The launch of AFL 23 was a complete disaster.
Much of the game was unplayable with constant crashes and basic gameplay not functioning as it should. While the internet was being filled with memes and glitch videos, the game’s developer Big Ant Studios is, even today, frantically producing hot fixes to try and appease a frustrated fanbase.
These fixes have brought AFL 23 to the minimum you’d expect from a sports game. However, it remains in a dire state with plenty of work ahead of it to build to the standards set by recent Aussie Rules titles, and that’s already a low bar to aim for.
The frequency with which this game is being updated means it may shift and change into something different in the near future, but this is still a full-priced retail product sitting on store shelves and I’ve written this review based on the current product on offer and my experience during a dismal launch week.
Rushed Behind – Gameplay
AFL 23 is the latest official Australian Rules Football game, following on from 2020’s AFL Evolution 2 by Wicked Witch. Developer Big Ant Studios has returned to the helm for the first time since their fondly remembered entry AFL Live all the way back in 2011.
Their newest effort remains unfinished. Missing features, confusing mechanics and frustrating glitches result in a shallow facsimile of Australian Rules, lacking the depth, speed and familiar hallmarks necessary to create a satisfactory simulation of the sport.
AFL is a fast-paced, free-flowing competition where athletes rely on agility, strength and quick thinking to dominate their opponents. It’s difficult to convey in a video game, but AFL 23 fumbles so many of the basics.
Why do my players rotate with the elegance of an L-plater struggling to make a three-point turn?
Why does all their momentum come to a halt any time they receive a handball?
How about the button to switch your player only working half the time, creating constant confusion as to who you’re controlling?
It starts to feel like you’re playing footy in a swimming pool…
And while that sluggish control should create an unfair advantage for your computer-controlled opponents, thankfully things have remained competitive with the AI being half-baked across launch week. On the day of release, opposing players wouldn’t even make tackles on the highest difficulties, leaving full backs wide open to cross the entire field and boot easy goals.
Following a patch to remedy this, I’d find my rivals instead teleporting to make tackles I should’ve easily been able to avoid. Being able to set your team’s tactics might have made things easier to manage, but as of this publication, this feature is yet to appear.
Marking and tackling feel unresponsive, often resulting in a guessing game as to whether you’ll be successful. I was left wondering how I will ever claim my car for winning ‘Mark of the Year’ when the game didn’t provide the ability to take a speccy? Gary Moorcroft wouldn’t stand for such sacrilege!
Lucky for us all, they’ve just patched it and speccies are in.
Free kicks are also limited to just the basics like holding the ball. There’s no pushes in the back, you can’t tackle too high and fifty metre penalties are never triggered, despite there being a stat count for them.
And what to make of the many glitches? On day one, roughly half of my matches would crash to the PlayStation’s main menu, usually close to the final siren. Small handballs intended for a nearby teammate instead go flying 70 metres backwards. The umpires regularly call holding the ball the instant you receive a ruck tap. AFL 23 often feels like a game you’re fighting against rather than simply playing.
Here’s a quick compilation of my launch week experience:
That’s not to say it’s all doom and gloom.
The kicking mechanics and uncontested marks are a highlight, creating satisfying passages of play if you can find unmarked players. Spoils feel like they have weight behind them, allowing you to disrupt the opponent’s flow.
And to their credit, patches have dramatically improved the state of the game from where it was on day one. Sadly, it’s starting from such a poor position that it may be many weeks or even months until this reaches a gold standard for AFL games.
“Who Would’ve Thought The Sequel Would Be Just…. Actually, Never Mind” – Features
The game modes and features on offer in AFL 23 were poorly communicated leading up to launch. Upon release, it felt clearer why they had been so quiet. There’s just not a whole lot on offer here.
There’s a standard exhibition match, with the options to play with friends in local and online multiplayer – at launch you could only play with other random players, thankfully that has been fixed.
This mode was littered with distracting bugs, sometimes feeling like it’s one or two patches behind the offline experience.
You can play a single season or do a full career mode, managing an AFL or AFLW team. I tried to resurrect the hopes of my beloved West Coast Eagles in the management mode. While my players outperformed their real-life counterparts, I found the mode to be pretty barebones, missing the ability to train players, manage staff or have any sort of media presence as seen in Big Ant’s other games such as Cricket 22 and AO Tennis 2.
The Brownlow and Coleman medals are featured in this mode as well as the All-Australian Team. Contract negotiations, trade periods and drafts are available and there’s separate difficulty options for these on offer so that you can adjust them to your liking. I did find that on medium difficulty for the trades, I could get away with some truly scandalous swaps, but building a team of superstars can make for some silly fun, so I won’t knock it for that.
Speaking of building superstar teams, after a lot of hype and a prominent position in the game’s launch trailer, the Ultimate Team-inspired Pro Team mode is still nowhere to be found.
There’s no option to play as VFL, WAFL or SANFL teams despite being a promised feature before launch. These should be arriving in the coming weeks or months, but their absence wasn’t clear before launch, so it’s disappointing to see it released like this.
“Jesaulenko, you beauty!” – Graphics & Sound
Big Ant made a lot of noise about having scanned almost every player and coach across the AFL and AFLW and the results largely feel like a generational leap for AFL game graphics. For added authenticity, the stadiums look like outstanding replicas of the real thing, teams run out through banners inspired by real cheer squad creations, and players can be equipped with a surprisingly large range of historical guernseys, including Port’s prison bars or Carlton’s eye-bleaching blue M&M outfit from the late 90s.
The development team clearly have a lot of passion for the sport and that’s where the many graphical glitches begin to feel like a letdown. Several players have yet to be scanned and end up looking like generic models. In the case of poor Hudson O’Keeffe…. Well, he might need a medical sub.
Commentary is always a struggle with these games, but I think AFL 23 has made some major strides. Featuring Anthony Hudson, Daniel Harford, Garry Lyon, Kelli Underwood and Jason Bennett, this is the most dynamic commentary team we’ve yet heard in an AFL game. There were fitting remarks about late-game comebacks and upset results during my seasons that felt true to what I was playing. That said, things aren’t perfect. Huddo has the energy of a five-year-old on a sugar overdose and I don’t need to hear Garry count how many goals were in the 2005 Grand Final every match, but it’s a major improvement on previous entries.
Wooden Spoon – Conclusion
Unfortunately, the launch of AFL 23 ranks up there with the classics – Cyberpunk 2077, The Master Chief Collection, SimCity 2013, DriveClub – as a disastrous start that has potentially poisoned the well in the eyes of the public.
Release week for AFL 23 has again demonstrated what customers have been trying to make clear to the industry – nobody wants to pay full price for a retail game only to find that they’re participating in an early access experience.
To their credit, Big Ant has regularly delivered when it comes to post-release support, though this is often by necessity.
There are still an enormous number of glitches and gameplay improvements that will be required to get this game performing like a half-decent version of the sport. Big Ant has a lot on their plates with three more games scheduled for release this year from the studio and I wonder how they can keep this pace up after a launch like this.
The studio has put out a roadmap of content to add soon, including the much-anticipated Pro Team mode. Will there be an audience sticking around to make that Pro Team mode worthwhile? Time will tell, but as a lifelong footy fan, I desperately long for a good modern representation of this sport and I hope this title eventually gets there.
Big Ant has an important position in the games industry, being essentially the only studio making these niche sports products that the publishing giants won’t go anywhere near. After shaky launches with the first AO Tennis, Cricket 22 and now reaching a new low with AFL 23, how many more chances will they get to keep playing this role?
