EA Sports' last attempt at making a rugby game was actually their best. EA Sports' Rugby franchise was generally stop-start. You're probably familiar with the year-on-year releases EA Sports have done the last several decades - FIFA, Madden, NHL. Meanwhile, EA Sports' first rugby game came out in 1995 and the second wouldn't be until 2000. The next after that would be in 2003. Overall, EA Sports made six rugby games, and to re-word an old saying; sixth time's the charm.
The previous iterations felt generally stiff, with the second attempt, simply called 'Rugby', particularly bad. Rugby 08 feels somewhat smooth though, doesn't feel unbalanced and the gameplay is relatively easy to get the hang of.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't a great video game by general standards, or even an overly great video game by the standards of the sport genre, but as far as rugby video games go, this is in the conversation for the best ever made. The game is insanely cheap these days, the PAL region at least, and for what I paid (50p) this game is great value for money.
I'm not overly convinced that EA Sports would even make a very good Rugby game if they revived the franchise, but this game will more than do for now.
The previous iterations felt generally stiff, with the second attempt, simply called 'Rugby', particularly bad. Rugby 08 feels somewhat smooth though, doesn't feel unbalanced and the gameplay is relatively easy to get the hang of.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't a great video game by general standards, or even an overly great video game by the standards of the sport genre, but as far as rugby video games go, this is in the conversation for the best ever made. The game is insanely cheap these days, the PAL region at least, and for what I paid (50p) this game is great value for money.
I'm not overly convinced that EA Sports would even make a very good Rugby game if they revived the franchise, but this game will more than do for now.