Remember Backbreaker? It was that tech demo masquerading as an American football game. In short, it was bad. But developer Natural Motion doesn't want that icky taste to stay in our mouths. It's poised to fix a lot of what is broken, including the camera angles and other QB-related issues, with a patch called "Greathouse" at some point in "early August."
This is supposedly the result of our collective groans. We hit the net, blasting the game for sucking in ways that it never should have, and now Natural Motion is slapping a band-aid on the Euphoria-powered game based on our comments. I guess the proof of this is that the patch itself is named after a fellow that often brought up the game's issues.
"We are lucky to have such a passionate community who have supported us throughout the development of Backbreaker and continue to do so post-launch," head of dev Todd Gibbs said in a statement. "[The patch] will give them what they have asked for, packed as it is with additions, changes, tweaks and requests taken directly from our online forums, reviews, as well as from individual players who spent time at our offices testing the latest features."
== TEASER ==So, what's being fixed, you ask? Here are the "major features" of the patch, a "greatest hits" rundown of the most-broken stuff in the game:
- Brand new replay system with the addition of seven fully functional cameras, including free flight mode and a cinematic 'ball-lock' option.
- More than 100 new plays added, including an additional nine formations.
- Improved Quarterback camera view and passing game.
- A user-catch system, giving the player a much greater level of control over the on-field action.
- Interception control, the user is now given full control over interception attempts when controlling a defensive player.
- Comprehensive review of the penalty rulings following an analysis of reported errors.
If you're curious, you can download the complete patch notes here (via Kotaku), which I find are quite important when considering this story as a whole. Natural Motion, in addition to addressing the QB camera issues, is pumping up offensive lines, making them more than unstable meat shields, and is also tightening QB accuracy and lowering the penalty associated with throwing out of focus mode. On paper, at least, this patch is poised to almost completely fix what made the passing game so bad in Backbreaker.
And the passing game stuff is just the tip of the iceberg. Expect defense and penalty revamps--both genuine sources of frustration for so many NFL enthusiasts who picked up the game--and little things like, for example, the removal of P.O.D.'s "Boom" from every single kick-off.
Here's the question, though: Is this patch enough for those who haven't sold back their titles? We'll see, I suppose. It's interesting, to say the least, to see this level of commitment from a developer after releasing a hobbled football game. Here's to hoping for the best.