James of Vividgamer.com writes:
"There doesn’t seem to be much room in the EA Sports dominated sports genre. Aside from a few 2K titles, there aren’t many developers looking to overthrow EA’s dominance. Of all the franchises under the EA Sports banner, Madden is easily the most recognizable and longest running. NFL 2K and GameDay both fell years ago, and aside from a failed reboot of Midway’s Blitz series, no one has tried to challenge the juggernaut that is Madden. Last year, NaturalMotion released the promising looking Backbreaker football game for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Trailers showed a Euphoria-powered engine producing some of the most fluid animations ever seen in any sports title. Sadly, basing an entire game around an engine failed, and while the game had enjoyable moments, overall it felt very sloppy. Has NaturalMotion fixed their issues with the new downloadable Backbreaker Vengeance?"
With Football season upon us, TechRaptors Robert Grosso tackles one of the best alternatives to Madden from last generation, Backbreaker.
Backbreaker Vengeance is inspired by the sport of American football but ironically, this game is more suited to people who don’t want to play a simulation of the sport than to those who do. The simulation and complexity of American football has been completely stripped away. The gameplay has more in common with Stuntman Ignition, Joe Danger or Trials HD than a fully fledged feature packed simulation like the latest Madden game. The gameplay is so streamlined and focused that you will never even kick or throw a football.
"The price is a little bit steep, but Backbreaker Vengeance is a well made title that will quite easily keep you entertained for a few hours at a time. You won’t get through all of the challenges in one run through, but you’ll certainly return to it time and time again."
Sounds like they at least improved some things but that they still have a ways to go. Kind of disappointing, because it'd be nice to have an alternative to EA for American football, for those who want something different.
Doesn't look bad in the graphics department. I'm sure with enough extra work, they can pull off a really great game that doesn't have Madden in the title. :)
Its a lot of fun but definitely not worth $15.