Cert: 3+
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3
Genre: Sports
Release Date: 26/10/2010
Watch The Trailer

When it comes to American Football games, EA pretty much rule the world. Their exclusive NFL licence and the selling power of the Madden name means for years the only real option for fans has been the annual release of Madden & NCAA games. Developer NaturalMotion have pinned their hopes almost entirely on their Euphoria engine and its ability to generate tackles as they happen, to give the game a sense of realism. 

This is really shown off in Tackle Alley, a mini-game where you try and run the length of a pitch for a Touchdown, as the AI sends steadily increasing waves of defenders against you. The game really shines here, from the close-in third person perspective where you can feel every collision, and dodging, spinning and stiff-arming your way to another touch down is always satisfying. 

But where the Camera makes Tackle Alley great, it hurts the rest of the game. The close in camera means you can't see the pitch, making any kind of co-ordinated defense a joke. At times it feels a bit like potluck whether you stop a play or not. Offense is handled better, the passing game is another area where the camera aids play, zooming in close on your Quarterback while you search for an open receiver. The camera lets you down on rushing plays, you can't see what's going on around you properly, and you just endlessly run into one realistic tackle after another. The controls are generally intuitive but occassionally switching between players is sluggish, and a receiver will get tackled before you've been given control. 

League play is sadly lifeless, without the NFL licence it seems NaturalMotion didn't bother to animate faces so each player is just a helmet with a chin. There's no commentary to speak of, the only music you'll ever hear is P.O.D's Boom, the crowd are a poorly animated jumble, just barely better than no crowd at all. But the real killer is the lack of injuries. This game is called Backbreaker and the developer sank most of their effort into creating an engine that creates tackles that sometimes look like a leg or arm should just be pulled clean off, but when the dust settles everyone just gets back up like nothing happened. This game was delayed 2 years and I can't help but wonder how much more of a delay would there have been in adding injuries. 

There's a lot of promise here, but it's just not backed up by any polish. Tackle Alley is a fantastic game, so good in fact that it's been packaged with some other mini-games as Backbreaker Vengeance and made available on XBLA, which is probably where it should have always been. EA aren't going to give up the NFL licence without a fight, the regular release of Madden is too reliable a source of income from sales and in-game advertising, and they can afford to pump out one mediocre game after another as long as it says Madden on the box and it's got the real teams. Without some kind of tie-in to the real game Backbreaker is left adrift as a long term franchise. It's a valid alternative to the Madden series but as things stand, not a competitor. 

Rent or Buy: Buy
Graphics: 4/5
Gameplay: 2/5
Replay Value: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
Review by: Tony O'Hare