Each match you are given certain goals that you must achieve in order for your player to increase his stats.

One thing I love about this mode is the player progression system. Create your professional rugby player, join a club and then progress your way up until you are selected for your national team and win the World Cup. Popularized by other sports games like FIFA, ‘Be a pro” mode in RC3 follows the same standardized game formula. This was a gripe many gamers had with the previous titles. If you have to slot a kick from mid field then the max distance is around 60m. The distance of conversions depends on your angle (like in real life), for example if you have to take a conversion from the sideline the max distance will be around 50m. Place Kicking now features a power bar and gone are the days of only kicking conversions from a short distance. Knock-on advantages has also been correctly implemented and the ref will not immediately blow the whistle as in previous titles. The AI is a lot smarter and they hit gaps in your defensive lines with accuracy and realism, rucks are difficult to win if you are defending, but the game let’s you string phases together when attacking.

Playing Rugby Challenge 3 you will immediately realize that the game feels familiar, but plays like a different game. So what sets Rugby Challenge 3 apart from its predecessors you ask? Well a lot actually, not only did they include the awesome “be a pro” mode but they have also reworked the kicking system, improved the AI, acquired more licenses from the various unions as well as for the first time ever in a rugby game added the fast paced 7’s mode. Let us not forget that EA Sports Rugby 05, 06 and 08 all used the same game engine with only minimal tweaks to the various titles. Rugby Challenge 3 is in itself a brand new rugby game, sure it uses assets from the older titles in the series, but enough has been changed to brand it a totally new game. This is where I have to applaud Wicked Witch for doing a stellar job – very few game developers listen to their fans and specifically implement the suggestions given by the community. The company set out to improve on the work Sidhe did with Rugby Challenge 1 & 2, and most of all implement ideas given by the rugby gaming community to further improve the series. Originally developed by Sidhe the Rugby Challenge series has a new developer at the helm, Wicked Witch (Published by Tru Blu Entertainment).

Rugby challenge 3 release dater