this will outsell that other football game, but competition never hurts.
- Euphoria
- 50 Bucks
- You can make whatever NFL, NCAA, or High School team you want.
- If a certain other football game has grown stale for you
- It's Next Gen FINALLY, something besides graphics that older systems would not be able to do
- The GreatHouse Patch fixes a ton of exploits, and penalties

Feel free to troll, argue, or sit back and enjoy the game.
 
Once the PS3 demo is released and I enjoy it. Bought.

Let's dream for a second: This sells well and they decide to make a Hockey, Soccer and Basketball game using the engine.. /drool
 

The M.O.B

Member
I added some bandwidth eating gifs, just for you guys!

I will be getting my copy tomorrow, post your copy if you got it.

As for the ps3 demo, Naturalmotion sent the demo to Sony, but Sony seems to be sitting on it for now :/
 

Q8D3vil

Member
no pc no sale :(
i'm ashamed to say that but i don't know anything about american football but i love euphoria physics engine
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Buying it today, based on the fact that I want this series to continue on into the future. I think I'll get my money's worth out of this iteration though.
 
I really love this game, played two full games.

A few things that needs tweaked/fixed:
- Get my ST players to quit giving the punter double teamed spinebusters every single time giving them a first down when they punt.
- Interceptions need to be toned down on both sides to the ball, especially CPU. You make a mistake, which is easy to do, it's way more likely to be a interception rather than an incompletion.
- The O-Line needs to hold up a bit better. I passed 20-25 times in the first two games, and got sacked 5-6 times each. Maybe one or two of those is on me, but the other where just me being DOA.
- My RB needs to quit falling on the ground from bumping into his lineman. I understand if im running full force, but some of these falls are silly.

All that said, for every WTF moment, there are 20 amazing moments.
 

The M.O.B

Member
Q8D3vil said:
no pc no sale :(
i'm ashamed to say that but i don't know anything about american football but i love euphoria physics engine

It was originally scheduled for PC, so maybe we will see it comeback somewhere down the road.
 

Nicktals

Banned
I don't know why, and I certainly don't mean this as hating (because really, any competition to the maddenopoly is good), but I expect to see some hilarious glitch youtube videos of this game shortly after release.
 

FLEABttn

Banned
Q8D3vil said:
will buy for sure if true.
i need to read some american football guide :D

Naw. Everything I know about football I learned from NFL2K, NFL2K1, and ESPN2K5. You can pick up the rules fairly easily through playing.

I have a Bestbuy $20 gift card. Considering this since the last football game I bought was ESPN2K5.
 

Phloxy

Member
So fucking lame, I've won 3 games in a row but they quit with a minute left and it doesn't give you the win, so fucking dumbbbbbb.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Okay, I was hoping the demo was misleading. It's not.

The punting is BROKEN. You will either block the punt, or have your team called for a roughing the kicker in more than 90% of cases. I documented this in the demo thread, too.

20+ times, I've only returned a kick twice. Infuriating.
 
Cannot WAIT. This game is going to blow my mind. Loved the demo. I can't recommend this one enough. Thank you for the OT I will dwell here for weeks to come.
 
PastaPadre's impressions.

I’ve spent the majority of the day with Backbreaker (PS3 version). For those of you who played the demo on the 360 the final version is comparable to that. I haven’t noticed any obvious differences in gameplay between the two though things have opened up a little more with the extended quarter lengths making it much better for evaluation purposes. Continue on for some of my thoughts on Backbreaker so far!


All games have been played on Pro-Hard (the highest difficulty). Needless to say I’m not sure anyone will lose to the CPU even on the toughest setting. I don’t consider myself good at this game yet, I’d maybe say I’m decent, but if I played the CPU 100 times I’m confident I would beat them 100 times. The ineptness on offense even from the best offensive squads is startling.

Being able to stretch out the quarters did seem to help as the CPU does not make mistakes at quite the same rate. The way the CPU threw INTs in the demo would have meant 10+ INTs in a game with five minute quarters. So far I’m seeing an average of about five INTs by the CPU per game with five minute quarters. The INTs were my biggest concern going in but along with that has been the inability of the CPU to move the ball on offense and put points on the board.

The first full game I played was with a mediocre Seattle defense up against one of the best teams in the game New England. You can look at the stats below. Given it was my first time through I wouldn’t expect to be able to beat a good team on the hardest difficulty but I did so with ease. New England has one of the better offenses and threw seven picks. They got one big pass play when an AI controlled DB played a throw poorly and they took it the distance.



