Pre-Purchase Rugby 15

There are a lot of negative comments on here and mostly people are spot on with their take on the game. However, at its core, Rugby 15 is a FUN game. Sure it has its problems but if you can look past a few minor missing elements you will find a rugby game with loads of potential and hours of replayability. The game is not perfect by any means yet in some strange way, thats what makes it so unique and fun to play. Its unpredictable at times, the AI cannot be so easily figured out, as with many other Rugby games. There are plenty of licensed teams and competitions to choose from, though I would like to have seen at least one licensed competition from the southern hemisphere.

I'm still hopeful that HB studios will fix a few minor problems in the coming months. Until then do yourself and the rugby loving gaming community a favour and pick this game up.

There is one reason to get this game. HOPE! there is a hope inside of me since rugby 08 that one day there will be a good rugby game again. clearly this game was released too early, but i HOPE that they will patch it and keep improving it.if enough people buy this game, they will release a game every year, and keep improving it every year. the basics are done, now they need to improve the details, and this could be a great game, but as i said, this game is not a finished game. pls hb studios, read this, and take it to your heart, as a true rugby fan, i have been waiting for many years now. i just want one good rugby game after rugby 08. just one! i know you have the tecnology, and i hope you get the money (you already have mine) so please please make this a good game, and just keep patching it as the money comes in, and you can release a game every year just like fifa does!

My first impression is that the graphics for this game are very poor. To me it's like they used fifa 06 player models. I expected better, I mean hb studios had something to do with madden right so why couldn't they give us better player models? Only 2 camera views. Really? End on and side on with no zoom or other settings!! Not great.

In terms of gameplay the controls are fairly smooth and it does play well, certainly less button mashing than other rugby games of the past. Having only just started playing it is just an initial impression, I found it easy enough to do the basics at least.

The game lacks the customisation options I think. You can change players names and heights and positions but I can't seem to find where you can change their appearance, maybe I am missing something or team names either. Also the super 15 squads are completely different from the international squads so it is hard to know if you changed a player's name in super rugby, whether its the same player in an international team.

So far I am 50/50 on this game. It seems a little juvenile for an HD quality game (stuck at least 4-5 years ago in respect to Graphics and models). Certainly with all the mods and customisation and player modelling RC2 seems to be the better game honestly, although the gameplay is actually quite good. If they could improve the player models then this game would be better. Unfortunately we suffer again when it comes to rugby games

Passing is floaty, players run faster than the ball moves through the air. The defensive line thus moves up faster than you can pass the ball, and you can only hit players flat footed passing from the ruck. The AI is atrocious, no Southern Hemisphere player names or real teams, there is no forward pass rule and in general it is a mess, barely playable and rarely fun.

Rugby 08 was an awesome game to begin with. They then brought out World Cup 2011 which was basically Rugby 08 upgraded to almost HD gfx and with online play. With the this next iteration they threw the baby out with the bath water. The graphics are worse, there's no online multiplayer and most importantly they changed the whole physics and game mechanics, which was was actually what stood out for me. It felt like you were in control of the players, which is not the case with Rugby 15. I just can't believe that someone can put this game out there and charge $36 for it. Probably my own fault. They didn't show any gameplay footage before launch. Also, this game was supposed to be delayed till January and was released in November anyways. This is a testament to how bad the game really is. This game is full of bugs, does not play smoothly and the AI is really bad for a game that has no online play.

I feel very mislead by this game. The graphics are extremely poor which I could probably deal with if the physics and gameplay weren't terrible as well. Rugby 08 was a great game and this is what is confusing, rugby 15 is literally the opposite. I should of avoided this game based on the fact that there was not any official gameplay videos pre-release, only a theatrical trailer. I honestly don't understand why the developers would release this game. It's an insult to the gaming community and the rugby community! If you are on the fence about buying Rugby15.....do not buy it, the developers don't deserve another cent.

This is one of the most offensively bad games that I've ever played. If they were asking for £5 then fine, I'll take that but £34.99?

Have a word with yourselves please.


Oh and for the love of Christ, please never use the Unity engine in a high priced release again.

This game is bad. More importantly - just like RWC 2011 - it's not fun.

