It's fun, and probably the best Rugby game available right now - but is still far from the digital representation of the sport we fans crave. Fortunately, an abundance of tournaments, couch co-op and the Be a Pro mode provide plenty of replay value.
It’s hardly the spiritual successor to Jonah Lomu Rugby that we have all been (patiently) waiting for, but despite its issues and its relatively budget presentation, Tru Blu Entertainment’s, Rugby Challenge 3 stands comfortably as the best virtual recreation of the sport this generation and a perfectly enjoyable rugby video game in its own right.
This game is probably the best you will get in new generation consoles , still not as Good as Rugby 08 but worth the money if you have been waiting for this.
Treat this game like fifa not a huge change between this and rc2 but with the new modes such as be a pro and rugby sevens this is a must own for rugby fans on the next gen consoles. Licensing isn't a problem either as the fan-hub has all the teams in the world for you to save and use in single player or online.
Jonah Lomu RC 3 is the right choice if you want to play rugby on new generation consoles, even if several faults stop it from getting amongst the leaders in sports simulations games. Conversion fail.
This is my favorite rugby game since Rugby 08 by EA on PS2. I did not play RC2, so I don't know if this feels like a rehash, but the gameplay is solid. The visuals are decent, although player likenesses are terrible. Audio is really unfortunate. I wanted rugby game that played well, so I'm happy with it.
After almost 3 yrs since it's release, Rugby Challenge 2 is now on next gen consoles. Well, apart from a couple of minor add ons and extra modes that's pretty much what it is. I want to give a fair assessment on this my experience with this game so far.
The added game modes give this some extra playability. Sevens, Be a Pro and Fan Hub are all great additions to the RC series.
Sevens is a faster paced game with high scores due to the amount of runaway tries that are scored in this form of the game. The rucks are faster and quick turnovers keep you on your toes. You may want to change the match time to 10 mins instead of the default 14 otherwise expect a good 90 or so points to be scored which is pretty ridiculous. Even on 10 mins I beat Australia with France 89-14 in a cup final. Granted I was playing on normal but that's just stupid.
Be a Pro is pretty much the standard in any sports game now where you start in the lower leagues and work your way up through the ranks as a single player. Good concept however these modes are always hit and miss due to the fact that you also have to rely on the AI team mates to play well or it can get pretty frustrating and slow.
Fan Hub is a great addition as it allows you to download teams and players created by other users that reflect current 2016 rosters across both international and club squads. This is handy due to the fact that the licensed teams in this game have 2015 squads and non-licensed are pretty much made up. you can go to the customise section and actually link these downloaded teams to the actual competitions in the game. Only downside here is you can only have 30 downloaded teams stored at one time.
The animations are pretty good however they still have the same pre-determined ones between attacker and defender that doesn't change whether you are in play or over the try line. e.g. You could be running for a try and the defender gets to you just as you get there only for your player to try to high-step out of the tackle and run straight out all while you are mashing buttons to try and get your player to simply ground the ball for a try. On the other hand you could tackle someone straight onto their back in goal and it's still a try. the next time they are tackled and fall forwards, clearly grounding the ball, and the ref will go to a video review. Passing can be frustrating. If you want to draw and pass make sure you send the ball early otherwise your player will start the tackle animation when they get within a few metres and the pass will more than likely fall short of your intended player. If this happens or the pass goes to ground for any reason you will more than likely see the the player that was supposed to receive the ball simply stand and watch it roll past them to allow the opposition to try and pick it up or it simply rolls into touch.
Offloads in a tackle often get called forward only to be shown clearly back in the replay. Also, no manual replay feature.Only the auto replay for tries, forward passes etc.
95% of lineouts aren't straight by miles but will only get called if it's due to you not getting the marker in the little blue area on the throw. This gets unnecessarily faster with harder game difficulties whereas the goal kicking system is much easier while using almost the same system. Why can't kicking just get harder the further from the posts you are and leave everything else alone? So simple.
