Just a Bunch of Hard Hits

Thoughts on the 360 Demo of Backbreaker:

With Madden having exclusive rights to the NFL license over the past few years, several companies have gotten creative when packaging their pigskin titles. Without an NFL license, it’s hard to do business in the football genre, but that hasn’t stopped numerous companies from trying. Tecmo has re-released classic versions of their Super Bowl franchise, while 2K sports went the Legend route for All-Pro Football 2K8, a solid game that never got a sequel. This, however, hasn’t stopped 505 games and NaturalMotion from producing “Backbreaker,” which, above all else, proves that one cool element alone doesn’t make for a complete football experience.

With the type of physics engine many other games would die for [For instance, imagine a fighting game, where characters actually took their hits super realistically.], “Backbreaker” has top-notch animations and realistic player models. However, that’s about all the game has going for it, as the camera is an absolute mess, while the passing game is comparable to Russian Roulette and the running game feels like playing “Frogger” in a cramped elevator.

While the graphics overall are solid, there’s no reason why the camera has to be so close to the action. Feeling like you’re giving the player you’re controlling a prostate exam, it’s next to impossible to know what is going on around you, making it incredibly too easy for the AI to destroy you using play action. This is even worse considering the fact that because the hit engine is so fantastic that you’ll want to go for the sack every time out.

Even though it’s a problem on defense, it makes the running game on offense a complete aggravation, as it’s extremely hard to see holes in the line, making passing the only real way to score points.

Simply put, the camera alone is enough reason to stay away from this title.

Making matters worse is the control scheme, which virtually eliminates the fun out the passing game. Using the left analog stick, the gamer essentially flicks the stick in the direction he wants to pass. There’s no real way of timing or aiming the ball either, making for a clumsy and fun-less experience.

With all these problems apparent in the demo version, it’s safe to say that if you want a quality pigskin experience on the 360 you’re stuck with Madden or a two-year old All-Pro Football 2K8, which in spite of playing fantastic, looks like a beefed up PS2 title.

Great looking hits aside, “Backbreaker” needs to go see a chiropractor.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14261 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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