Don't expect too much and you'll have fun with it.
People unfamiliar with Rugby have a lot of strange ideas about the game. People from certain countries will rattle on about Madden NFL games or Fifa Football games and then react to Rugby as if it's some obscure sport. To set the record straight Rugby is a hugely popular global sport and also now an Olympic sport. I think in many cases people need to expand their minds and look outside their geographical borders and actually find out what the rest of the world plays. But enough sabre rattling.
To start out I want to say that Rugby World Cup 2011 isn't a bad game. I've read a lot of bad reviews but I can tell you from experience that the core mechanics and game play are actually really consistent and solid. I would even go so far as to say the game is a lot of fun. Don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed.
The d-pad interface for selecting plays on the fly works well and the player animations are smooth. As far as game-play is concerned I have no complaints. It's simple, but it works.
It reminds me very much of the world cup Rugby game released by 'Swordfish Studios' back in 2003. In fact it's just like that game in a lot of ways.
So now that I've told you that the game is solid and fun and plays well it's time to also tell you where it falls short.
Firstly, I like the official world cup graphics and the theme music brings back misty happy memories of the mighty 'All-Blacks' winning the cup.....but....The 'New Zealand All-Blacks' or the 'Australian Wallabies' don't appear in the game....ANYWHERE. That's right..the host team doesn't appear in it's own world cup game.
I understand why that is. The makers (505 games and HB studios) didn't get the licence to the major teams in the world cup. They were beaten to the punch by the makers of the competing game 'Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge'. (called 'All-Blacks Rugby Challenge' in New Zealand and 'Wallabies Rugby Challenge in Australia).
This must have been a total disaster for the makers of this game but it wasn't necessarily a deal breaker. A lot could have been done to remedy this and a few things were done but it wasn't enough in my opinion. My team (the New Zealand All-blacks) aren't supported in this game but you can go back and edit the player names. That's nice I guess but you have no control over player appearance.
To give you an example I immediately re-named the First Five Eight (called a Fly Half by northern hemisphere teams) player to Dan Carter but the corresponding player has blonde hair and looks nothing like 'DC'.
Even if they didn't have the licence how difficult would it have been to give the players even just a passing resemblance to their real world counterparts. However I get the feeling that even the players they actually had licences for don't look much like the real players.
You wont see any close-ups of players as they score points in replays. This is because the makers spent very little time on player models. Aside from the game being in HD this game could easily have been for an original xbox or ps2.
It doesn't look bad, just basic.
On the positive side I think that being able to chose your commentary team is a brilliant idea. I really like that. Naturally I always choose Sean Fitzpatrick / Greg Clarke audio. Players can choose the official French or Italian commentary too. There is also a UK commentary team but I've always found that British rugby commentators have a knack for making exciting things sound dull.
The commentators never mention player names but maybe that's a bonus. I'm sure we all can recall games where player names are inserted badly into audio with the wrong pitch or intonation (as if 'Steven Hawking' suddenly decided to become a sports announcer).
There are some startling omissions and inclusions in the game. The stadiums sort of look like the real ones but not convincingly. The big jumbo screens in the stadium are frozen on a static image of the pitch which I thought was lazy.
They included Christchurch in the world cup stadiums and while it's nice to select Christchurch it depresses me at the same time. I'm from Christchurch. The stadium was destroyed in February of 2011 by massive earthquakes that killed hundreds and injured thousands. Considering this game wasn't released till mid 2011 maybe they could have removed Christchurch. I'm still in two minds about that. They omitted the amazing new Dunedin stadium all-together which stuns me. There seems no sense to that.
Some key elements of the world cup are also missing. The stirring entry music and the ceremonial sounding of the Maori horn that began each game are both missing.
The 'Spanish Horn' that was sounded at each kick-off is missing.
The New Zealand Haka, the Tongan sipi tau and all of the other pre-game challenges are missing.
In fact just about all of the elements that defined the Rugby World Cup of 2011 are missing.
As it stands this game is a solid and enjoyable Rugby game but it has to be said that it's also an easy cash-in with minimal effort put in in many areas. I have no doubt that a lot of effort was put into game-play, so why did they stop short when it came to the important little things that defined the world cup.
Probably money and time. Perhaps they were a little miffed at losing the team licences that really mattered but that's no excuse. I don't have an issue with the fact that no provincial sides and competitions are included. This after-all was a world cup game. There are still a few game modes to choose from aside from the world cup such as 'Warm-up Tour', exhibition games and a pointless but mildly amusing goal shoot out.
To be honest I'm happy that the other game (Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge) got those licences. That game is deep and detailed with fantastic graphics and full team support including not only the international teams but the small provincial sides all with insanely accurate team kits. In contrast the team kits and uniforms in 'Rugby World Cup 2011' are woefully inaccurate.
To sum up I still don't think this is a bad game. I do enjoy playing it and ill continue to play it. For me it's a nice souvenir to a great world cup. To be honest I'm really more interested in getting into 'Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge' which turned out to be the definitive Rugby game of 2011, but like a lot of great games it's kept its value and is still relatively expensive.
I bought 'Rugby World Cup 2011' because it's now been reduced to a good cheap price since the end of the world cup. I don't regret that purchase. I will continue to play and enjoy this game until the other game, 'Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge' comes down in price.