These are my latest notes after playing for two weeks and experimenting with different aspects of the game.
Positives:
- Most of the player likenesses are good.
- Starting screen with player age, height and weight.
- Trumpet tune for World Cup mode.
- Better box kicking system with scrum half. Offers far more control and accuracy in kicks.
- Set plays. Could look at more options later, but nice addition.
Negatives:
- The loading zone, when waiting to start a match, glitches for the first 5-10 seconds. It sort of misses the point of waiting for the game to load.
- Frame dropping. Probably the biggest issue.
- In Hard and Pro modes, linespeed and aggression of opposition feels overwhelming. It's good to be challenged, but it feels like there's very little time to react (kick/sidestep/pass) , especially when the ball is kicked deep to fullback. I'm an experienced player in pro difficulty on RC3. The best word to describe this issue is that you're "bum-rushed" 90% of the time.
- Camera angles need to be more dynamic. The gameplay often moves faster than the pace at which the camera can adjust view.
- Balance between intercepts, forward passes and knock-ons is off. Some games feel like an absolute grind, constantly scrumming and rucking to secure ball and build some phases. Please add option to adjust knock on frequency.
- Lineout animations feel cheap. Looks like player's hands are magnetic when catching and transfering ball. Not a smooth transition.
- Cannot customise attributes of more prominent players.
- In Be a Pro mode, your player often gets locked into position. This is frustrating, because you cannot manipulate your position to catch opposition off guard, but instead get pulled into an automated position to receive ball. Sometimes I like to stand wider, but before scurmhalf passes you get "sucked in".
I agree with the above. To add to Camera angles, the cut scenes are outdated, needs improvement or more range of animations to add, especially the focus on the try scorer eg. taking a sip of water, some opportunity there.