For the benefit of the confused - those strange people who didn't even know there was an alternative to football, let alone two different forms of rugby - Rugby League is the one Johnny Wilkinson doesn't play. And while the same could be said for Rugby Union at the moment (given how much time the little sicknote seems to spend on the physio's treatment table), it's all the indication you need that Rugby League is the less popular and glamorous of the two rugby codes.

Now we're not knocking Rugby League here (best to point that out before we get a coach-load of angry northerners racing down to introduce us to the pleasures of hospital food); it's certainly more energetic and brutal that its Union cousin, but the fact remains - Rugby League lacks the depth and complexity of Rugby Union and as such is never going to produce an Xbox game to compare with EA's excellent Rugby 2006.

With that in mind, Super League Rugby League 2 has its work cut out if it's going to persuade us that it's worth shelling out your hard earned cash for.

Diving straight into a game (because that's pretty much all there is to do. For some weird reason the developer forgot to include any form of training or tutorial mode), it's immediately clear that Super League Rugby League 2 is going for the 'dynamic' side of the sport rather than the tactical, by presenting a control set up stripped down to the bare minimum of running, passing and tackling controls. So that basically boils down to holding down the sprint button while feeding the ball out to the wings when on the attack, and steering your northern beefcake into the oncoming ball- carrier when in defence. Or, as was mostly the case in our experience, running in totally the wrong direction while the computer-controlled players tried desperately to make up for our glaring inadequacies.

To be fair, there are some (some!) more advanced moves on offer: attackers can dodge tackles; shoulder barge and pass the ball out to playmakers; defenders can look to strip the ball from the opposition’s hands; and everyone can dive for spilled balls. But ultimately you never feel like you're doing more than running headlong at the try line, fingers crossed that your man with the ball has enough oomph to barge past the defenders. There are no set patterns of play to exploit, no clever off-the-ball runs by your wingers to draw defenders and no real sense of being involved in a game plan. Worse still, there's none of that raw feeling of explosive power that makes Rugby League so exciting to watch.

This lack of involvement is echoed in the set pieces, with scrums that are totally controlled by the computer. As it is, you're left to twiddle your thumbs while the computer decides which way the ball is going to roll.

If the rugby itself feels sparse, the game options on offer look slimmer than Keira Knightley. With cholera. In terms of teams you get the British Super League teams and southern-hemisphere NRL teams, along with a handful of international Test teams that only unlock themselves after 11 hours have been okayed! Er, hello?! What's that all about?

Likewise, game modes are equally spartan. Quick match, a handful of pre-set tournaments, and a Career mode (which lets you indulge in an extremely basic level of player training, buying and selling), and that's your lot. Actually, that's a lie - there's a decent custom tournament creator too, but since it lacks a random team picker to fill out the draws (you physically have to choose every single team and their place in the tournament) it's barely worth mentioning.

Super League Rugby League 2is a brave attempt at recreating a sport that, let's face it, just isn't suited for a console makeover. It's like trying to make a game based on the egg-and-spoon race. And while there are one or two nice touches - the inclusion of a Live mode is an unexpected pleasure, even if the only people likely to play online are sports-obsessed Aussies, and the way the camera spins from one end of the pitch to the other during a turnover is straight out of The Matrix - the end result is predictably average, less so when you consider the feature-lite nature of the game modes.

League fans who aren't too fussy will probably be pleased just to see their sport turned into a game, but general rugby fans would do better to keep their fingers crossed for a Rugby League mode in next year's EA Rugby game.

1. The fact that Xbox finally has a Rugby League game must be good news to some people, but general rugby fans might be disappointed.
2. Matches have some good animation and one or two nice touches, which means they're not a total disaster.

1. The control system feels basic, and matches lack depth. There's no sense of aggression or involvement at all.
2. Scrums are handled totally by the computer, further separating players from any feeling of participation at all.
3. A complete lack of game modes (no tutorials?!) means there's very little here beyond the basic career mode.

One or two nice touches, but ultimately a let down for rugby fans expecting a decent game. For RL fans only.