Rugby League 2 has areas in which it can be improved, but for an Xbox Original game, its certainly worth its price tag
But I'm sure Rugby League 2 will continued to be played plenty, unless Rugby League 3 doesn't make its way onto the 360 and/or PS3. The game has plently of good and bad points but let's get underway with the good points.
The game features huge updates from its predecessor such as;
Multiplayer feature
More teams
40 stadiums including upgraded ones from the original game
New gameplay features, ball stripping, pass to playmaker etc
10 year franchise mode, including player contracts and the ability to buy and sell players
Huge improvement on the graphics, helped by the special effects team behind 'Lord of the Rings'
The Xbox version of the game also features the following;
Multiple save slots
Shoulder charge, hand-off and sidestep options
Autosave
The 'New Zealand Haka'
The game features a wide range of teams, all teams from the NRL and the Super League. (The game was released in 2005 so the Super League teams feature the Widnes Vikings and the Leigh Centurions in place of Crusaders Rugby League and Hull Kingston Rovers) it also features the Australian State of Origin teams, Lancashire and Yorkshire teams, and 16 National Sides (including England, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand)
So let's kick off the more detailed part of the review by discussing the customizability features of the game. With the game you have the ability to create a player and create a team. The create a player option is fairly basic, giving you the option to change his face, hair, preferred position, abilities etc. While the create a team option is rather advanced, you have the option to choose the teams name and location, their logo, their home and alternate kits and their squad.
Now lets move onto the negative parts of the game. For a start the game features a lot (and I mean a lot) of graphics problems, which is only just acceptable considering it is an original Xbox game. The game also has a series of glitches, e.g if a player catches the ball he will run into touch for no apparent reason, these glitches certainly take a lot of the fun out of the otherwise good gameplay.
Good points about the game;
Wide array of teams, featuring NRL, Super League, Representative and International Teams
Multiple camera angles
Multi-year franchise option with off-season mode
Ability to sign/fire players
Create-A-Team and Create-A-Player option.
Bad points about the game;
Bad graphics
Gameplay glitches
Bad video ref feature
Scores:
Graphics - 5/10
Game play - 8/10
Audio - 6/10
Multiplayer - 6/10
Summary:
7.5/10, some real good gameplay for an Old-School game