While it lacks the official licence and some of the shine of EA's Rugby 2004 title, developers Swordfish (previously responsible for Jonah Lomu Rugby) have arguably pulled off what EA couldn't -- translating both the tactical skill and thuggish biffery of Rugby Union into a playable and enjoyable video game. That's not to say that it's without its flaws, and certainly we can see the very fanatical Rugby crowd being annoyed with some of the game's arcade stylings and lack of official teams. At the same time, however, there's a fine line between pleasing the hardcore followers and generating mainstream appeal, and we reckon World Championship Rugby gets it about right.
The gap between the Rugby World Cup and the release of World Championship Rugby has undoubtedly taken some of the sales shine off World Championship Rugby, but it's also allowed Acclaim to pick up the licence for the official world champions, England. Somehow, we think that won't be a big selling point on this side of the pond, although it's not as though Union fanatics have that many choices open to them either. Aside from the English and Welsh sides, however, the names for all the other squads haven't been licensed, although most of the visual likenesses are reasonably close to the real thing for the better-known squads. As with just about every sports game that ever lacked an official licence, you're free to go in and do some squad editing to fix up the names if you're so inclined.
Although Rugby 2004 might seem like the obvious title to compare World Championship Rugby to, it actually plays a fair amount more like Sidhe's NRL Rugby League title, in that it's an arcade-slanted title with visuals that are best represented with tiny, tiny players. The advantage here, as with Rugby League, is that the visuals don't need to be particularly high-definition close up, so you avoid the visual horrors that Rugby 2004 perpetrated on an almost constant basis. It also gives you a choice of viewpoints that give a better overall view of the field, useful when you're planning out an attack on the opposing side. Less useful from a visual perspective is the way penalty kicks and conversions are made; while you're given the usual extending arrow to choose direction, it's a quirky arrow that often bears little resemblance to where the ball will actually go.
There's two ways to play World Championship Rugby; with or without penalties. Those aren't the only options open to you, but if you dive in with the default options, which are for no penalties, you'll find World Championship Rugby a bit simplistic; all you need to do to pop the ball loose from the opposing team is hit them with a hard tackle and then set up your own plays. This is the total arcade approach, and while it's fun for a short period, it's only when you put the glasses back on the referee that you actually have to start thinking about the game, as an errant hard tackle on a player who's just passed the ball will see you giving away penalties at an astonishing rate.
World Championship Rugby does a good job of keeping the action moving, with a good mixture of running and kicking play; we found that while it's quite tough to run in tries against the better teams, approaching with a grubber kick and then sprinting for the ball was surprisingly effective. It's perhaps a little tougher than it should be to kick field goals on the fly, although that does help to emphasise play on the ground. Rucks and mauls handle intelligently, and in case you're not au fait with the full play set of Union, onscreen displays take you through the button layouts in an easy to manage manner. Lineouts are a little more perplexing for the new player, although they too are simplified in order to keep the game flowing along.
Aside from the obligatory exhibition mode, developers Swordfish have done an acceptable job of covering most of the sport's major fixtures, from a world cup mode to tri-nations (not called as such, but close enough) as well as the option to go on tour against local sides. Oddly enough, the lack of real stadia besides Twickenham comes into play here; we went on what is perhaps the only Australian Rugby Tour of the American Continent where the games were played in the UK. Very odd.
World Championship Rugby also offers a 'classic matches' option that comes as close to infringing on the World Cup licence as anything else in the game. This challenges you with a series of pre-set scenarios and a strict limit on how long you've got to score, depending on what happened in the World Cup in that particular year. The challenges start out easily enough but quickly rocket up in difficulty, which should keep Union fans playing for a solid amount of time in order to unlock everything possible.
World Championship Rugby's visuals use a cartoon style that's likely to annoy some Rugby fans and amuse others, and while there's not much to push the hardware of either the PS2 or Xbox versions we reviewed, beyond the usual 2D flat crowds, there's very little to pick fault with. For what it's worth, the Xbox version features slightly faster loading times, although both are surprisingly quick loading little games. World Championship Rugby doesn't go all out on the commentary side, picking up UK Sky Sports commentators Miles Harrison and Stuart Barnes, who do a fairly low-key job of talking out the action. That's an approach with only one upside; while it won't take you long to hear everything they've got to say, you won't have to hear it all that often, and that keeps you focused on the action.
Without a doubt World Championship Rugby will come as a disappointment to hardcore Union fans who may be looking for something on the level of EA's Madden or FIFA games. For what it is, however, it's an exceptionally solid game that's undoutedly going to be the best Union option for some time to come.
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