At first look and running through the various options available, the game looks pretty impressive, with all the bells and whistles. The game is broken down into various modes which include your standard NRL competition to State of Origin, internationals and even the Super League. If you want, you can even create your own competition where anyone could come out on top.

Even looking at the various abilities makes this game look like it allows an expansive style of rugby league to be played. The players are well rounded with each able to sidestep, fend, offload or dropkick. If on defence you can dive tackle or, when the pressure is on, try and go for a ball-and-all tackle or strip the ball loose.

With all the great features and the detail that has gone into the graphics, this game does have its downfalls. It's let down by slow-mo action and the inability to play an open or fast game. Everything is in slow-mo, from the kick off to general play. Forget a quick play of the ball or a quick dash from behind the blocks, everything is controlled by the game and you only take control at a certain point.

The kickoff process in itself is a bit slow, while the ball placement is controlled by the game and you deem the angle and power. Following your selection the game takes over again as your kicker lines the ball up for kickoff. This whole process can take up to a minute. When you first play you don't mind it too much as it adds to the hype of the game that is about to unfold. But play a full competition, or even half, and kicks-off can be a bit of a pain, especially if you're on the end of a hiding to nothing.

The play of the ball area is particularly slow for both attacking and defence. On attack the play of the ball area is controlled by the game up until a few seconds following 'hands on ball'. This can slow down play and if you are not careful you may find yourself backpeddling and being dumped unceremoniously.

Running straight out of dummy half is not so flash, either. No matter which way you go, you only ever run one line. You can't run wider or closer to play the ball, it's just one line, which again is controlled by the game up until a certain point where you can deviate or offload. If you're on attack in this area, it is also frustrating with delayed movement to tackle close runners or dump the dummy half. Even more annoying is trying to quickly dive at the ball if no dummy half has shown up.

Again, this area is heavily controlled by the game. No matter how fast you want to move out as a marker (following the play of the ball) the game throws your selected player into slow-mo. It's almost like a set period has to lapse before you can jump into general play. Not the best feature if you want to play an open style or rush defence.

On attack you can pass the ball with relative freedom. A good feature here is that you can pass to the next man or skip to the second or third receiver. This does, to some degree, allow for quick movement of the ball, but the problem is the second and third receivers cannot be seen within the screen using the best camera options, so you can't really utilise this feature to its full potential.

You are better off with short passes unless wider receivers come within view. But even then your players automatically take a few steps back before receiving the ball. This allows the opposition defence to close gaps on you or rush up quickly.

Even trying to score can be a bit frustrating. Instead of a simple dive for the line the game tries to dramatise a try which at times can result in being held up over the line. The dramatisation seems like it has to be part of nearly all tries because opposition players can pop up out of the blue and hold you up.

Rugby League 2 is more for tactical play; in others words, hit it up a few times followed by a bomb if deep in opposition territory, or punting it downfield if further back or even putting in a grubber to chase or to attempt to force an error. This aspect of the game is where it does shine. With the way the kicking feature is designed the minute you select a kicking option, the game almost freezes (while the kicking option is still held down) for you to strategically direct the kick and maybe pull off a 40/20 if you are looking to punt.