Backbreaker, a new kind of Football game.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love sports games. My friends are never hesitant to point out how "they're all the same" or "they're boring" or find any way what so ever to shortchange their value to me. The point remains, that I would rather fantasize about throwing a winning touchdown or scoring the winning goal or throwing the strike-out pitch than I would about shooting somebody in the head or slicing something up with a sword (Though I do love games, like Ninja Gaiden or Legend of Zelda). Pick or chose any of the abundant of overly and needlessly violent video games there are out there. I'd rather play a sports game.

One of the "big" sports games for me is Madden NFL Football. It comes out every year, though I am tempted I don't buy it every year. I am a fan, sure, but I am a consumer and there is just rarely enough improvement from year to year beyond roster and statistical updates, and maybe one or two features to warrant me buying every year. Sometimes though my need to be entertained shines beyond my resistance to spend money.

There is however, finally, an alternative that's coming out that isn't just another attempt to re-invent the way that Football games like Madden are played, this game is taking a whole new approach to the game of football and its one I'm very excited to experience.

The game is called "Backbreaker" It's made from the "Eurphoria" engine which was originally created by Oxford university as a physics engine designed to study the way humans interact with one another physically. The engine has been adapted in this sense to be turned into a football game that focus' on bone crunching "realistic" hits that are more grounded in the way the players interact with each other on the field. Promoting a unique and diverse experience driven by physical interaction and not pre-scripted animations on the field. Here's a video where the developers describe the Euphoria engine.



With the use of the engine, the game promotes a uniqueness that isn't typically found in Madden or other "franchise" football games. Because of the nature of the design, with animations, you're likely to play through scenarios that are familiar and ultimately exploitable. The games, to a degree, become predictable and they can become a bit repetitive but that never really kills the experience for me because when you're playing two or three or more games of any given sport in a single sitting you're bound to experience some form of repetition.

Backbreaker promotes a new way to play football, this is endearing to me. Promoting a more, dare I say, intimate 3rd person angle. The game's focus is to make you feel like you're one of the players on the field as opposed to the more traditional "broadcast" style of gameplay where you oversee all of the action on the field simultaneously. The game is pushing an experience that gives a sense of excitement and intensity with the advantages of the euphoria engine that you wouldn't otherwise get out of a football game.





I'm excited because I'm pretty bored with the same ol' same ol' from Madden. EA has really failed to innovate the game and that's due to EA being EA more than anything. Their pretense is to make money over delivering an innovative product and that's another issue (meant to be discussed on my other blog, more than anything). Backbreaker is an opportunity to get a new experience that isn't driven by $$$ its driven by delivering a game play experience to the fans and that is sadly not EA's priority at all.

Backbreaker is striving to deliver a different experience but the fact that their priority is rooted around delivering an experience as opposed to glossing over the fans with cosmetic upgrades. Backbreaker isn't just striving to deliver an experience, they're pushing to deliver a unique experience that as sports gamers, we have not had the pleasure of having yet. It's not going to be a campy, over the top game like NFL Blitz which was one of my main concerns. It may not have the hyper-authentic imagery that Madden likes to embrace but if the game play is superior that's all I need to hear because that's what it should be about when it comes to video games.

To end this with a mute point about gaming in general. It's sad that too much focus has been laid on the cosmetic aspects of a video game when all that really matters is how it plays. I don't give a shit about how big the main characters boobs are, or how skimpy her outfit is in Heavenly Sword when the game is boring to play.

Backbreaker looks like its going to break some rules and hopefully, open some eyes in the sports gaming world. I just hope the fans are ready to embrace a different type of game play experience. I know I am. I'm really looking forward to it.