AFL Live (Xbox 360 and PS3) - OUT NOW!

[guttermouth]

Hopefully it breaks street date.....

[Ambrose Burnside]

One week to go!



Also:

Dick Smith's price is now $79.94 with free delivery

[guttermouth]

I hear all their stock has left the warehouse and there is nothing left. Shops will be getting their copies from today onwards to the weekend. Street date being broken can't be that far away??

[Ambrose Burnside]

Yeah, hopefully the street date is broken and EB let me know about it!

[jobbidiar]

Yeah, hopefully the street date is broken and EB let me know about it!

Hope this games good since you've been getting me pumped up about it for a while now, pre-ordered it before and will be kicking the woods arse some time next week

[Froggy]

Any reviews yet?? Fuck first I'll get my hands on this is June 1st...

[Ambrose Burnside]

If it turns out to be crap don't shoot the messenger!

[Madmya]

Of course it's going to be crap, it's AFL!

[Candy Arse]

I hope it's really good, I'd love to get back into a sports game again.

[Ambrose Burnside]

I hope it's really good, I'd love to get back into a sports game again.

Yeah, same, I haven't really gotten into a sports game in a big way since PES 3

NBA Street Homecourt and NBA Jam are fun for local MP though, but the old ISS/PES games were like crack! I got stupidly addicted. I miss that

[Ambrose Burnside]

From JB Hi-Fi's website:

FIRST SHIPMENT SOLD OUT ONLINE! ORDERS PLACED FROM THE 14/4 WILL SHIP 3-4 WEEKS AFTER RELEASE

[guttermouth]

I better go pre- order it from some where....

[Ambrose Burnside]

The rumour is that EB Games have run out of the preorder bonus. Rumour seems legit too, because they're no longer advertising the bonus on their website.

[pilonv1]

what was the bonus?

I hope it's really good, I'd love to get back into a sports game again.

We should rent the NRL game for a weekend to see how shite it's online play is

[Ambrose Burnside]

what was the bonus?

Nothing spectacular, a $30 voucher to spend at http://www.aflphotos.com.au/

I would have much preferred a voucher to spend at Name a Game. Would have been cheaper for them as well, because the voucher would have been for $25 istead of $30.

[Ambrose Burnside]

Best camera phone footage I've seen yet. Make sure you set it to 720p. A couple of huge grabs and a great goal from deep in the pocket that resulted from a lolwtf? out on the full moment

There were a few funny noob moments actually. Running too far without bouncing, neither ruckman going up for the tap etc.

[guttermouth]

Appears stores in WA have broken the street date.....

[Pat]

WA xbox360s have a patch out to remove the 15 teams other than WCE/Fremantle. Apparently going by the media here there are only two AFL teams.

[Ambrose Burnside]

Appears stores in WA have broken the street date.....

Yep, I own it Thank you Target!

[Ambrose Burnside]

Jack Darling is named Jeff Darling in-game

[jobbidiar]

Appears stores in WA have broken the street date.....

Yep, I own it Thank you Target!

Care to post some in depth impressions when you get a chance Sir?

[Ambrose Burnside]

Appears stores in WA have broken the street date.....

Yep, I own it Thank you Target!

Care to post some in depth impressions when you get a chance Sir?

Certainly my good man. Bear in mind I've only played 2 and a bit games so far. The "bit" was my first game, I was getting smashed by Freo so dropped the difficulty down one level from the default and started again

In my two completed games I beat Gold Coast in the wet at the Gold Coast stadium, and Freo at Subi during the day.

The controls are going to take a bit of getting used to (which is probably my fault, I've been playing a bit of AFL Premiership 2006 lately to get a handle on all of the areas they need to improve, so I'm used to those controls). For example, in the ruck contest, I'm used to waiting for the meter to be in the green area before tapping the X button on the PS2 contoller. In AFL Live, you can move around the centre circle with the left stick (or, for around-the-ground ruck contests, try to out body your opponent), then when the ball is at its highest point after being bounced by the umpire, you push the right stick in the direction you want to tap it. There is also a button modifier to punch the ball instead of the default tap. It's more realistic in the sense that body positioning is all-important, but also a lot more complicated. It's good though. Sandilands crushed my Cox/Nic Nat ruck combination even at the lowest difficulty setting (he won something like 25 ruck contests to my 5). I have a feeling that Sandilands is the best player in the game. That's how important winning the ruck contest is in AFL Live.

I love set shots in AFL Live. Again, in ye olde AFL Premiership 2006, you simply wait for the meter to be in the green area before holding down the square (goal kick) button on the PS2 controller, taking into account wind and distance. AFL Live is similar, but there's no accuracy meter, you have to manually point your player in the direction you want to kick it, and the natural swing players have (direction of swing depending on left or right footedness) is much more pronounced. I was playing with no wind, and Josh Kennedy was taking a set shot from directly in front, about 55m out, and I still had to aim almost out of bounds, letting the right footer swing the ball back through the goals. It probably sounds weird and counter-intuitive reading what I've typed, but it feels so natural in-game.

