Review: Rugby 18 (PlayStation 4)

Rating: 7
Author: Jim Smale

by Jim Smale · October 27, 2017

Jump into the roles of the official players from the most prestigious teams and championships of the 2017-2018 season.

Pros:

Decent graphics.
5.14GB Download size.
Platinum trophy.
Gameplay is um surprise surprise, Rugby!
Optional tutorial section, A match boots up straight away and has some pop-ups but you can quit out.
A replay of try scores.
Quick match-Local, Online and random.
League- Aviva, Top 14, Pro 14 and Pro D2.
Trivia on loading screens. Earn bonus stars.
My squad- Create four unique squads. Uses collected stars to get better players.
Weekly challenge.
Stars- Earn them from playing games and answering trivia questions correctly.
Game options-Length, Difficulty, Injuries, Sending offs, Fatigue, Knock-ons, Advantage, Offside and tutorial pop-ups.
Full commentary team.
National teams.
Game time lengths- 5,8,10,15,20,40 and 80.
Day and night.
Three difficulties- amateur, Semi-pro, and pro.
English/French commentary language.
Easy controls.
Rucks- Easy to pick up. A circle appears to show both teams influence in the ruck, Add more players to increase yours then you can pass the ball out or run yourself or kick.
Can do moves like kicks and fakes.
Captures the feeling of playing a rugby game.
Three camera settings- Player, Away team or home team perspective.
Clean minimal UI.

Cons:

Sluggish pace.
Stop-start all the way through.
Goes for the Fifa aesthetic and doesn’t quite nail it.
The actual atmosphere with the crowd and everything feel dull and lifeless.
Some horrible animations.
Inconsistent difficulty.
Spend most of the game in rucks.
Very basic game modes.
Kicks after the try are really hard to judge thanks to a poor aiming arrow.
Ruck minigame soon becomes the game as its always there and really does start to grind.
Your players get tackled far too quickly and consistently.

The Numbers:

7/10

Graphics - 7/10
6/10

Sound - 6/10
8/10

Accessability - 8/10
7/10

Length - 7/10
7/10

Fun Factor - 7/10

7/10

Summary

Not the biggest Rugby fan, to be honest, The game just feels sluggish to me and too much stop starting. Here I spent 80 percent of every game just in rucks and occasionally getting lucky with decent runs. I mean looking at it from another view I would say it does capture the feel of Rugby and does look alright but it tries so hard to copy the presentation of Fifa and Madden that it irks you more than it impresses you. That said the Rugby game market is bare and the game does play like Rugby but it just lacks any wow factor and major draw to keep you coming back. In short, this is for Rugby fans and if you didn’t like Rugby before this game, You probably won’t change your mind after playing it. Constantly getting tackled before you even have the ball, Constantly playing the ruck mini-game will grind any player down. Maybe Rugby is just one of those sports that is hard to recreate as a game experience?