I'm torn between recommending this game so that the developers can consider patching it OR not recommending it because it seems like they didn't care in the first place.

I've played almost every Rugby and Rugby League game, I buy them (on the consoles) in support of the games and hopefully that it will generate enough support to keep them going.

I played this with the xbox 360 controller.

Let's start on the Passing.
The ball physics operate, where the ball seems it's pumped with half oxygen and the other half helium.
When passes are made - it's almost too easy to pick out where the ball will be received. Unfortunately, the collision detection (or player detection) is at stage where even if you are in a prime position to intercept (which is all the time) you still won't receive the ball.
It has a single pass button only. Whereas previously, it was a 2 button pass option (left button = pass left, right button = pass right). This is a horrible development because you lose the ability to direct players and have players run off the ruck.
"Apparently" if you hold the pass button and release, the pass will skip the player next to the ball carrier - this happens occasionally. It's a lucky dip.
You can use a thumbstick to highlight the receiver and pass it to them, which is a good innovation but requires some fine tuning.
The games ability to judge forward passess has gone backwards from the previous itinerations. (i'm talking about Rugby 08 and RWC 11)

The Kicking.
All kicking in general play (grubber, chip and chase, punt and bomb) has a power indicator (which shows how much force you're using) BUT no directional indicator. This means you have to GUESS where your kick is going to go.
When kicking to start play (22 Drop out, Kick restarts) you can move the player in the direction of where you want to kick, but it will only highlight the player (and move him in the direction) and not the direction of the kick.

Rucks
They've streamlined the ability to win the Rucks and simplified the process, however, they have moved away from one of the challenges of adding and removing players from the ruck. There is NO ability to add a player to ruck. Everything is done automaticly and then you are required to toggle your thumbstick to battle your opponent to win the ruck.

This mechanic is used again for Scrums and Mauls.

I could go on - (especially about the A.I., Gameplay in general, Offensive and Defensive moves etc) - but most of it would be negative.

The positives are that the screens are clean. It's visually a pretty game. The money spent on something like Madden vs this make it a no contest. BUT for what it is - it's definitively a graphical improvement over the last few itinerations.

To be fair, I don't really care about the licensing, I don't care which teams feature - I believe that if a fun game is made, and has alot of depth in the gameplay itself - then everything else is a low priority.

In alot of ways, had this game been made in early 2000 - it would've been the greatest Rugby game ever.

It wasn't and it's not yet close to being a good rugby game.

This game has no depth, it's not fun to play by myself or even with others.
Maybe some patching will fix some of the issues.

In writing this - I've decided to NOT recommend the game.

I have been looking forward to this game for ages and I would like to recommend it but the negative points spoil the enjoyment. I really hope they can patch the gaming mechanics.

POSITIVES:-
Nice menus
Good level of customisation
Good frame rates / slick play (perhaps too fast)
Good player animations
Good rucking mechanic
Really like the new passing system
CPU gives away pens too

NEGATIVES:-
The place kick mechanic is utter crap. Can't get more than 15% power. Should be more like Tiger Woods golf swing rather than the awkward flick forward.
When passing back to the fly half from a maul or rick, the fly half ALWAYS gets tackled before he can kick it. Kills the ability to play a territorial game as you have to run everything.
When chasing a player and you attempt a dive tackle, the animation kills any momentum and the player just drops to the floor.
No method of changing pace/sprinting.
Poor selection of camera views. Should ideally zoom in and out when kicking to touch.
Graphics are poor quality.

If you like Sport Games you maybe like this Game, its not RC or RC2, Graphic looks bad but Gameplay makes fun, I like playing this game more then I played on RC2.

Price for 36€ (with -10%) is a way too expensive in my eyes and I would waite for at least 40% or 50% Sale, so like
25-30€ is a good price. Sadly RC2 never was on Sale, and also was removed but it was set too 40€ on Steam and worth the money more then Rugby 15, because you realy have a nice Tutorial Mode and its easy to learn for beginners in RC2.

Controller support at the moment is broken, I`m using a XBox360 wireless Gamepad and have no problems.

There is no tutorial just a Screen who tells you what you have to press, its not realy enough but you learn it very fast if you play a friend match.