So far I have yet to feel threatened in a game even against the top offenses because they are so inconsistent. The best offense, Philadelphia, did move the ball on me some as you can see in the stats below. However they would take untimely sacks, throw a bad pick, and waste downs running unsuccessfully. My defensive philosophy has been to just make the CPU run as many plays as possible because they will screw up sooner or later. Some of the passing yardage can be attributed to me going into prevent mode. I have yet to feel like there is any reason to respect the run game from the CPU.



Penalties are implemented so poorly in the game. They are often called wrong especially with roughing the passer. Pass interference is called many times when it shouldn’t have been (or the wrong side is flagged) and ignored other times where receivers get plastered. I’ve yet to see any holding calls.

I’ve had two instances where passes were caught in the back of the end zone where I think the game believed both feet weren’t in because a “no gain” message popped up. Unfortunately instead of granting the TD or even just going to the next down it gave the ball to the opposition. Basically like it was a touchback. I have one of those times on a video I’ll be posting later.

CPU time management is brutal. The funniest instance of poor time management was when I was driving for a score late in the half (under a minute and in field goal range). The CPU had one timeout left and used it after I got a first down. They run a lot in passing situations then use timeouts when they have the ball late in a half.

I’ve started getting frustrated some in being tackled by my teammates. Running into them at all usually results in my player getting knocked down to the ground.

It is a very satisfying feeling making plays on offense in Backbreaker on both the ground and through the air. Not as satisfying on defense cause of the detached feel. CPU teammates make most of the plays including the majority of INTs.

Some really cool moments where I tried to cut back and got tripped up. My favorite tackles are probably where players get tripped up or grabbed by their extremities.

Playbooks are the same as in the demo and each team has the same playbook.

There is really no reason to run no-huddle. With no accelerated clock and such limited playbooks it is just as fast to go to the playbook and select a play quickly.

The CPU loves to run draw plays. I’d say a good third of the plays they run are draws.

The CPU catches punts in the end zone AND runs them out.

Slight framerate drop on kicks and punts.

The crowd is disappointing. With the focus down on the field I expected more out of the crowd.

Quarters are limited to minute lengths of 1, 3, 5, 10, and 15. Would’ve liked more options than just those. If you’re going to offer 1 minute quarters (worthless) then why not 6-8 minute quarters that would get some play?

There are 13 stadiums but 3 of them are locked!

There is no way to view stats during the game. Only at halftime and after the game is over.

No in-game saves or even a way to sim to the end of the game.

The Replay functionality is the same as in the demo which is disappointing.

Really wish there was a way to save replays. A method to then upload them would’ve been a bonus to that. With some of the things that happen I’m surprised there isn’t a way to at least save replays because that would have been really valuable.

On a positive note the loading times are pleasantly short.

Online: No one is online yet. Will be doing a write-up with online impressions over the next few days. If there is any lag at all the games will be filled with sacks and INTs.

Will add some videos in tonight. Youtube decided to double their speed so now I have to reprocess and upload them again.

Backbreaker would be a really fun game if it played cleanly without the bugs that have already been experienced, had penalties called correctly, and had massive improvements to the AI. I just can’t take it seriously as a football game in its current state. All the additional content in the game such as Season Mode and Road to Backbreaker are practically worthless because the CPU doesn’t put up a fight in the actual games. The physics engine is impressive…that just makes it all the more frustrating that the problems make Backbreaker difficult to enjoy as a football game.
 

KaYotiX

Banned
Yeah i read Pasta's comments and im glad im just gameflying this to get my football fix before NCAA and Madden are out.
 

newsguy

Member
For those who get it, take this advice: ALWAYS HOLD DOWN LT or L2 ON DEFENSE. This can't be said enough, it fixes the camera on the action so it's not disorienting. I played this way last night for like 2 hours and it changed the entire defensive dynamic for me, now I really enjoy playing defense.
 
D

Deleted member 8095

Unconfirmed Member
I like how they decided to release this before lifting the review embargo. I see a lot of incoming 4-7 reviews. The graphics are boring outside of the amazing physics and animation. The ai is retarded, the camera angle sucks and getting called for roughing the punter in every other punt is downright annoying. Is this enough to consider the game broken? Yes. If Madden came out that broken we would never hear the end of it. Awesome animation and great physics do not make a game. I won't pay $50 for a tech demo.
 
Nicktals said:
I don't know why, and I certainly don't mean this as hating (because really, any competition to the maddenopoly is good), but I expect to see some hilarious glitch youtube videos of this game shortly after release.

Except I thought that only real big problem with Euphoria was that Devs were over implementing it in the entire game for too many objects.

