Reviewing The Latest Footy Title, AFL Live 2011 | Thebigtip

It's not often that I dive into the world of video game reviews but on the back of the release of the first AFL game in years, this game certainly deserves a looking at.

The eagerly anticipated AFL title 'AFL Live 2011' is finally out and in stores all over Australia. Big Ant Studios have been working on the new game for a number of years now and with the release, the country can finally rejoice - we have an AFL game designed for PS3 and Xbox 360! Although the game was expected to hit shelves on the 21st of April, the release date was officially broken on the 18th after copies had been sold all over Perth and Adelaide. Not wanting to miss out on the potential sales, big-name gaming stores such as EB Games, JB Hi-Fi and GAME were forced to put the title on shelves as soon as stock came in. Although this is excellent news for Australians (hey, this is the first AFL game since 2007 and that was terrible), the newest release for Australia's biggest sport has somewhat missed the mark.

I bought my copy this afternoon and due to an unfortunate dog de-balling (have you ever seen a drugged up animal stagger around? Quite funny), my AFL Live experience was somewhat delayed. The wait only made the unveiling so much more exciting.

I switched on the game to be met with a brilliantly designed menu. It's very catchy and quite easy to maneuver. Unfortunately there are only two main menu songs that get repetitive very easily but the soundtrack is hardly the focus of the game.

My first match was with my beloved Blues against Fremantle at Etihad Stadium. The first thing I noticed straight away was how polished everything looked. The players looked magnificent and the stadia even better. An exciting environment is created before ball has even been bounced.

Ruck contests are controlled by timely taps of the joystick. As the ball reaches it's highest point, knocking the right stick in any direction knocks the ball into that space for your midfielders to run onto. When players get the ball, it's a delight to be able to handball to your teammates quite easily for the first time in an AFL game. Unfortunately, the art of the handball will be overlooked thanks to how many tackles occur around the ball. Getting a clearance generally involves winning a tackle armwrestle with the AI. It's quite relieving when you're able to find a couple of players in space and boot the ball forward.

Marking the ball inside a player's kicking capability gives you the option to enter set shot mode. In this, the camera pans behind the player as you have a shot on goal. Wind, distance out and the player's preferred foot all play a part in where the ball will end up. This is my favourite thing about the game as the new system means that goals aren't as easy to come by like in previous titles.

An excellent new feature is 360 spoiling which, when in marking contests, allows you to thump away the ball in any direction that you desire to allow for quick counter attacks, taking your opponent by surprise.

Interchange is now simply activated by your DPad. However, if you don't want to have to manually control your interchange, you are given a range of option to select from regarding how often rotations occur.

Online is excellent for this game, as most that play this game are Australian. The experience is as smooth as you're likely to get.

The most drastic new feature in the game, putting it above and beyond all previous AFL titles, is the Footy Factory where gamers can create their own players as well as teams. Although it's an excellent inclusion, there are a few huge problems that will be mentioned later.

By now, you're probably wondering why claim that this game is not quite on the money. Although this game contains some excellent features such as polished gameplay, excellent presentation and an enjoyable environment, the negatives outweigh the positives by far. How far you choose to look into these mistakes made in a base game made by a new developer in Big Ant is completely up to you.

Feature wise, quite easily the biggest negative is that there is no career mode. Although player development and season achievements are recorded, there is no trade week or draft. Changes to each team's squad are completely dependent on the user.

There are very limited options when playing through a season in regards to quarter length. The options of 3,5,10 and 20 minutes leave you with the options of either a quick game (3/5 minutes) or a lengthy game (10/20 minutes). Unfortunately, there is no 'comfortable' game duration.

Team songs are not authentic. Although it's only minor, listening to a cheap knock-off of your club's theme song after you are successful in a close encounter with rival just doesn't give you the same amount of satisfaction.

The AI is stupidly smart. By this, I mean that the AI makes it near impossible for you to get the ball back (on Professional, the third easiest difficulty) but can't kick goals or kick out to save themselves. There's not enough consistency in all part of the ground.

To say the least, the commentary is terrible. You don't notice it after a while when you get absorbed in a really close contest but it is boring. Not only that but irrelevant lines are rolled off. I'm close to turning the commentary off.

Sprinting is pretty much useless when getting away from an opposition player. There is no blazing away from a defender to kick a huge running goal or sprinting out of the backline with the ball tucked under your arm, only a dead heat all over the field. The only notable difference in speed is that of ruckmen who are notably slower. This is great, but why can't the same apply for the faster guys in the competition such as Cyril Rioli or David Wojcinski?

The Footy Factory is an awesome inclusion but unfortunately, gamers won't be able to take full advantage of this great feature. If your team goes over the $7mil. salary cap, they cannot be used online or in season mode but can be used in exhibition matches. Due to a salary cap in place to stop users going online and dominating with an unrealistic team, created teams are limited to the bottom of the barrel players only. What is the point of including an excellent feature only for it to be useless?

Now that I've touched on a few of the flaws, there is one major bug that needs to be mentioned.

If you're a fan of Carlton, St. Kilda, North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs or West Coast, you're about to be let down. Due to an unexpected error in the game, some games in each team's season cannot be played to completion with the option to continue post-match. Instead, the game freezes. This means that you are unable to play through a full season with each team without simulating. Translation - if you're interested in getting trophies or achievements for playing full seasons with your preferred team, you will not be able to until a patch is released. If you are not able to access PSN or Xbox Live then this is quite unfortunate

On top of that, poor old Jack Darling has unfortunately been named 'Jeff Darling', kicking out after a behind registers as a disposal (which is incorrect) and when someone quits online it does not count as a loss to them and a win to you.

Overall, I give this game a 6/10. It looks great and feels great but there are far too many bugs that turn me off from it. If they are to be fixed, I'd give the game an 8/10.

If you're juggling between whether to invest in this game or not, I would certainly recommend that you pick up a copy. No, the game is far from perfect, but as far as an AFL experience in a video game goes, this is the best that we have ever had by far. The best thing about this game is that there is something that you will discover and absolutely love, as I have with the set shot mode. When playing an actual match, I have never been irritated by what has happened on the field as far as development goes. Sure, there are bugs with the game in other areas but as far as gameplay goes, which was the major focus of this game, it is splendid. Hopefully a patch is release very soon to fix up a few errors that were left undetected.

Pick up a copy and have a bit of fun with the game. You'll find that although it is far from perfect, the game will suck you in as previous AFL titles have done.