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AFL Live 2011
It’s been a long time between drinks (four
years to be precise) but for fans of the Australian Football League
(AFL), a new football game has finally hit the shelves thanks to
developers Big Ant Studios. Even though we've seen AFL games before in
the console world, the XBox and the PlayStation 2 were the last
platforms, they were rather ho-hum and were quite basic compared to the
big brand soccer games like FIFA or PES. However with that said, AFL
will unfortunately never be as good as these games due to the budgets of
Australian developers and given the fact that only part of Australia
even plays this sport, let alone watches it. Given that, there is
definitely a market out there for an AFL title. As you probably already
realised by now, AFL Live 2011 is an official licensed product which
means all the official teams, players and stadiums are included in this
game, even the 2011 line-ups. For those gamers that enjoy tweaking, the
game even allows you to create your custom teams so if you want that
mythical Tasmanian team to appear, you've got it. Nonetheless, AFL Live
2011 is finally here, so let's get on with the review!
The amount of interest
in the gaming community for AFL Live 2011, especially in Victoria
Australia has been phenomenal and many gamers were placing pre-orders
well before the title was released. However the big question was could
Big Ant Studios surpass those before them and create a decent AFL game?
The answer is yes and no. While this game is easily the best AFL game to
date, certain elements, especially in terms of graphics and some
gameplay leave a lot to be desired. Fortunately if you are not a
graphics-fiend, the gaming mechanics of AFL have actually been
implemented rather well into the title, however mastering the controls
is not the easiest thing to do. Given that, gamers have access to all
the basics and advanced features of AFL such as passes, handball,
marking, kicks, punches and other classic football manoeuvres.
Compared to FIFA or Pro Evo Soccer, the control system of AFL Live 2011
does feel a little clunky and is definitely not as smooth as these
games. It took me at least a good hour or two and perseverance to keep
on playing to not only master the controls but to read the cues of my
opposing team. Once I understood the game in terms of a console
challenge, everything seemed to fit into place and the gameplay was
considerably better than those AFL games before. But without spending
the initial time to learn the game, you'll find AFL Live 2011 a very
frustrating experience, even with the lowest level of difficulty and
initially I thought the AI was uneven as I was getting the collective
behind of the Geelong Cats handed to me by West Coast which should not have
been possible. But as I progressed and my skills increased, the teams
are relatively well programmed which mirrored last years ladder results
quite well. You also have more control of your players and tactics but
my biggest challenge at the start of the game was trying to get the ball
with my ruckman which was almost impossible. However once I did finally
... after hours of play master the controls and kick my first goal, I
was almost in AFL Grand Final heaven.
The game even contains
interchanges and the game does contain an automated system which allows
for speedier and more fluidic gameplay and allows you to focus more on
playing as opposed to strategy. You can control the interchanges
manually but for me, the programming of the game was accurate enough to
give it full control. Apart from the solo-game modes, AFL Live 2011 an in-depth online multiplayer
(up to four players) which features a levelling type system. However the
best part of multiplayer is local which supports up to 7-players and on
a large TV, this was very entertaining, especially after a few cans of beer and male testosterone. The game even allows you to edit
teams, change player’s statistics and tweak a few other options that has
definitely been made for fans.
There is however some really annoying bugs with this game and a few of
my matches crashed midway through the reason. Add in some weird
graphical glitches that sometimes defy physics plus the fiddle some
camera angles that sometimes pop up here and there. With that said,
graphically the game is rather basic and does not look that nice on a
FULL HD screen, especially when you compared it to other sport games.
The entire game looks rather dated like player movement and the
simplistic backgrounds. Whether it's the basic player faces or the
lacklustre environments, AFL Live 2011 is easily one of the poorest
looking sport games on this console. The menu system, both in-game and
out of game is decent. The soundtrack of the game is annoying,
especially in the menus as you are limited to two songs that play over
and over again... grrr! Then you have the commentary (Dennis Cometti and
Brian Taylor) which is a mixed bag and sounds too forced and disjointed
with its commentators making weird comments or saying things out of
context. Sound effects are also dull.
In the end, AFL Live
2011 may be the best AFL game to date that is unfortunately plagued by
issues that makes the game a rather troubled gaming experience but
hardcore AFL fans will enjoy. Unfortunately for me, the cons far outway
the pros of this game. With a very steep learning curve that will leave
many gamers cursing and throwing their controllers at their expensive
FULL HD TV's, AFL Live 2011 is almost there but not quite. Personally, I
would have loved to have seen a career mode but unfortunately it's just
the bare basics here which makes the title quite lacking. It's a
valiant attempt by Big Ant Studios but for me, I'll stick to soccer or
American football because this AFL game is too complicated and feels
outdated from the get go. But who knows, perhaps with the new patches
and promised DLC, AFL Live 2011 may improve over the coming months...
we'll wait and see! |
