Any time an unlicensed football game is poised to drop, football fans watch with bated breath as the months count down to release. Will begrudging Madden buyers have a reason to try something different? Will there be a good enough choice for virtual gridiron gladiators to have -- dare I say it -- two good football games to play in a year? According to Kevin Kelly, NaturalMotion's Backbreaker makes some rookie mistakes, but it's still a decent first effort.

"While you can’t actually break someone’s back in Backbreaker (thanks for getting our hopes up), the game has put all of its marbles in one bag by using the Euphoria engine for the tackling system. Euphoria is NaturalMotion’s own animation engine (recently used in games like Red Dead Redemption and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed) that simulates the entire body, rather than just using ragdoll physics. The game promises that “no two hard-hitting tackles are ever the same,” and it’s definitely the highlight of the game. You can practically feel the power as you steamroll your way through a dogpile, or when you lay out a running back with a well-placed tackle."

After talking to Kevin, I get the sense that NaturalMotion is taking a page from Konami's sports book by offering up an alternative to the EA juggernaut that lets you create custom teams with ridiculous attention to detail. Does the gameplay hold up? Read his review to find out more!