''Rugby 06'' is the 2006 release in the

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

series by

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

. The game allows players to play as many Rugby nations, both major and minor, and includes many tournaments, such as the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

, the Tri Nations, the Six Nations, and the Super 14.

Features

This game has several new features. Some of the features are for graphical purposes (e.g. new weather effects), and others are for gameplay (e.g. new tackle options and off-load passing options). Some of the features are:

Playable modes

6 Nations, Tri-Nations (with the Bledisloe Cup), Ten Nations, Lions Tour (SA, NZ, Australia), Super 14, Guinness Premiership, World League, World Championship, European Trophy, manager mode

Increased tactical plays

25+ new tactical plays can be chosen by the player.

Off-load passing

When the player's character draws a defender to him, he is able to quickly off-load the ball to a teammate before the defender actually tackles him. This can cause a gap in the defensive line, which can be exploited by the player.

Comprehensive commentary

Ian Robertson returns for this game, next to former

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

great

Grant Fox Grant James Fox (born 16 June 1962) is a former rugby union player from New Zealand. He was a member of the All Blacks team that won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987. He is also the father of professional golfer, Ryan Fox. Playing career ...

, as well as comments from

Murray Mexted Murray Graham Mexted (born 5 September 1953) is a former New Zealand rugby union player who played 34 consecutive tests for the All Blacks from 1979 to 1985. He also played 38 non-test games including 7 as captain. During his time with the All B ...

Impact Players

Impact/Star player, are players that could potentially turn a match in the player's favour. These player are the best in-game in their specialised area. Impact players are highlighted in game with a star above their heads.

Enhanced players and stadium conditions

The game features new stadium animations, such as banner rotations, 3D grass, and team relevant flags. Also the weather conditions are improved, and new conditions are added. The player can now play in snow and fog, and even see the characters' breath in cold weather.

Quick penalties

The game also includes the option of taking a quick penalty, which can help to score a sneaky try or just to gain some metres.

Reception

The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions received "generally favorable reviews", while the PC version received "average" reviews, according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. In Japan, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...

'' gave the PS2 version a score of one seven, one five, one seven, and one six, for a total of 25 out of 40. ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' gave the PS2 version a score of four stars out of five and stated, "Scoring a drop goal can be the trickiest move in the game, simply because the camera angle makes it difficult to line up. Whilst the game tends to be annoyingly accurate on higher settings, just persuade a friend to play to even up the challenge." ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' also gave the game a score of four stars out of five and said that "Rugby, with its elaborate set-pieces and impenetrable laws, is a hard game to render on computer, but this is an extremely good try." ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' gave the PS2 and Xbox versions a B, saying that the game "isn't as pretty as the bigger EA Sports games, but it isn't as larded down with excess crap, either; just lots of teams, lots of tournaments, and what we'll assume are famous players in a good tough sport."

References

External links

* {{Rugby Union video games 2006 video games PlayStation 2 games Rugby union video games Video games developed in Canada Windows games Xbox games EA Sports games Video games set in Argentina Video games set in Australia Video games set in France Video games set in Ireland Video games set in New Zealand Video games set in South Africa Video games set in the United Kingdom HB Studios games