AFL 2007 nearly as bad as Richmond's 2007 season!
The rosters are fairly accurate, the proper stadiums are all in there and there is a ton of depth in team jersey selection. The commentary is better than previous entries but still not the equal of EA and 2k sports where the commentary flows much more seamlessly. The kicking animations however are down-right ugly. A normal drop punt looks like the player is trying to banana or check-side the ball every time and the camera angles just aren't up to it. At the cameras default setting its nearly impossible to tell who is infront of you on a lead or in the open and the end on views made me feel a bit sea sick because the camera refuses to lock on to an end and just keeps washing about whenever the ball changes hands. It seems like the camera is constantly spinning.
My major disapointment with this game is in the gameplay. Its almost broken. From stupid umpiring decisions to overly erratic shots on goal, center clearances and the near impossibilty to play defense. Handballing too is disastrous. On the umpiring, a player can run his full quota of distance without bouncing and then get tackled and its play on or a ball up, occassionally its a free for holding the ball. At other times i experienced taking a mark just outside the goal square (the goal i was kicking to) playing on and just as i ran past the guy on the mark the umpy blows the whistle for running too far!
The kicking is just awkward and takes time adjusting to it. I do like the kicking meter but what was baffling was that any time you run into the fifty or are inside the fifty , if you bomb the ball to the top of the square and get it wrong by kicking too hard, the ball always goes out on the full and not through for a point or a goal. Thats just rubbish.
Center clearances are a total mystery. The game just seems to decide when the opposition is going to win the clearance and goes into an animation where my guy stumbles in the wrong direction whilst the ai takes the ball easily into their attacking fifty normally by taking an uncontested mark and following it up with a goal. I played one game where i scrapped to get back to withing 11 points and then the computer scored 3 quick goals by this clearance method and the quarter ended with me further behind than ever.
This wouldn't be so bad if you could actually defend the ball coming into your defensive 50 but you can't. The ai has players always out in front on the lead and very occassionally if there is a pack you get to punch the ball away. But really, this is an incredibly old and highly persistent problem with IR Gurus AFL games. It makes the game play exactly like net ball. The ai of my team on defense is non existent. Marking is messy. Too many times my guy will be cut off for the mark by the opposition flying across at the last second. Fine, but this doesn't seem to be duplicated by the human controlled team. Overall i would strongly recommend renting this game over purchase. If you can handle the crazy gameplay, good on you. I can't help but think it to be an utter waste of time trying to come to terms with how to get better at a game that is just not user friendly. The controls are far too clumsy, kicking, handballing, marking, ball ups. I am happy that i rented it and i will be very happy knowing i haven't missed anything by not buying it and certainly won't lose any sleep by not playing it.