AFL Live 2003 Screenshots The Final Say! Gameplay 8.8 Graphics 8.4 Sound 8.3 Value 8.7 ALF Live 2003 - reviewed by Andrew B Review Date: 24th September 2002 Review Score 8.6/10 Distributed By: Acclaim

The AFL GrandFinal is finally upon us and who would of thought that Collingwood and theBrisbane Lions would be the last two teams fighting for supremacy. Not a big fanof both teams? Want to change history? Well then sport fans, your wish has cometrue. AFL Live 2003 is the latest instalment from Acclaim that was developed bya Melbourne based software company called IR Gurus Interactive.  AFL Live 2003has been continually pushed back due to complications but it finally hit the shelves onSeptember 16th, just two weeks shy of the AFL Grand Final. Fortunately, the waithas been worth it as there has never really been a "decent" AFL gameon any console. AFL Live 2003 has the following features; Fully licensed product of the AFL that contain all 16 official teams and guernseys of the AFL Champion Data Statistics (Featuring all the official AFL players) Authentic AFL commentary by Steve Quartermain and Gary Lyon Motion capture by Nick Daffy and Paul Williams to simulate real life AFL players Actual AFL crowd sounds 6 Australian Rules stadiums Day and Nite matches Wet and Dry conditions & tactics and strategy planning by Kevin Sheedy The stadiumsin AFL Live 2003 may seem familiar to you but unfortunately Acclaim failed tosnare an official license for the stadiums. Fortunately for us, all the stadiums arealmost identical replicas to their real world counterparts, such as the MCG andColonial Stadium. The game is based on the current 2002 AFL season and featuresall the AFL teams and their players. Every player in the game is based on actualstatistics from their original clubs, so when you play Nathan Buckley, you areguaranteed that he will perform almost like the real McCoy. I actually playedCollingwood versus the Brisbane Lions and unfortunately for us Victorians, theBrisbane Lions won. This may be a precursor of things to come, only time willtell though. Graphically,AFL Live 2003 for the PlayStation is a mixed bag. Although very impressive, thegraphics seem to lack the lustre that many of the EA sport games possess such asthe Fifa soccer series. The stadiums are well recreated and feature some awesomedetail such as advertising, realistic crowd movements and authentic grass anddirt textures.

The developers have done an extremely well job with theirlighting effects for different times of the day and especially the nite gamesthat show some great shadow effects. Player graphics are fairly realistic and move with fluidity and grace, even though there polygon count isn't as high as the more popular sport games on the PlayStation 2. With over 600 player animations, the developers have done a great job in linking all these moves to the players. The game also contain a variety of different camera angles and the players look extremely good when the camera is zoomed in but unfortunately this mode of play is not too gamer friendly. The best view to play the game is from a distance but unfortunately much of the detail cannot be seen from this view. 

The gameplay of AFL Live 2003 features only four buttons to control your football players. The (Square)/L1 button is used to change players and to evade, (triangle)/R1 is used to sprint, (Circle) is used to handball/punch/jump and X is used to kick/mark/ruck tap and tackle. The Directional Button/Left Analog stick is used to control your players around the field. The power of your kicks is determined by a gauge on the bottom of the screen, the longer you hold the button, the more powerful your kick will be. All in all, the controls come together extremely well and make for some great gameplay.

The soundeffects of AFL Live 2003 feature all the thuds, marks, tackles, kicks and crowdnoises of a real AFL game, so you almost feel as if you are part of somethingbigger. The commentary is done by Channel 10's Steve Quartermain and Channel 9'sFooty Show Gary Lyon. In most places the commentary does sound good but onoccasion a little bland and paused. The theme song for AFL Live 2003 is called "Man or Mouse" and is done by a local band called the Millencolin that really helps set the mood for thissporting title.

Although AFL Live 2003 looks like a finished product, it does contain some software bugs that slowly become apparent by playing the game. Graphically, the game cannot be faulted but does suffer from the occasional frame rate drop and the clipping of players into other players. Another bug that was noticed while testing the game was that if you started the game on the highest difficulty setting, then saved the game after a quarter or so, your difficulty level would be defaulted to easy the next time you returned to play the game. Unfortunately this makes the PlayStation 2 version the poorer cousin of the XBox and PC versions. 

There are three different gameplay modes that include single match, season (22 rounds) and the Finals. If you are looking for multiplayer action, then AFL Live 2003 supports up to two players, so put away your Sheridan football and pick up your Sony PlayStation 2 DualShock controller for some high action sporting fun. It's an ideal way to learn how to play the game and to get a feel for the controls. Unfortunately, unlike the XBox and PC version, the PlayStation version is only limited to two players and not four as other versions.

AFL Live 2003 is the only game on the PlayStation 2 that features authentic Australian Rules Football and contains some extraordinary graphics and gameplay that is sure to make this a winner on the Australia PS2 market. Although the game does contain a number of small bugs, these can be forgiven because of the fun factor of the game. I'd recommend this game to any AFL or sports fan who owns a PlayStation 2 because in the end, it's all about winning.

- Andrew B