The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[chaniabong]

So I've been waiting for this game for ages because I love cricket and put a lot of hours into both Ashes Cricket 09 and International Cricket 10, really enjoying them both. I've only so far put in a few hours on this, but so far my impressions are very mixed.

The Good:
- Love the idea of the career mode
- The range of teams an competitions available is good and the Cricket Academy means there will be a constant stream of players/competitions/teams etc
- Hope for a vibrant modding scene to develop
- I know it's not a unique feature, but the ability to simulate (and more control over how long/short to simulate) is great.

The Bad:
- It is incredibly inaccessible - batting is awfully hard, because in an effort to create depth, the controls feel artificially difficult to grasp. Move feet, read delivery (length and angle), pick footwork, select shot - all in the space of a second or so. Even in the nets I struggle to hit the ball because I just don't have the insane reaction time to process all that information.
- Likewise with the bowling, there are so many steps to perform just to bowl a simple delivery.
- In both batting and bowling I don't ever really feel I'm in control in the same way I did with International Cricket; shots don't seem to go where I think they should (even on Rookie.)
- There needs to be a screen indicator for both batting and bowling showing the shots and delivery types (as in the manual.) This would be especially helpful for the bowling.
- The camera is too far away (even on the 'close' setting) and I have no idea how people can master the Pro camera. By way of example, in my very first over ever bowled I got an LBW purely because I appealed for a laugh - I had no idea the ball was hitting because the camera was a bit too distant to make it out (and this is playing 3-feet away from a 50" screen). Equally, I overturned an LBW against me, though I was just chancing it - I had no indication if the ball was going wide.
- Do people feel runs are scored too quickly when simulating? A lot of runs scored at a run a ball in 4-day games so far.
- The tutorial is pretty poor for such a complex control scheme

The Ugly:
- The animations are a bit stiff and as mentioned in the bugs thread I've had the ball not show at all in replays and my bat passing through the stumps. Players also face the wrong way a lot.
- Presentation is a bit rough and ready. Why doesn't the current opposition score show on screen during the match (either in the ticker bar and the bottom or top left or something)? In a T20 game I have to pause to look at the scorecard - only the run-rate is mentioned in-game/
- Similar to that, I have the setting as runs/wickets, but bowling stats still show the other way around everywhere

I realise that this sounds pretty down on the game and, well, that's because I am currently very disappointed with my purchase. I appreciate that the only way I'm going to get any good is to try and fail (a lot!) but like I say, it just doesn't feel like I have the same level of control as International Cricket game me, where I felt the shots I played where what I wanted, whereas here they feel a bit more arbitrary.

As this is the only game on Steam I've ever pre-ordered (or indeed, bought at full price) I'm going to stick with it for the long haul and hope it clicks, but right now I do hanker for this career mode with the presentation (scorecards/commentary etc) and batting mechanics of International Cricket.

[Mark]

The more you play the more you understand how the game works..practice practice practice.

At first I had no idea how to use the controls but I kept at it as it is worth it in the long run.

I don't really agree with your Bad and Ugly points but it comes down to personal opinion.
Not a lot of choices out there for cricket games for the PC. My other sport I like is Ice Hockey but there has not been a decent one for the PC since EA's NHL 09 so Im stuck with really out dated graphics and gameplay. LOL

[chaniabong]

That's fair enough, and I do realise that I need to play a lot before I'll get comfortable.

I do think that International Cricket was better at presenting information to you in-game though.

[Doc Clarke]

I'm loving this game. Finding the batting hard. I play on Pro and have so far managed a couple of 20's - having said that my career player is a speciailist bowler with virtually no batting skill.
I find bowling pretty easy even on Pro or harder, so hope they don't make that easier. After 100 overs or so (2 hours maybe) I can pitch the ball pretty exactly and get it to do almost exactly what I want.

My "eureka" moment with bowling was realising that I should not grip the right stick. Thumb under the stick, fore-finger above it barely touching. Flick down to set the jump and flick up to set the release (as straight as possible as this also sets the line of the ball) within ten minutes of working that out I was bowling like a good 'un

Reactions? Well I'm almost 50 years old and know for a solid state fact that my reactions are no-where near what they were 20 years ago - and they weren't world class back then.

As for better visibility - there are some things I'd like. A fielder pitch map. Having to wait for the action camera to pan or reposition to show me whether the ball is going to a fielder or not is not good. I've been run out many times taking a second run when a boundary fielder just "appears" and throws in a bullet. No notification he even existed before he was in shot, ball in hand, and rocket throw to the bowlers end. Annoying.

The game is MUCH harder than 07 - 09 and other games including the most recent Codemasters and EA efforts, which , frankly I mastered inside a days play on even the hardest level.

The last Codemasters game I was hitting 20+ runs an over on the hardest difficulty level before I'd even got around to throwing the Amazon wrapper it came in, into my waste paper bin. Likewise worked out multiple ways to take a wicket every 3rd or 4th ball (again oin the hardest level)

Needless to say I played these Codemasters and EA games for about 4 hours and have never touched them since. So easy to destroy teams they were zero challenge. The only way I'd get out is when I got bored of hitting boundaries.

