Multiplat AFL Evolution 2

Archer_11

Premiership Player
Apr 28, 2002
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Been holding on for this for ages it seems.

Do you think there is more to the patch than just updated lists etc?

Surely they must be doing the odd gameplay tweak?

They have to be. The fan community lists are completely fine. The commentary is a bit off but when has it ever been on.

ps is it just me or is there a bug where Gary Lyon thinks marks in your forward 50 are being taken by the opposition? It could be simulated dementia, I wouldn't know, but it sounds like it.

pps I notice that being one point up at any quarter time break is regarded as a dominant lead.

ALSO - does anyone know where Syrum is these days? He was all over Evo 1 but all his socials are dead. ALL socials. Even Weibo.
 
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GoldbergsGold

Premiership Player
Sep 30, 2015
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Alrighty I've had about 20 games on PC and I feel like I've got my first impression, the good and the bad.

Firstly the good. I feel like this is the best AFL game I've ever played. True, AFL live 2011 with updated lists and a fresh coat of paint would have better gameplay, but it’s not fair ranking releases based on games that don’t exist. So if I had a choice between the original untouched Live 2011 and Evo 2, I would choose Evo 2.

The other big plus is the move to UE4. So much better. The players are solid, you can’t ghost through congestion anymore, I’ve even had instances where I had to run around a player that was on the ground. Excellent stuff.

While not a new feature, the sliders are also a life saver. Probably my single most favourite feature in the Evo games. I crank up the fumbles & defensive punching while reducing throwing the ball and I’m getting some great free flowing game play.

It’s early days so I’ll cool it on adding more positives just yet.


The negatives are nothing new, which I guess is the worst part. At it’s heart it feels a lot like Evo 1 with a better engine. Because there is so little change, for me the most annoying negatives are:
  • the ruckman is often the best rover, despite usually being surrounded by mids (absurd)
  • there is little to no AI smarts in the goal square. Sometimes you can go back and have a shot 40 meters out and it’s still empty
  • the player-in possession indicator is still badly in need of an overhaul. How hard can it be? Just making the icon bigger for starters would help, as well as using different colours to indicate if you’re in possession instead of white and see through.
  • a lot of rough edges like injuries and suspensions happening without you knowing; the second ruck position sometimes being filled by a weird choice, heaps of little things.
Perhaps the biggest negative of all is that the team mate AI feels a lot like Live 2. They can be close by but not help; there can be a weird inertia after the ball hits the deck that is exasperating and in general there are heaps of these little moments where you can just tell the AI has no idea. Considering that so much of this feels familiar from the older WW games, I have a bit of concern that they might be out of ideas on how to significantly improve the core gameplay itself.

But overall I’m happy and my WW trolling days are probably over. For an AFL game, this is a very good release.

EDIT - just fired Evo 2 up on the PS4 Pro. It's a different game, feeling a LOT more like Evo 1 with some extra bugs for good measure. It's a luxury for sure but IF you've got a good PC AND you can afford to pony up a second time for the PC release, I would say go for it.

How is it the best AFL game? I also played it on PC, the movement feels so disjointed, unnatural and awkward, the same as all the other Wicked Witch AFL games. I can't be the only one who notices this. The flow with movement is much more organic with AFL Live 1.
 
Dec 8, 2006
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How is it the best AFL game? I also played it on PC, the movement feels so disjointed, unnatural and awkward, the same as all the other Wicked Witch AFL games. I can't be the only one who notices this. The flow with movement is much more organic with AFL Live 1.

You're definitely not the only one who still bangs on about AFL Live, trust me.
 
Dec 8, 2006
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Because it's the best AFL video game to date

To be fair, that argument is like a Freo supporter getting into an argument with a Gold Coast supporter over which club is better.

"My game is a 5/10 game! Yeah, well mine is a 5.1/10 game! Yeah, well mine has more potential that will never be realised 'cos we don't have the rights anymore! Yeah, well mine has the WAFL … with fake player names! Yeah well smooth movement! Yeah well Jeff Darling!"
 

Archer_11

Premiership Player
Apr 28, 2002
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How is it the best AFL game? I also played it on PC, the movement feels so disjointed, unnatural and awkward, the same as all the other Wicked Witch AFL games. I can't be the only one who notices this. The flow with movement is much more organic with AFL Live 1.


Two things:

- AFL Live with a fresh coat of paint might be the better game, it was something I mentioned in an earlier post. But I don't think it's fair to make these sorts of comparisons. Live 2011 exactly as it exists today vs Evo 2, no comparison imo

- the reason I'm a convert is shaping to be the move to the new engine. The contests feel real and hold up remarkably well zoomed in on replay. And with the exception of the ruckman, Evo 2 appears not only to have corrected the various dominant position imbalances they had (e.g 80% of the gameplay between ruck and full forward), I think it's possible that they have fixed it better than any other AFL game to date. You can see that if you put an elite player in a back pocket or some other nuffy position - they will still get a ton of the ball. In Live 11 and pretty much every single other game there were certain poisitons that never went anywhere near it. So WW have to be doing something right. I do agree though that they have a ton of work to do on their ball drop dynamics, player control the half second before a loose ball contest is amateur hour and it's been that way since Live 2.

