World Championship Rugby (PS2)

World Championship Rugby is developed by Swordfish Studios who are famous for the great PSone rugby title Jonah Lomu Rugby. With EA's Rugby 2004 boasting the official players and grounds can WCR be as good or even better?

World Championship Rugby is split into two main modes they are Competition Modes and Challenge Modes here is a description of the Tournaments available in the game.

Competition Modes:

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...game? As in real life World Rugby there is not a lot of teams to choose from but they're all in here. Including England, Scotland, Tonga, New Zealand, Ireland, Austrailia, Wales, France, Italy, Namibia, U.S.A, Canada, South Africa and a few more. This is a bad thing for the game with the lack of teams on offer but this is not a problem you can blame the game on this problem lies with World Rugby itself.

Graphically this is a lot better ... more

World Championship Rugby is developed by Swordfish Studios who are famous for the great PSone rugby title Jonah Lomu Rugby. With EA's Rugby 2004 boasting the official players and grounds can WCR be as good or even better?

World Championship Rugby is split into two main modes they are Competition Modes and Challenge Modes here is a description of the Tournaments available in the game.

Competition Modes:

World Championship: This is the World Cup which is contested in groups of 5 with the top 2 teams progressing.

Euro Nations: The Six Nations and you can play as Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, France or Italy. These teams play each other once.

Three Nations: The Tri Nations with New Zealand, Australia and South Africa these teams play each other once.

Tour: You can choose a team and tour a continent of your choice.

League: Your own customised league.

Cup: Similar to league only this is knockout rules.

Challenge Modes:

Classic Matches: Take part in Classic Matches of the past you must win the games to progress.

Best All Stars Challenge: In this mode you start as a team at the top eg. England and work your way to the bottom eg. Namibia. As you work your way up your opponents will get increasingly harder.

Survival Challenge: How long can you survive unbeaten? Survive longer than 10 matches and you will be rewarded.

So there is a lot of game modes on show but what about the rest of the game? As in real life World Rugby there is not a lot of teams to choose from but they're all in here. Including England, Scotland, Tonga, New Zealand, Ireland, Austrailia, Wales, France, Italy, Namibia, U.S.A, Canada, South Africa and a few more. This is a bad thing for the game with the lack of teams on offer but this is not a problem you can blame the game on this problem lies with World Rugby itself.

Graphically this is a lot better than EA's Rugby 2004 the gameplay is easy to get used to but the scrums, rucks and mauls are awful. You have to bash between the circle and X buttons but nine times out of ten you will lose the scrum or ruck this is very annoying and frustrating. However there is yet more problems with the game. England and Wales are the only officialy licensed teams in the game so if you play as Ireland for instance all the players names will be wrong. The rugby ball is also licensed by Gilbert. As for the sound this is yet another let down. There is commentary by Sky's Miles Harrison and Stuart Barnes but the commentary is awful. You also here the England rugby chants which are good but no other team has chants so it sounds a bit stupid to be honest.

Graphics: 9 Very nice graphics the best yet for a PS2 rugby game.

Sound: 3 Awful sound. The commentary is about the worst I've ever heard.

Gameplay: 7 It's very satisfying when you score a try although the scrums, rucks and mauls control system is frustrating.

Lifespan: 8 Considering the various tournaments on offer this could keep you going for a while.

World Championship Rugby should satisfy any rugby fan with it's nice graphics and okay controls. As for the rest of us maybe your better off staying away from this one. As with Basketball games on PS2 the Rugby games also miss out on being truly great must have titles. 6/10. Thanks for reading. John Mitchell.

Sorry guys I forgot to mention the PEGI nrating and price here they are.

PEGI Rating: 3+
Price: I got WCR for £29.01 from Tesco RRP is £34.99.
 

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