I'd be like 400 for 2 in 22 overs - then just lose concentration and be all out for 440 inside 26 overs or something, then bowl the opposition out for 30. - of which 50% would be extras.

This game is nor perfect, but as a someone whose played computer cricket games for 35 years with maybe 100 cricket games in my collection going back to "Cricket Test" on the ZX80, this is probably the best action based game I've played by quite some way. With cricket captain the best sim.

Scritty

[Mark]

Can you still buy Cricket captain? And I know one fact for sure.. No matter how bad I play in this game.. I play better in the game then I do in real ife. LOL

[RossAtBigAnt]

You're not alone in that @phototime :)

[HotSauce]

I'm enjoying it so far just have to keep in mind these guys are a indie company and dont have the financial muscle of EA and others.Hopefully in the coming years the more titles they put out the more refined this game will become or atleast thats my hope because i really think this game has great potential. :)

[moosc]

Firstly let me say that this is an fairly decent game and leaves every other cricket game for dead that I have played, especialy in the carreer mode.

However it is not perfect and has a degree of unrelentless pain for players who make evan the slightest degree of misjudgement, especialy when batting.
I have been playing on amature level which I believe is the lowest for the carreer mode. I have played two full seasons and have reached the height of frustration never before experienced by me in any game ever before.

I'm playing as a batsman and don't bowl. My best score is 88 (shield level), done properley without slogging and by playing each ball on its merrits. I've also twice scored over fifty in the same mode. In one day 50 0ver games my high score is 130. I guess I can hold the bat a bit, but still find the game terribly unforgiving.

My problems are:-
(a) Stone fielders/batsman. Balls bounce off them with impunity, often resulting in wickets or loss of runs. I've hit my batting partner so often that they are calling me "The tattooist"
(b) Glue handed Fielders who never drop catches
(c) Teflon handed bowler... 'cause nothing ever sticks.... can't catch.
(d) Fielders who would put a circus acrobat to shame with their sideways leaps of immense distances and who never drop their catch on landing, unlike real life.
(e) the continued imput of the way the player wants the simulartion to run. Shouldn't the game remember the last imput?

All I'm reminding the devs
(1) not all catches are taken, some are dropped.
(2) some bowlers can catch.
(3) not everytime a pad is hit your out, especialy around the wicket
(4) some non-strikers are actually watching the game and get out of the way of the shot
(5) also how many overs left in the days play when in the longer version
(6) players get hurt but am yet to see any.
(7) Weather effects.... do we have any? Played 2 seasons nothing yet. Even here in Melbourne.

A good game that just needs a bit of pollish and easing back for us older (59) players.

Neil W

[Mark]

yes I have not seen any weather as yet? other then sunshine.

[moosc]

Also my other pet peave is the way sides on the point of collapse always have a player make a miraclious score that aids their recovery to a decent score despite being 6 for 80 for example.

Also lots of innings seem to have multiple centurions. I'd like t o see the stats on that as well.

Neil W

[Volkira]

I've had rain delay the start of a game as well as it drop during a game.
What i'm curious about is wether the humidty and weather is actually affecting the pitch?Is a left handed swing bowler going to get more swing on a humid day compared to a dry day?
As this is important in deciding whether to bat or bowl on a particular day.

I'm presuming the bowler will catch these dropped catches as he gains xp levels?Though I was a bowler and hardly dropped a catch from age 10.I shake my head at how often the bowler is dropping easy catches in game as well as the simple lofted drives being dropped.
Also the fielders you bring in really close usually in real life are the ones with the great reflexes and are specialists in these fielding spots.Are these fielding positions reflecting this in game?As my very close in fielders hardly catch a shot.

I've gotten run out several times now as for some reason the batter keeps running after a single.I think they should stop and wait for your next command.As a former player I would not continue running without a call.
The ingame choice should be press X for run and then they complete the run and wait for another X button press if they want to do a 2nd and 3rd run.When I see an obvious single I aint expecting the batters in game to try running for a second.I'm expecting the AI to stop.

[moosc]

You must press 'x' for each run. The problem/feature is that you can multi-press the blue 'x' and queue the runs. Often this leads to a run out if the number of runs is misjudged.

Pressing the red button will stop the runner.

Neil W

[moosc]

Six 1st ball ducks in a row and thats it folks! Will delete it from my machine!

No fun and whats the point?

Neil W

[AlphaCharlie]

I'm in my 40's and have had just about all the cricket games in the last 20 years - this one is the best yet by a long way. I hope they do some work on it post release as nothing is perfact.... but thus far it's pretty good.

[fetidchimp]

Цитата допису moosc:

Six 1st ball ducks in a row and thats it folks! Will delete it from my machine!

No fun and whats the point?

Neil W

You must have it set to Kim Hughes

[ThunderStorm101]

my first maybe 10/15 matches i whent out for anywhere between 0-4 runs but once you get the hang of it it your run total will slower increase, i can get a comfortable 20ish as a Spin Bowler now and mainly go out to spin, its amazing how you develope a style as if it was a real career, im much stronger on my back foot and offside and thats not anything to do with stats, just how my style naturally developed in the career