Rugby League 26 Review - It's Not Only Broken, It's Disrespectful Too
Rugby League has been a part of my life since before I was born. My father played at the highest level and has worked for the Canberra Raiders, NSWRL and NRL in coaching and development capacities for over 30 years. He then went on to help set up the Australian Rugby League Wheelchair competition and coach the national team. As for me, I played the game from the age of 9 until I was 26. I represented the state at junior levels, and since that time, I have earned qualifications as a referee and have coached junior teams. I tell you this as something of a justification for how I am approaching this review. I am somewhat uniquely positioned in the world of games media to look at Rugby League 26 (RL 26) from multiple angles, so I am going to do exactly that.
Firstly, let me look at the traditional video game side of things. There is no denying that RL 26 has some serious issues from the perspective of a traditional video game, but I also have to say it isn’t all bad. For starters, all of the creation modes are well designed and give a lot of freedom for designing stadiums, players and teams. This is something that BigAnt has traditionally been good at and that carries through here. Obviously, these modes are restricted by the limited technology in use, but they do a great job of giving players the freedom to design without too many barriers.
There is also the inclusion of the coach season mode, which is quite comprehensive and offers some really interesting meta situations for players to dig into. Managing your team’s salary cap, suspensions and injuries is handled in a competent manner, and to be quite honest, it was my favourite part of the game. There is quite a bit of depth here, and while it doesn’t rival something that might come out of EA or 2K, it does a pretty decent job of gamifying the business side of the NRL.
Sadly, from here things take a turn for the worse. Let me start with the graphics. Look, I understand that BigAnt aren’t operating with even a 100th of the budget of NBA 2K or FC, so I can understand why the graphics look below what one would expect for a modern video game. In fact, it doesn’t bother me too much at all. That said, taking this route should have allowed them to eliminate bugs, glitches and issues in the game itself. That is sadly not the case. This is a game that is riddled with weird player behaviour, glitchy animations, stuttering gameplay and insane physics. This is a game that should have never reached retail in this condition, and I just know that its release was forced by management because there is no way the developers wanted this released in this state.
Other aspects are similarly disappointing. The commentary, for example, often incorrectly describes what is going on in the game. I had instances where the commentators lamented my kick, when I scored a try off it or said I knocked the ball on when I actually broke through the line of defence and ran for 20 meters. I should also mention the commentators themselves. Andrew Voss gives it a red-hot go with excitement levels (League fans expect nothing less from Vossy), but Cameron Smith sounds like he would rather be at his mum’s funeral than in a recording booth for this game. It is just another downer in a game that already feels like the lowest thing out there. As for the English pair, they give it a decent shot, but it is clear they had no real direction or guidance on how they should record their lines.
Now it is time for me to look at this game from a Rugby League Fan/Player/Coach/Referee perspective, and if you aren’t a League fan, feel free to skip this bit. Frankly, I am finding it hard to hold my tongue and not simply crumble into a pit of rage. This game has taken the sport I love and shown it more disrespect than a pub full of Victorians would. Let’s start with the gameplay. There are constant and consistent incorrect rules in play. From play-the-balls after a penalty, to the bringing of the ball to the 10-meter line if a player has been tackled on the last near the tryline. This game is full of incorrect rules and implementations that should have absolutely been sorted out before release. It shows a lack of care, and frankly, I find it more than a little offensive that the development team couldn’t even be bothered to get a referee or player in to advise on the gameplay. If they had, this clearly wouldn’t have happened.
Now, let’s move to the way the terrible physics stops the game from being anything like rugby league at all. League is a game of momentum. It is about quick plays putting the defensive team on the back foot. It is about pushing up the field faster than the opposition can stop you. None of that is in play because of the terrible physics and even worse AI. The momentum comes to a dead stop anytime you get tackled, and quick play-the-balls are almost impossible. If you do manage to get a quick play-the-ball, then it is ruined anyway because your dummy half isn’t there (and bizarrely, the opposition markers fail to take advantage of that.) Other things, like when an attacking player steps and leaves the defensive player stock still as if struck by a crowbar, or how markers knock each other out of the way, causing offside penalties, also happen way too often and are things that don’t even happen in a game of under 7s, let alone in the NRL.
Finally, the thing that absolutely pisses me off the most. The game is full of players being put in incorrect positions. Sure, that may seem like a simple error, but stay with me here. Of all the things in game development, from the graphics, to the physics to the sound, surely looking at the Team sheet of each club and copying that into the game would be one of the easiest jobs around. BigAnt couldn’t even be bothered to get this right. It shows that, on the corporate side at least, they just don’t give a shit about the sport itself and frankly see it as nothing more than a way to make a buck.
This attitude is simply appalling. If this game were released as an Early Access title, people would still be rightfully pissed off, let alone as a $100 release. It is nothing more than a shitty, anti-consumer business practice because BigAnt knows that a man dying of thirst will reach for the first source of water he can find, without checking the quality first. Sadly, this is the case with Rugby League fans who happen to like video games. It has been 8 long years since the last RL game, which, while not great, at least showed more respect to the sport than this one. But BigAnt knows that by releasing the game as is, they can get a bunch of instant sales and will rely on apologising to fans and promise fixes that may or may not ever eventuate (just have a look at their last cricket game, it is still in terrible condition.) They are treating the sport and its fans with contempt, and that, more than anything, makes my blood boil.
The long and short of it is, Rugby League 26 is a bad video game and a worse representation of the sport. It shows that BigAnt have not only not improved on previous titles, but they seem to actually care less about the final product. There are hundreds of reasons not to buy this game, with the only reason to even contemplate a purchase being that there are no other options out there. I want to stress, I don’t hold the developers themselves responsible. They know the state of the game, they know how it will be received. This is all on the management and their shitty practices, and they, not the foot soldiers, should bear your wrath. Don’t buy this game, don’t support this game. Send a clear message that this is simply not good enough, and maybe, just maybe, the message will get through. But based on BigAnt’s history, I doubt that very much.
To end this all on a positive note… UP THE MILK!!!
