REVIEW

DESPITE being down by 4 — 0 with only five minutes left in the game, Josh Reynolds had been mouthing off at the opponents for the entire game.

It was coming back as good as it going out, but when Curtis Rona found open space down the sideline to score under the posts, things were taken up a level.

The only was that it wasn’t Grub sledging on the field, it was yours truly.

I was sitting in my living room, hooked into my Xbox One and playing Rugby League Live 3 online

In case you were wondering I kicked the goal and won the game, but that shouldn’t really come as a surprise.

It had been three long years and two next-gen consoles since the last instalment of Rugby League Live andwe all know those games were nothing to write home about.

But, league fanatics played them to death anyway because they were the only option we had — apart from the 1992 classic E.T’s Rugby League.

When I heard they were releasing a new game for the Xbox One and PS4, I was intrigued.

Surely with all the technology advancements they couldn’t stuff this up, right?

Well, the answer is complicated.

There have been some huge improvements to the game.

The graphics are not longer blocks and the controls are relatively easy to remember.

Changing the difficulty allows you to control the team, so you’ll easily run rings around the competition or have a challenging game.

Online is great fun and super easy to use. Again — you get to control the whole team in this mode. The only problem is it is sometimes hard to find a match because it is not as popular as other online games.

I cannot attest for two players because I lack friends with motivation to play rugby league on the Xbox.

media_camera Why wouldn’t you pick the best player in the NRL for career.

Career mode is diverse and allows you to play through the grades as a rookie or play as one of the games biggest stars (I selected Reynolds).

When playing these modes, you only control the one player, which is kind of weird.

It is all about being a team player and injecting yourself at the right time of the game by calling for the ball.

If you call for the ball too much, or are not in position for defence you can cost your team greatly.

While it makes for an authentic career experience, I am not sure if you would want to clock up the hours just controlling one player.

But career mode also allows you to be the coach, meaning you control player movements and the money.

This is probably the best option in career mode because you not only get to channel your inner Des Hasler, but when game day arrives, you control the whole team.

Also included in the game is a player crafting system, which allows you to create an avatar of yourself so you can run alongside your NRL heroes.

All in all, the game is heaps of fun, although it may not be for everyone.

If you love sports-based games, sure you will love it.

If you think rugby league football is the greatest game of them all, you will think it’s the greatest game in the world.

However, if you don’t love sport games or rugby league, it wouldn’t come highly recommended.

While it has vast improvements from its predecessors, it’s still not the tidiest game ever created.

But, all things considered I am pretty happy with the result.

Originally published as Is the rugby league game worth it?