There is no Multiplayer, but since RC2 was unplayable Online because there was no peoples Online its not a realy contra. If you need one then thing about before you buy this game.

Language can`t be changed, if your windows is english and you like to play in another language you can`t. I wanted to play this game in german but I cant, my Steam Client and Windows are set to english so there is at the moment no way to change that for me.

As a new rugby enthusiast, I enjoy this game. The gameplay mechanics are sound and exemplary to other games. The controls are mostly handled with analogue sticks and you don't worry about button combinations. The flow of the game is nice as well. Despite lack of a proper tutorial mode, I was able to pick up the basics after a couple of games.

i would love to recommend this game unfortunetly it just dosent play right....passing is awkward and can go anywhere, can only kick in the direction your facing....very dissapointing

Rugby 15 is actually an ok game. Graphics look pretty bad as well but gameplay is pretty good. is it worth $36 ? nope, should be lower than that may be $20. The game though is fun but you can't play ONLINE.

Should you buy the game ?
Yes but when the game is on sale

Hopefully they release updates soon to improve the game.

Update :
After playing on hard, the problems actually stand out.
-Bad A.I
-When attacking, players move when they just get the ball. they never run onto the ball like real rugby players.
-sometimes when i pass the ball to another player, that player just keeps moving forward until he gets tackled. I can't move the player , he just keeps running forward ! and It happens quite a lot which is frustrating.

This game was definetly pushed out of the door too quickly and its overpriced. Can't believe on console it costs $80 !
-

A quick summary, If you are looking for an arcade style rugby game this is the game for you. It's very fast pace however feels unfinished. A lack of quality in gameplay and attention as well towards the graphics really makes this game a sight for sore eyes. However, the idea of the game is good and I hope there is plenty of updates in the future to fix th bugs in game. Would of been nice if there was replays and a couple of different stadiums as looking at the same ground everytime really gets a bit boring. Also the price is a rip off, def worth £15 but not £30... especially something which feels incompleted.

Worth a go when reduced but I wouldn't buy it in this state at £30

I really like this game. The controlls are really good (I'm using a xBox 360 controller), no button-smashing like in other sport games. The sound is very good and makes a great atmosphere.
The graphics are okay, what points on the negative score is the lack of replays. Because of that the game becomes sometimes (especially at foul situations) very quick and confusing, just like real Rugby :D
Sometimes a player tackles the air but thats okay for me, overall the animations are not on top but good enough for me. Some people complain about the lack of an online mode, multiplayer would be nice for a sequell but its no dealbreaker for me. Sport games are best played as local multiplayer with a friend sitting on the same couch. But thats just my opinion.

As a summary i would say its a good game with potential upwards. The biggest pros are the great atmosphere and the controlls. If you not a next gen-graphics-fetishist you got a good solid rugby game here. And this type of game is unfortunately rare. I hope the devs sell enough copies to make a sequell.

The visuals are unbalanced to say the least. On big screen you can actually see details like players breathing. On regular screens you will have problems to see what's actually happening in the game. All these problems come from the game's static camera. You can only choose from left-right or up-bottom. The second choice is useles, because the camera spins every time ball changes possesion to make you lose your last meal. When it comes to feeling from watching the game when not playing it, there are more entertaining sports games from a decade ago.
What do I like about Rugby 15 is the game flow and most of the controlls. Yeah, and the fact that it's a pc rugby game I've been waiting for some couple months.
However, the bigger is the disappointment. It is impossible to properly aim drop goals and punts to gain territory. Players just kick the direction they're facing. And if an opponent runs towards them, they will stop kicking to lose the ball in a knock-on. Avoid hitting the control "A - release useless kick" especially after winning a ruck.

I'm recommending this game to support it's designers in developing a patch to fix the issues. I'm okay with some player suddenly disappearing, but the camera and kicking has to be fixed. Get more budget and make a new release, please! This could seriously kill the series.

Fun Gameplay, but dissapointing graphics... We were warned by the makers that it was only a base for futre games and if you look at it in that respect this is a very promising game.

No Game Pad recognition,
no ability to choose team with keyboard,
thus no rugby.

Not the perfect rugby game, but certainly a very fun gameplay experience specially on versus games.

for s start, i cant even start a match