I don't think I've scored a goal on the run that wasn't 2m out yet. It's very tricky. I'll hopefully get better at it with more practice.

Kicking to team mates around the ground is quite good. You can 'lock-on' to players downfield and your player will attempt to kick it to them. You can change who the locked-on player is manually, but I can never remember how to do it in-game Marking is generally quite good, and just like the ruck contests, body positioning is all-important. I haven't yet mastered the knack of spoiling, so when I lose possession, I really struggle to get it back.

The developers seem to have watched a lot of Sydney games. Don't expect to win the ruck contest, have your midfielder accelerate away from the congestion like Judd and boot a beautiful goal on the run from 60m out. You will be tackled. Repeatedly. I don't think I've seen a centre bounce result in a clearance without needing a secondary bounce first. People who went to the play tests all say that handball is your friend, and it really is true. To win the clearance, you need to fire out a few handballs before you can get clear. When you pull it off it's really awesome, I set up a great chain of handballs before hitting LeCras on the chest, and he calmly slotted the goal from the boundary. But when it doesn't it's just like a Sydney game, ruck contest after ruck contest and usually a random free kick (holding the ball, high tackle etc.) is the only way to win the clearance. I expect this to be inexperience more than anything, I just want to run through everyone like Judd and kick awesome long-range goals on the run. I have no doubt you could do this with experience, not every time but maybe a few times a game, but I need to rein that in for now and play more conservatively (and realistically) by setting up play properly.

There are are a lot of stats recorded by the game and you get a good overview of them at the end of each quarter, just like when you're watching on TV. Kicks, handballs, marks, turnovers, marks inside 50 etc. etc. etc.

Players generally look good. Nic Nat is freakishly accurate, really stands out (just like real life!) but others (LeCras) are a bit off. The crowd are 2D cutouts, but there is a bit of variety in their animations.

The worst part about the game BY FAR is the sound effects. Abysmal. Dennis Cometti repeats lines word-for-word from the old games. I don't mean "Player X kicks it to Player Y" type lines where you expect them to be pretty much the same, but his 'special comments' too, like the line which goes something like "when he's on song he sings a mighty fine song". It is word-for-word identical to AFL Premiership 2006. I don't know if this is some sort of copyright breach considering they were developed by different companies (IR Gurus did the old games, Big Ant does this one) but it is shockingly bad. I hope the sound people get a MUCH bigger budget next time around.

Sprinting is also pretty useless. The animation changes from the default run, and your player won't bounce the ball while sprinting, but I cant see any noticeable speed increase. If a patch were to be released I would make the difference between running and sprinting more pronounced.

Finally, Jack Darling is inexplicably called Jeff Darling in-game. I don't know what the commentators call him (he is not in the default Eagles line-up, and I haven't mucked around with the team management side of things yet) but in the team list he is Jeff. I don't know if other players have wrong names/jumper numbers/whatever.

And I haven't ventured inside the Footy Factory where you can edit teams and players, and create your own teams and players from scratch. So at least I'll be able re-name Jeff Darling with his proper name when I get around to it!

Overall though, AFL Live is exactly what I was expecting - a good, solid AFL game with enormous potential. It is the best AFL game ever (which I know isn't saying much, but still). I can't wait until I master it more so I get more experiences like the LeCras goal I mentioned earlier, and less Sydney-style congestion.

HANDBALL IS YOUR FRIEND!

[Vince]

I'd say if you're an AFL tragic (like me) this is one hell of a great game! Poor commentarybaside it replicates our beloved game really well. Sad not to be able to hear the club songs before a game starts as you run onto the field, but win a game and you'll hear the authentic and original club songs play!
I really am enjoying it so far and the potential for future games is huge!

[Ambrose Burnside]

win a game and you'll hear the authentic and original club songs play!

That's another thing, the Eagles club song in-game is their original one from 1987, not the one they use now (and have used for quite a while). I quite like their original song (because it sticks it up the Vics ), but it's not accurate (much like the Jeff Darling stuff-up).

I played another game this morning before I left for work, taking on Hawthorn at the MCG (it's a weird and foreign experience playing Hawhtorn outside of Tasmania or WA). I was much better at the ruck contests, winning them 18-10 or so. I can't wait to take big Sandilands on again to see if I can improve on last game's efforts.

[Ambrose Burnside]

Oh shit don't play as Carlton in Season mode. it won't let you play past Round 5:

Big Ant's response:

We're just reproducing that scoreline and round in a Carlton season now and can see that it does have an issue forcing you to quit the game

For now if you find this issue please re-run the game and simulate the match, you then will be able to continue on with the season - I understand that this is not a great solution as it means season based trophies will not activate, we are working hard on this now and will have a workaround or fix asap.