Rugby League 3 (Wii) Review

The year of 2009 was a great one for sports titles on the Wii. The release of the MotionPlus not only brought us Wii Sports Resort, arguably the most involving party game of the year, but also some added precision in games like Grand Slam Tennis, ...

The year of 2009 was a great one for sports titles on the Wii. The release of the MotionPlus not only brought us Wii Sports Resort, arguably the most involving party game of the year, but also some added precision in games like Grand Slam Tennis, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, and Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage. Others continued to make great use of the Wii Remote’s IR pointer, like Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, FIFA 10, and Madden NFL 10. Now comes Rugby League 3, the latest instalment and first Wii-exclusive entry in Kiwi developer Sidhe Interactive’s NRL series. And naturally, the only Wii functionality it uses is very basic motion control. Pointer control is completely absent from the whole game, leaving it feeling not very much like a game made for the console. This isn’t all that surprising, though, as the developer stated that they were working on the Wii because they didn’t have the budget for HD versions. While this is disappointing, the game still holds up better than I expected, despite some very questionable development choices.

Content isn’t one of those problems, though. On starting up the rather plain menu, you can choose between Quick Play, Competition and Franchise play modes. The lack of a dedicated multiplayer option may be alarming, but each mode actually supports up to eight players at a time, provided you have four GameCube controllers to go with your Wii Remotes. There isn’t any online functionality, however, which is disappointing considering its prevalence in other sports titles for the system. Detailed team and player editors are available, along with the standard game settings and unlocks screen.

Franchise mode is where you will be spending most of your time while alone, and sees you manage (and of course play) a side for up to 12 years. After choosing difficulty and a few other options, you pick the NRL or Super League team and its rep game settings. While the Toyota Cup is selectable in other game types, for some reason it isn’t present here. Unfortunately, it’s around about now that you’ll discover another of the game’s issues. Rugby League 3 was originally set for release towards the end of last year, but was pushed back quite a few months for the start of this year’s NRL season. The problem is that, according to the developers, the last rankings and squad update was made in August 2009. Sports games get outdated quickly enough as it is, and shipping with six month old data only makes it worse. This is somewhat remedied by the fact that the first season is from 2009, but it’s still not ideal.

Depending on your selections earlier, management duties can range from simply playing each match to setting training routines, choosing your squad members, and taking care of player trades. You can even get fired if your side doesn’t perform well enough, which means game over. The lack of IR control really bites in this area; going through the mass of menus gets tiring quickly. Once finished with these tasks, you have the choice of playing the next match for real or simulated. Simulated matches are useful for trying out any changes you’ve made to your side, although choosing to play these does cut down on realism a tad. It’s worth noting that, as with any mode, up to seven people can join in on your games in Franchise play. A side select screen allows each player to decide what team they want to be on, which isn’t limited by any automated balancing.

I’ll get the rest of the play modes out of the way before moving onto actual gameplay. Competition mode is a configurable single season of the game and features a similar interface to the Franchise type. While player trading and training options aren’t present here, it does give you the choice of selecting multiple player-controlled teams. Those just wanting to jump into a game have two options, Instant Action and Single Game, both available in the Quick Play menu; the former randomises the sides and stadium, while the latter lets you set everything for yourself. Curiously, Rugby League 3’s tutorial and control guides are also placed here. A help section would have been much more appropriate.

The real action for the most part works just as you’d expect, providing you can get your head around the controls. I can honestly say they are most complicated I have ever used in a Wii title, and the tutorial system doesn’t do that great a job of getting you used to them with its motion tests. Your choice of controller also makes a big impact on how possible this task is to achieve. Rugby League 3 supports both the Wii Remote on its side and paired with a Nunchuk, as well as the GameCube controller. In yet another odd decision, the Classic Controller isn’t supported at all, which as you’ll see is quite a let down. The Wii Remote on its own is something to avoid, since it’s harder to perform the motions required and misses out entirely on some functions. GameCube controllers look to be the best option – mainly because no motions are involved – but I didn’t have one on hand, so my impressions are based on the middle-of-the-road Wii Remote and Nunchuk combination.

Given this complexity, I won’t go into how each action works, and will instead focus on the major aspects. Rugby League 3 contains three control sets – Attack, Defence, and Freeball – due to the vast difference of approach required for each situation. What remains consistent throughout is basic player movement. In my chosen scheme, the Nunchuk’s analog stick directs the current highlighted player, while holding the C button makes him sprint. Player cycling is done by holding Z and pressing a direction on the stick, but can be a bit tricky to use effectively while defending. Moving on to the Wii Remote, special Strategies, like setting up kicks in Attack or preparing for them in Defence, can be executed with the “-” button by either cycling through with individual taps or combining with a +Control Pad direction to select the one you want straight away. The “1” button toggles the Pull Back Camera, while the “+” button brings up the pause menu, from where you can access interchanges, change options, and (thankfully) look up any controls you may have forgotten.

The Defence and Freeball controls are relatively simple, too. While defending, the C button can be tapped in an attempt to strip the attacking side’s ball, while A conducts a normal tackle. A heavy tackle can also be done with B, but you run the risk of getting a penalty. In Freeball, the A button catches or picks up the ball, with the B button diving for it instead. When A and B are combined, you can set up a kick ahead of time.

It’s only while attacking that the controls start to fall apart. From kicking, to passing, through to special manoeuvres, buttons are usually shared with a motion deciding the end result. For instance, a short pass requires a flick of the Wii Remote in the desired direction, a long pass needs both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk flicked in that direction, while for a dummy pass you must hold Z and flick the Wii Remote. The four kicking methods share either A or B – the field goal is the only type with a button combination of A+B – and need up or down gestures depending on the action. Not to be left out, the Z button combined with a motion triggers two actions. Even if you have a great memory, it’s very easy for a motion to be read in the wrong way, leading to annoying situations like passing the ball into touch by mistake.

However, there is still quite a bit of fun to be had if you can get your head around the controls and don’t mind a bit of frustration when they go wrong. The thrills of intercepting the ball or breaking a deadlock with a field goal are all still there. While the graphics are lacking in some areas (I’m looking at you, crowd), the players all animate quite well, and do have a hint of individuality on top of their very generic models. The game runs at full speed most of the time, and oddly the only times it slows down are when it zooms close to players after goals.

The audio side unfortunately doesn’t fare as well. The same guitar music plays in the menu, at half time, and at full time in the game, which gets mighty annoying after a while. In general the commentary is adequate, but especially around tackles it seems to get quite confused, thinking a player has broken through one when he hasn’t. Probably the only good thing in this area is the use of the Remote speaker, which plays the referee sounds.

Surprisingly, I still left this game with positive feelings. Despite its flaws, the core gameplay does work, and there are oodles of content for those who want to keep at it. It is, however, a shame that it feels more like a broken PS2 game than a Wii title, as with a little more effort this could have been a truly great game instead of merely good. Heavy NRL fans will most likely want to pick this up regardless, but those with only a passing interest should wait for the eventual price drop.