WW's attempts at AFL games have thus far been pretty poor, even with lowered expectations. Aussie developers have shown they can make decent games on a budget; WW have not. Most people need to be convinced that WW is capable of producing something playable after they were so crushingly disappointed by what AFL Evo was.
Wicked Witch currently do not get the benefit of the doubt. They've had two goes at an AFL game and come up short each time. AFL Live remains the measuring stick; Evo was not better than it.
But I agree with those arguing that graphics don't matter. The looks of the game are the least of my concerns; in fact, it worries me more when I see the developer putting a significant emphasis on the graphics because it seems like a distraction from the core issue of the gameplay. We need something that feels good to play. Evolution was a complete chore. If the game is fun to play, you'll forget about crap animations or low res textures or whatever. You can brush these off as peripheral concerns.
AFL Live 1 was far from perfect for its time. It was not FIFA and it was not a precisely accurate simulation of the real game. Once you got the hang of it, however, it was fun and felt smooth to play. Evo had heaps of game modes Live 1 did not have, as did Live 2, but they were both painful to play so I didn't bother getting into them, which is why I wish people would not demand super detailed career modes or Be a Pro modes or whatever and that the devs wouldn't waste time on them. They're nice to have, sure, but completely pointless if the core gameplay is shithouse. We know that a heap of people who bought Evo 1 returned it soon after. They got home and the feedback to how it played was resoundingly negative, so the work done on Be a Pro and the career modes and whatever was ultimately lost.
and flowing commentary.
