Yet again, more of the same!
So considering they have the audacity to give us the one finger salute and charge us a heap for the privilege and couldn't come up with anything new for the 2007 version of the the game, I couldn't be bothered coming up with an updated review of the 2007 version as everything I said about the game still stands. READ: IT'S RUBBISH!
So here is my review of AFL Premiership 2006, trust me it's the same as last year, just with more bugs. (HOW CAN THERE BE MORE BUGS!)
AFL football is a great game. BUT, not great enough to warrant a good game from a more competent developer it seems..
IR Guru's have been developing these games for quite a while now, firstly for Acclaim, and for Sony since Acclaim went belly up.
When it was announced that Sony brought the rights to the series, I was hoping they would bring in a new developer to "freshen" the series. Sadly this was not to be the case.
AFL Premiership 2006 is yet another stab at an AFL game by Australian developer IR Gurus. You would think that by now they would have ironed out all the bugs in the game, so I excitedly brought the game on release day, loaded up my PS2, got excited by the great into and that's it.... Sadly, this edition of AFL 2006 is nothing revelatory, merely more of the same....
Sure the game does have some good features.
- Official teams, player rosters etc.
- The stadium graphics on the game are improved on previous years. They're not up to the standards of an EA Sports title, but they are much better than previous incarnations.
- The AI is slightly improved on the game compared to previous years. There still is room for improvement, but they are getting there.
- Season mode has been improved somewhat compared to previous editions, but there is still a lot of room for improvement here, it still feels clunky and more variables need to be integrated into this mode.
Sadly though the game has more negative points than good ones.
- Bugs & glitches in the game are still apparent... They really detract from the overall game.
- Game tactics are still rubbish.
- The look and feel of player animations are still average.
- The Audio still sucks, commentary is still a cut and paste affair
- The controls are still iffy. They're a little smoother than the previous editions, but still far from perfect.
- Crappy season stats.
AFL Premiership 2006 is just not a game I can recommend.. Not for a $79.95AU retail. Sure it's the best version available out there, but that's faint praise as all previous versions have been just as bad or worse (read:sucked).
There is nothing recommendable about this game. Sadly, we AFL fans have been short changed yet again. If the game was retailing at a $25-$30 price point, it's bugs and finicky game play would be easier to swallow. But at this price, it's expensive way to beta test a product.. It certainly feels like that after all these editions so far with so many problems.
The best thing that can happen to the AFL gaming franchise, is a different AFL game from another developer. Because sadly while this remains a one horse race, there will be no real innovation in this series, which is a sad thing for the AFL fan.
Until then the best advice I can give is, rent the game first. If you like it, buy it.. But like the previous editions. AFL2006 doesn't have a long term playability factor...