Ashes Cricket 2013 E3 Game impressions

[ambar_hitman]

So Root Admin of IVG (Sam) was at E3 2013 and he saw the game in action. The dev was playing it though. Here are his impressions:

Saw the game in action and I spoke to the dev. I asked about a delay and they were quite evasive. They said they plan to launch it at some point during this Ashes series, which basically means it could be delayed till as much as August (5th test). So the earlier date is definitely not happening.

When asked about how the game played, he said this:

The less said the better


The game looked unfinished and very rough. I asked how old the build was and they said this was close to the finished game. The dev was playing, not me. He could barely get bat on ball and I don't think it was because the AI was tough. Clunky animations, poor character models. Looked like a step back from Ashes 2009, forget IC 2010.

Don't get your hopes up.

link:

http://www.indianvideogamer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=39889&page=3#entry1699259

Sorry if this doesn't deserve a new topic. Mods can merge this with any other topic. I think this needs to be known by everyone so posting a new topic.

BTW Sam writes for MCV India and is running IVG since long time. So we can take his word for the quality of the game.

EDIT: More info added:

Well ok. The match being played was at Lords. The character models looked really stiff, very limited animations, lots of rough edges and the lighting and textures looked like a PS2 game.

The least you would expect from a cricket game in 2013 is for a shot to be accompanied by the appropriate stroke animation, but it seemed all over the place. Like the animation would be for a front foot, open-faced defensive block to a delivery outside off stump and the ball would speed to the boundary on the on side. Then there was the fielding.

You'd never actually see the ball travel into the keeper's or fielders's hands or see the keeper move his gloves in place to catch the ball. It was like the keepers hands would stay static and the ball would end up somewhere else and then just teleport into his gloves.
There was a lot of talk about what the devs plan to implement in the game, but the basics that I saw didn't inspire a lot of confidence. They spoke about how this game was designed to also be relevant when The Ashes went to Australia. They would do this by constantly updating the game with new kits, stats, players, rosters, etc. They even talked about how the pitch would deteriorate and how changes in pitch and cloud cover would affect gameplay. They also spoke about dynamic commentary eg commentators would tell you to get a move on if you were behind the required run rate. But the build on show itself didnt have any commentary or maybe the volume was turned all the way down.

 

[Biggs]

I asked how old the build was and they said this was close to the finished game.

Well, we know now with 99% certainty that's 100% grade A+ prime quality horses flatulence, because if it was 'close to finished' this whole delay malarkey wouldn't be happening.

To quote Lando Calrissian; "This deal is getting worse all the time..."

 

[ambar_hitman]

Yeah. They brought an unfinished game at E3 when it was supposed to release on 21st June. Means delay was 100% confirmed. Still they didn't announce it until today. Were they expecting miracles in 2-3 days?

 

[Biggs]

Were they expecting miracles in 2-3 days?

Nope. Just pre-orders.

 

[MattW]

When asked about how the game played, he said this:

Wow, I didn't think there would be more hits my confidence in this game could take. Good Job 505!

 

[mattk]

All you can do is laugh...

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Well, we know now with 99% certainty that's 100% grade A+ prime quality horses flatulence, because if it was 'close to finished' this whole delay malarkey wouldn't be happening.

To quote Lando Calrissian; "This deal is getting worse all the time..."

Hilarious!

Looks as though I'm going another summer without a cricket game then. Never mind: the money saved can go towards PES 14/Rome 2/new PC components (of course it would barely scratch the surface of the latter. )

This explains the lack of gameplay videos, the lack of hands on with testers and of course the lack of demo. Typical rushed Ashes cash in it seems. Shame - it all sounded so good on paper.

Such a damn shame that Transmission went under - they were on the road to the best cricket game of all time.

 

[barmyarmy]

Well they went under and re-emerged as Trickstar (and don't get Ross started on that either!).

 

[Bravo]

No Trailer, No Game Play Video,No Demo, Few Buggy unfinished Screenshots. That depicts the story....

 

[LegBreakGoogly]

Shocking! Buggy and all.

 

[fahad12001]

if the game was good and without any bugs then they should have shown a video or demo of the game to public. this is a clear sign that their game is not ready for release and needs a lot of improvement..

 

[isrararrafi]

I wonder what that english player (woakes or something) found in that game at the lords press event that made his face light up like that while playing......

 

[Bravo]

I wonder what that english player (woakes or something) found in that game at the lords press event that made his face light up like that while playing......

Cheerleaders

 

[Gone4aDuck]

I wonder what that english player (woakes or something) found in that game at the lords press event that made his face light up like that while playing......

If that pic of woakes had a caption competition, I believe it would go something like this......................
Woakes: "and you're telling me people have pre-ordered this crap"?!
505 guy: "yes, loads of them". (gives off an evil dr.claw style laugh)

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Well they went under and re-emerged as Trickstar (and don't get Ross started on that either!).

So the same developer responsible for the excellent (after PC Patch 2) Ashes 09 has apparently produced a load of rubbish this time round?



Maybe it'll be one that is worth getting once fully patched up - but by then the Ashes will be over. Right now, it sounds more than a little unfinished.