"The tackles are different every time. but the horrendous gameplay weighs it down!"
User Rating: 7 | Backbreaker X360
Gameplay: Backbreaker's gameplay is a total flip of a coin! On offense, the controls and up-close camera view are terrible. When passing, the camera focuses on the player that you have chosen to focus on pre-snap. Even though you can switch players on the fly before passing, it is very inconsistent and it feels like you're in a rush. Also, you usually never see the blitz coming until it's too late and this causes sacks to appear way too often! On the defensive side however, the gameplay is much better for many reasons. First off, if you hold down the left trigger, the camera will focus on the action so you'll always be able to see the ball carrier. Plus, on defense, you are able to perform rip, swim, and bullrush manuevers that allow you to sack the QB way too relevant, but work really well! Lastly, if you're in between the ball and the receiver, your defender will automatically swat or intercept the ball, which is a nice touch. However, the kicking meter on special teams is a little too sensitive because when you aim the kick, the camera sometimes abscurs the view of the kicking meter, which is frustrating! The highlight of the game is the use of the Euphoria engine that ensures that every vicious hit will be different! Well, that is 100% true because every tackle that I saw happened on the fly! The controls overall are very arcadey like in the Blitz football series. You use the right stick to pass, juke, and spin, the left stick to move your player, and the a button to showboat towards the endzone. However, what robs the game of realism, the game excludes injuries and there is no player fatigue whatsoever. And online play is completely unplayable at this time!
Presentation: Backbreaker's presentation is also 50/50. On the positive side, the stadiums, players, and crowds look decent enough with the crowd jumping up and down, which adds a little hype to the home team's advantage. But, the presentation is weighed down for several reasons. There are no commentating teams in Backbreaker, just basic stadium sounds and blown whistles, there are no referees on the field, all players look nearly identical besides a very thin pallet of skin tones and generic names, after every single play, you are shown a replay of your previous play, and you cannot turn them off in the options menu either, during every single kickoff, the song "Here Comes the Boom" is played, which gets really reptitve and annoying, and last but not least, there are a total of 56 ficticious teams which gives you a lot of variety, but the teams ratings are terrible, for example one team called the Philadelphia Liberty has a defense rating of just 48, which is so low, you'll get turned off at the sight.
The Verdict: All in all, Backbreaker is an unlicensed, generic football game that's only highlight is tackles! So, because of terrible camera angles, lackluster presentation, identical player models, and online play that has so much lag, you can't even get to the main screen, Backbreaker is a football game that should be tackled to the ground, and injured forever! Only if you can't wait for Madden 11 or NCAA 11 to ship, and you're desperate enough, you should give this one any chance at getting a touchdown!
