Games Thirst – Amazing Life 
Desperate for a respite from the same ole same ole EA keeps spewing out in the form of Madden and NCAA Football every year, we take a turn with the newest football game on the market, Backbreaker.
Let me say first that it is a relief to see more developers taking risk and offering an alternative to the EA football series out there. That being said no matter how much the gaming community may be pinning for some fresh faces in the virtual football genre its not as easy as you might think to get a good alternative. To date the best alternative has been Blitz the league with solid game-play, but ridiculous thug-life storyline that forced its mature rating and limited its audience. Now Natural Motion brings us Backbreaker and unfortunately we are left with the same alternative.
Visuals:
Graphically Backbreakers is not the best but far from the worst and the inclusion of active screaming fans in the background gives a sense of immersion when in at the line. Unfortunately that ends as soon as the ball is hiked and the insane camera feature starts inducing cranial hemorrhaging. If they insisted on using this sporadic camera they should have called the game “Headacher” as that would have been more suitable.
Controls;
All in all the control scheme is quite simple using the 2 analogue sticks one for motion and the other for actions. Although there is some degree of learning curve (the first 10mins I had a tendency to dive on every play by pushing the right analogue forward) once you get the hang of the controls they become workable and have potential if you could just see where you are going.
Sound:
Nothing special generic background tracks and player voices. Somewhat annoying announcers typical of any football game.
Modes:
With a Training Camp, Exhibition, League Creation, Tackle Alley, and Locker room this is where the game shines the most. For the player we have Training Camp and Exhibition and for the coach a fairly in depth League creation system. Tackle alley is a myriad of football mini-games and the Locker room is for all you achievement hoarders out there. Full of pics and vids and bobble-heady type stuff.
Round up:
When RE4 hit the Gamecube the greatest advance was the camera angle, which allowed the player more immersion and freedom than had ever been had in the Survival horror Genre. Maybe that is what Natural Motion was attempting to achieve with Backbreaker but if so they failed miserably. The headache inducing camera in the play modes of this game strips all playability from what looks and feels like it could of been a good alternative to the Madden juggernaut. If the player cant see where the ball is being thrown and runs toward the opposite goal after a hand-off then where is the fun in that. If your tired of EA ball, then I suggest you stick with Blitz the league or maybe some retro Tecmobowl and take a pass on this one.
