Game Review: Backbreaker Vengeance
Billy O'Keefe - Mclatchy -Tribune News Service
Jul 08, 2011
Reviewed for: Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live Arcade)
Coming soon to: Playstation 3 (via Playstation Network)
From: NaturalMotion/505 Games
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Price: $15
"Backbreaker's" full-priced 2010 debut consisted of a fun minigame that propped up a full-fledged game of football that was too broken to recommend. As such, "Backbreaker Vengeance" - which cuts the price, strips out the traditional football and trains all its focus on a suite of minigames - makes all the sense in the world. Like its predecessor, "Vengeance" kicks off with Tackle Alley, in which you're the ballcarrier and you need to obey the laws of physics and momentum while using jukes, spins, hurdles and other evasive tactics to dodge tacklers and string together a stylish touchdown. But the new Vengeance mode flips the script by making you a tackler who has to dodge blockers and catch the ballcarrier, while Supremacy mode is a five-round, four-man race to the end zone in which the worst rusher becomes the tackler in each subsequent round. "Vengeance" doesn't get a whole lot more intricate than that, but it complements each mode with five tiers of increasingly elaborate configurations of obstacles and opponents. It also smartly focuses on high scores and online leaderboards, using a risk-versus-reward scoring system to encourage total, creative mastery of each tier. The competition extends beyond scores, too: Each mode supports two-player local/online multiplayer, though the Supremacy mode's inability to accommodate four human players is disappointing.
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Copyright 2011 by Mclatchy -Tribune News Service
