Rugby is one of those sports that doesn’t always translate well to a video game. There’s just something about the game that doesn’t show up on games for consoles, PCs, and mobile devices.
Failures have been aplenty when it comes to rugby titles over the years. Rugby 15 received very poor reviews, with IGN calling it an “utter disaster” and Official Xbox Magazine saying it was “easily the worst sports game we’ve played.” The Daily Star called Rugby World Cup 2015 “a terrible Fifa-like rip-off set in the world of rugby,” saying everything about the game “screams second-rate.”
Enter Rugby Challenge 3, the third installment in a series from Australian developers Wicked Witch Software. This is a game that is capable of saving a genre that has been beaten up time and time again. It is quite possibly the best rugby game in recent memory.
Daniel Visser, Managing Director for Wicked Witch, is the man behind this successful series. Visser is quick to share the credit, being just one person in a team of talented individuals.
“It was developed by a large team of around 50 people. The producers, lead programmers and lead artists are always key people, but the online programmers, gameplay guys, team of artists, QA and designers were all responsible for the team effort!”
Visser is catering to a niche market that Wicked Witch could easily dominate.
“The rugby market is full of hardcore fans. One of the major challenges was pleasing all the fans. Many love the
gameplay from previous versions and there is a wide range of opinions on what should stay the same and what should change. The other challenges were to bring all of these new features to the new consoles as well as the previous generation Xbox360 and PS3.”
Rugby Challenge 3 was careful to maintain the solid gameplay from their previous offerings, and improve many subtle rules, moves, and AI formations as well as bring the game to 1080p on PS4 and Xbox One. Major improvements on all platforms included the following:
- Online Player Fanhub – Allows custom players and teams to be created, shared, voted and downloaded
- Be a Pro Mode – Adds a whole new dimension to the gameplay and career aspect of the game
- Rugby Sevens – An all-new fun, frantic, and fast way to play the game
Wicked Witch is far from complacent when it comes to making improvements in future offerings. Visser and his team have a lot planned.
“We would love to continue work on the series and bring more realistic physics, weather, controls and fidelity in movement, more sophisticated AI, and working with the fans in all aspects of the game to bring it to the next level. We would like to add as many official teams as possible, certainly American and French are high on the list. I believe this version has the most licensed teams and leagues to date, and if we can get them all then that would be awesome!”
All of us at ISN reviewed a PC version of the game and found every aspect to be world-class. Tutorials were helpful even to those who know the sport well. Options and teams aplenty, the commentary, stadia, and graphics were all quite impressive. The game feels very realistic, all the way from the player models to the gameplay.
We have to say that the game was very enjoyable from start to finish. But Wicked Witch is more than just rugby as Visser detailed.
“Apart from our Australian Rules Football console game, we have our classic mobile game Catapult King and we have just released a beautiful new puzzle game called PuzzleWiz.”
We’re excited to see what the future holds for rugby and video games. We’re confident that Wicked Witch and the Rugby Challenge series will be leading the way for years to come.