If we get another Big Ant game I'll be very happy. But WW have now done the hard yards and for the first time I feel like they might actually get to where they are going provided they have money and can release year on year.
 

LeeARM

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May 11, 2008
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The patches and the sliders have really helped Evolution 2. On launch, the game was extremely frustrating but now it's clearly better than AFL Live in my opinion.
As much as I loved AFL Live and played it to death, I think a lot of people ignore the massive amount of issues it had.
 

Treehill23

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Apr 1, 2010
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Not with Wicked Witch, they pump out the same garbage with every iteration. The only good position for the future of footy games is possibly with a small indie developer: https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/footy-showdown-devlog-get-drafted.1244994/
If you go back and play Evo 1, then play Evo 2, it’s a massive leap. No matter how much you choose to believe it or not.
I have no bias towards either company because I loved Live (although people seem to have forgotten it’s flaws now that wicked witch have taken over) and I hated Evo 1
Yes it still has some horrible mechanics about the game but what AFL game hasn’t ?
I feel like they’ve taken a huge step in the right direction and have actually been able to simulate how an AFL game is actually played
Not like every other prior version where it’s 1v1’s all over the ground

Makes me wonder if this exact same game was made by Big Ant, would people be hating on it ? 💁🏽‍♂️
 

Tru Blu Games

Draftee
Apr 17, 2020
14
88
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Hey guys, a little announcement!

The new AFL Evolution 2 Season Pack 2021 DLC will be releasing on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam in just 2 weeks on Friday, May 7th!
The Switch version will be arriving shortly after.

Features included in this DLC are:
  • Cazalys Stadium
  • 2021 Fixtures
  • 2021 Guernseys
  • 2021 Team line-ups
  • The new 22 club VFL Competition
  • 40 new enhanced player likenesses
  • New rule changes
  • All the AFL season's matches including line-ups and scores updated regularly in Match Centre
  • Take on the Team of the Week for every round of the 2021 AFL season
There will also be an update patch to accompany the DLC, more details on this patch to come soon.

You can see the trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxDIg2pld1Q
 
Makes me wonder if this exact same game was made by Big Ant, would people be hating on it ? 💁🏽‍♂️

If Nickelback wrote Bohemian Rhapsody would people still love it?

To answer the actual question though, probably. People rightfully hated on DBC17 after it went backwards from 14. If somehow BA screwed up their own engine enough that it became a janky and jerky moving affair, then yes, they'd probably cop heat. But as with the first analogy the whole point is that, looking at their game history, it just wouldn't happen. They're different artists. Both their titles/engines have distinct feels. People aren't just against WW and for BA for no reason. Runs on the board.
 
Dec 8, 2006
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Guess I'll have to buy it like I have every other piece of DLC released for AFL games.

I'm such a sucker.

I still think there are elements from the old EA AFL games (OK, just the dedicated shirtfront button...) and IR Gurus games that need to be brought back. I actually think I appreciate the IR Guru games more now than I did pre-BA and WW.
 

Treehill23

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If Nickelback wrote Bohemian Rhapsody would people still love it?

To answer the actual question though, probably. People rightfully hated on DBC17 after it went backwards from 14. If somehow BA screwed up their own engine enough that it became a janky and jerky moving affair, then yes, they'd probably cop heat. But as with the first analogy the whole point is that, looking at their game history, it just wouldn't happen. They're different artists. Both their titles/engines have distinct feels. People aren't just against WW and for BA for no reason. Runs on the board.
I completely get what you’re saying but at the same time, I don’t understand how people can’t see the improvement in Evo 2. Whilst BA’s version was fun, it was still the standard 1v1’s all over the ground and I get that it was their ‘base game’ but at the same time, we’ve finally got a game that actually plays like modern footy
I can tell you right now, I’d rather an Evo 3 that’s only going to improve on things from Evo 2 rather than start from the start with BA again
Because that’s the issue. Tru Blu gave WW a year to bust out a copied version of their Wii game on PS3 and that was then their base to work with
I’m sure they wouldn’t have chosen to go down that path if they had a choice but we’re now in a position where we’re seeing huge leaps in each iteration
Much rather this consistency than another ‘built from the ground up’ version that will no doubt only raise the same issues we’ve dealt with in the past
I just think that WW has left a sour taste in the mouth of many and for that reason, it’s automatically a bad game to those who gave up hope with the first iteration of Evo
 

brobest

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Mar 4, 2021
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Nice, sounds like the DLC will be a solid addition then.
Definitely going to pick it up as with a patch as well, you cant complain that the game isnt getting support.
Its always worth keeping a series going by showing you are a fan.
 
Guess I'll have to buy it like I have every other piece of DLC released for AFL games.

I'm such a sucker.

I still think there are elements from the old EA AFL games (OK, just the dedicated shirtfront button...) and IR Gurus games that need to be brought back. I actually think I appreciate the IR Guru games more now than I did pre-BA and WW.
I still fire up AFL 2004 purely for the mini games from time to time. Around The World was my jam.
 
Apr 10, 2010
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And for all the doom and gloom predictions round 8 is a pretty decent time to release the update/patch. Would always be nice to have it for the preseason games but realistically they need time to adjust to the new lists etc and there will still be plenty of the real season ahead of us to enjoy mirroring with the updated game.
 
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