I didn't expect this game to be miles ahead of RC2 in gameplay but to see no improvement at all and if anything more bugs was really disappointing. I've been fended off by a player who then ran into touch as a result only for them to get the lineout throw. I was given a 22m drop out from the 45m. If a player throws a dummy while you are chasing them down your player will fall for it and hesitate even though the dummy is thrown over their head to no one and usually towards the sideline. There's no lifting on the kickoffs. It's just about hitting X a bunch and hoping you win the 1 on 1 jump contest (if your player responds and jumps). Last time I checked lifting happens on every real rugby kickoff, even most times in Sevens.
Online is horrible. Played one game, had full connectivity with the opponent and it was still really glitchy.
Overall the game does not justify a 3 year absence. New game modes add value however nothing else has changed since RC2. I just don't find it fair to the community that wait years for these games in hope **** that reflects the changes we've all been calling for yet only to be hugely let down again and again. I'm also sick of seeing them test it out with actual pro players to make it look better than it is so the rest of us that have to pay for it go and spend $90 or trade in games towards an overpriced and severely outdated product. I gave this a 6 simply because I feel like I'm actually just scoring the original RC from 2011 just with newer players, some more game modes and it's now in HD.
After 350+ hours in RC2 this game could have been so much better with a few minor improvements. The only bug fix I've seen so far is the advantage ruling plays out a little more like real rugby.
All the glaring issues in the gameplay still exist. Lineouts are terribly buggy online, place kicking has been made so simple even on the hardest mode.
Graphically the framerate is smooth but the 2011 player models and animations look dated.
The developers must have just sat on their hands for the most part. All they've done is added some new players, a lackluster sevens mode and made a new logo.
I'm still going to play it however. It still functions like RC2 and the online community will hopefully stick around for a while.
Rugby Challenge 3 isn't a fitting name, it's just Rugby Challenge 2.1
After such expectation and delays, I was expecting to find the rumours that they were updating the squads to include the sun wolves and Jaguares in super rugby to be true. What else could delay the release of a seasonal game by an extra year. To load the game and see teams from a whole season before (2014/15 teams after the 2015/16 season) was a dissapointment. Also ratings had barely changed whatsoever and now you can't edit the players already on the game only created ones. Therefore as a Tigers fan. Manu Tuilagi at 70 rating is a joke.
In terms of difficulty, the hardest one 'pro' isn't hard at all just the game almost tries to make you lose. It's tough but for the wrong reasons. Contests in a ruck for you don't work 95% of the time but for the opposition your players will stay away from the ruck to give them time to steal it from you. Also when I say tough, I mean tough if you haven't got an agile winger. The worst team can win by just passing to your winger and stepping the full back and sprinting in 7 times in a game making it unrelatable to the actual more physical style of rugby.
However the game does have improvements. Sevens is interesting for a time before you realise how easy it is to score and it becomes boring. Online mode is actually playable for once but there is no sevens match,asking which is the only way to get a decent match in the mode. Be a pro is also good but your team is frustratingly useless and unless you increase the match time to almost real 80 minutes, most games will end 7-0 because your team cannot score and their team cannot score. U less you get a yellow and in ten minutes the score goes from 0-0 to 24-17 and then doesn't change.
In my view it is a half arsed attempt at hiding the fact they haven't really done anyhting to gameplay or actually updated teams by adding new features. I literally will beg that they re release RWC 2011 again because since the classic '08 apart from rugby challenge it's been **** and even rugby challenge is starting to lose its entertainment value.
a Game we all waited for with high expectations, what we got was huge disappointment. It almost felt like they had the right ideas, but not the passion or rugby knowledge to actual convert it into a good rugby game from its predecessor Rugby Challenge 2. Great licenses,but all the teams are outdated, a great editor, but frustrating. Gameplay, it feels half, uncompleted, reminds me of Rugby 15, it is filled with flaws. Gameplay wise it also contains various problems, like players always out of postion, it does bring the question if the creators actually understands rugby and how it works? Teams and licenses wise its OK, far from great, gameplay wise its and understudy to Rugby World Cup 2015 which in itself is also a game filled with flaws. Rugby Challenge 3 is the most frustrating rugby game you will play in your life after Rugby 15. Do not waste your money, dont have any hope that you'll have more than an hour's fun of playing this disaster.