Very disappointing game. Kicking so slow, no real point, nothing like Johna Lomu Rugby on PS1.

The first reason is the kicking-

Get this, you are on an unstoppable run, 1 on 1 with the fullack and the defence is way behind. You decide to kick it ahead. 6 meters at least between you and the k-i-c-k will not go fast enough! You will get tackled and lose the ball foward. VERY ANNOYING

The second is the player control-

No power whatsoever. Select a player and he runs off the tackle! ALSO VERY ANNOYING!

The third reason is the graphics-

NO RESEMBELENCE WHATSOEVER. Carlos Spencer looks more like a monkey than himself. And players cannot take lineouts without crossing through-YES T-H-R-O-U-G-H- the other player

All in all id rather call this game EA's BIG MISTALE

Absolutely hated it

I couldn't wait to get my hands on this game but the first dissapointment came when I wanted to select multiplayers to play in the Super 12 competition or anyone for that matter. I was really dissapointed that multiplayer mode was not supported.

It is nice to be able to play with 2 players on a side but I would have liked to be able to play against someone else in a tournament. The other boring thing is not to be able to watch the cpu games as in cricket 2002 and get that real match feeling.

The game is to easy on hard (except when you play against England) because you can easily score 80+ points when you play a full game. I found that 10 min halves is the closest to reality. Far to less penalties and far to less cards, and statistics.

Goal kicking is too easy and when you miss a penalty shot the ball goes dead and there is no opportunity allowed to take advantage or counter attack. Everything seems to stop when you pass the ball or try to kick or sidestep for that matter. Generally speaking it is still hours of fun especially if you struggle to beat your 8 year old son.

What can I say, a huge improvement on Rugby 2001, but sadly some aspects have been over looked in order to “make the game better”.

Simple things like:

• putting in grubber kicks are almost negated as opposition seem to tackle you before you have time to drop the ball.
• the opposition seem to be able to rob the ball at ruck time whenever they feel like it.
• the sprint button is good, but you never seem to be able to actually outrun the opposition, and
• 95% of the time the full back will have you covered regardless of where you attack from.
• on “HARD” setting, still easily able to out score the opposition by 80–100 points, and that was in the first 3 days of playing. Only area that seems to be harder are rucks/mauls, lineouts, scrums. Other than that, not very hard at all.

Overall the game is a marked improvement on the other rugby games, but the simplicity of Jonah Lomu is desperately lacking in some areas. Though I myself am a diehard rugby and sport platform fan, Rugby 2004 tends to become boring relatively easily if played constantly.