Hmm, too much code in the template library, too much magic in general. I do like the general packacking, the automatic compilation and the snazzy error and testing interfaces. Seems a bit hard to change from their Groovy template system to something like StringTemplate, though.
Although I think that the built-in template system is very very nice, it would be really easy to write a play module that provide any template engine you want.
Well, both systems are basically diametrical opposites. StringTemplates is very strong on MVC separation whereas the play templates feature a fully-fledged programming language.
I'll have to dive deeper into play to see how much more I would have to do in the Controller part to prepare the output for the template...