This seems like a really great implementation of the technology as it allows them to focus on a smaller set of variables. I have always thought sports games needed something which tied the physics and animation more closely together. The fact that there is a disconnect between them allows shit like in that 2k baseball game where the players couldn't pick up a ball near a fence. haha

But yeah, probably bought $$$$

Sad to hear about the CPU problems though,so hopefully online is good as I have no friends who will play this with me :(
 

thefil

Member
I don't play football games, but the Euphoria here is amazing. All games should really be using this tech, it's gorgeous.
 

Agent Icebeezy

Welcome beautful toddler, Madison Elizabeth, to the horde!
I got it, I like the feeling of investing in the future because that is how I oddly feeling about this, but I'm going to have some fun with this.
 

Mihku

Member
Only thing I don't like about it is the fact that we Europeans have to wait till the 25th, and there's only 1 (UK) online shop who sells it. And importing it makes it a pretty pricey game. I wonder if it will even show up in stores on the mainland.
 

Ænima

Member
Phloxy said:
So fucking lame, I've won 3 games in a row but they quit with a minute left and it doesn't give you the win, so fucking dumbbbbbb.
Wow I was going to buy the game until I read this post. The only thing I am interested in is online play but if they are doing it like UFC 2009 did it then no thanks.
 

Stahsky

A passionate embrace, a beautiful memory lingers.
Maybe I missed it on the OP, but how is the multiplayer on this? What can you do online and stuff?
 
EvaPlusMinus said:
Maybe I missed it on the OP, but how is the multiplayer on this? What can you do online and stuff?

I believe tackle alley, and head to head. Might be more options havnt opened my copy yet, but ive been reading peoples impressions that the game runs good online. And for people worrying about quiters of course theres gonna be people that quit, but there are people like me that dont quit even if im getting my ass handed to me. We'll have to get gaf tourneys or leagues going.
 

Afrikan

Member
EvaPlusMinus said:
Maybe I missed it on the OP, but how is the multiplayer on this? What can you do online and stuff?

split screen 2 player... I played against my brother on a 40" screen..was able to see fine..and the game ran smooth...

ONLINE seems AMAZING so far.....no lag...and it seems like its integrated with the menu or something, cause its like it doesn't load...kinda like GTA4 and Burnout.

online there is exhibition......

Tackle Ally for 1player leader board stuff...

then Tackle Ally 2 player....against another person online....race to the endzone with most points....

people are LOVING the online aspect so far with the game.
 

Afrikan

Member
also check out this video I just uploaded...

one of those ESPN Come On Man situations, :lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mX_yHAVVtg

love how my QB did that last little shift with his body that avoided the sack, and it looks realistic how his head glances at the player then looks down field again...but damn I thought I had a huge gain, lol.

I'm having a heck of a game right now, with 2 of the best teams in the game...I'm the Philli team against the Patrio... i mean Militia.
 
Afrikan said:
also check out this video I just uploaded...

one of those ESPN Come On Man situations, :lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mX_yHAVVtg

love how my QB did that last little shift with his body that avoided the sack, and it looks realistic how his head glances at the player then looks down field again...but damn I thought I had a huge gain, lol.

I'm having a heck of a game right now, with 2 of the best teams in the game...I'm the Philli team against the Patrio... i mean Militia.

Karma FTW. That's what your QB gets for making that defender look foolish :lol
 

The M.O.B

Member
BTW, there is a PS3 NFL team project going on at operationsports.com, if you are not too good at making custom teams, you can just wait till they release the custom file for it sometime this week. Not sure about a 360 one.

Also, on the forums the developers commented that they are compiling and working on a list of things for a patch, hopefully that doesn't take too long to get to us.

EDIT: That Buffalo Bills is spot on accurate.
 

Haunted

Member
Afrikan said:
also check out this video I just uploaded...

one of those ESPN Come On Man situations, :lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mX_yHAVVtg

love how my QB did that last little shift with his body that avoided the sack, and it looks realistic how his head glances at the player then looks down field again...but damn I thought I had a huge gain, lol.

I'm having a heck of a game right now, with 2 of the best teams in the game...I'm the Philli team against the Patrio... i mean Militia.
:lol classic.

I think this is a great showcase for what the Euphoria tech can do (as if there were any doubts after GTAIV and RDR). Here's hoping Naturalmotion will license this tech out more.
 
Haunted said:
:lol classic.

I think this is a great showcase for what the Euphoria tech can do (as if there were any doubts after GTAIV and RDR). Here's hoping Naturalmotion will license this tech out more.

It's not a case of Naturalmotion licencing some middleware tech like Havok do, for example. They run more of a consultancy operation, implementing the tech frrom the ground up. They're also apparently fucking expensive.
 
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