- Joined
- Jul 8, 2009
- Profile Flag
- New Zealand (Silver Fern)
- Online Cricket Games Owned
- Don Bradman Cricket 14 - PS3
- Don Bradman Cricket 14 - Steam PC
How do you do, fellow kids?
One of the more interesting, implied topics that crops up across all the suggestions, debates and helicopter shots is that of Don Bradman Cricket; Playing Cricket or Watching Cricket?
What do I mean?
A lot of the arguments for or against certain requested features or gameplay suggestions boils down to two quite distinct categories, the feeling of playing cricket versus the feeling of watching cricket. The biggest example of this is the camera selection when playing Don Bradman Cricket. I don't think it's a leap to suggest the placement of the camera on the player, be it batter or bowler revolutionized how many approached playing cricket games and "Broadcast Camera", for me anyway, seems like a relic best shoved in the past. Having the camera orbit the batsman/bowler as it does (or moving into the ProCAM area) gave you a feeling of playing the game of cricket, not being a spectator watching you play the game.
Broadening that out some more, there's quite a few suggestions of gameplay that fall into these two categories:
Playing Cricket
Watching Cricket
...and that's just a few short examples. There's many more.
So here's the discussion points; where do you fall? What is more important to you and reflective of how you approach cricket gaming? Do you want the game to replicate the broadcast experience of cricket on Television, with all the bells and whistles that make the entertainment of the game the highlight for you? Or do you want the feeling of playing the game, surrounded by friends and team-mates grinding out a draw in a test, feeling the rush you can only feel standing in the middle of the MCG as you debut for the Biggton Gamecocks against the Yellow Jackets Killer Whales?
Addendum:
I come down on the side of playing cricket first, entertainment bells and whistles second, with a balance between the two showcasing the on-field action elements like flying stumps, the two aren't mutually exclusive but less is more. The feeling I get from Big Ant is that's where their passion lies too. They want to put you on the field, they want you in control as you play the game across all the different gameplay modes but specifically in career mode it's about you as the player being on the field. I personally believe as the game evolves a stronger focus on playing cricket vs watching cricket will give the game immeasurable value the longer you play it.
One of the more interesting, implied topics that crops up across all the suggestions, debates and helicopter shots is that of Don Bradman Cricket; Playing Cricket or Watching Cricket?
What do I mean?
A lot of the arguments for or against certain requested features or gameplay suggestions boils down to two quite distinct categories, the feeling of playing cricket versus the feeling of watching cricket. The biggest example of this is the camera selection when playing Don Bradman Cricket. I don't think it's a leap to suggest the placement of the camera on the player, be it batter or bowler revolutionized how many approached playing cricket games and "Broadcast Camera", for me anyway, seems like a relic best shoved in the past. Having the camera orbit the batsman/bowler as it does (or moving into the ProCAM area) gave you a feeling of playing the game of cricket, not being a spectator watching you play the game.
Broadening that out some more, there's quite a few suggestions of gameplay that fall into these two categories:
Playing Cricket
- You field, you bat, you bowl. You set individual fields for individual batsman.
- Non-intrusive gameplay graphics
- Short/interactive cutscenes that put you in the action as part of the team
- Less presentation garbage, more cricket
- A broad range of nuanced animations for bowlers, batsman and fielders
Watching Cricket
- You bat mostly, bowl a little and AI takes care of the fielding for you
- More Presentation gameplay graphic, replay and camera options
- Longer non-interactive cutscenes setting the scene
- Broader Range of in-match statistics, Scoreboards and so on
- Action animations, extreme ends of the spectrum for batsman, bowlers and fielders.
...and that's just a few short examples. There's many more.
So here's the discussion points; where do you fall? What is more important to you and reflective of how you approach cricket gaming? Do you want the game to replicate the broadcast experience of cricket on Television, with all the bells and whistles that make the entertainment of the game the highlight for you? Or do you want the feeling of playing the game, surrounded by friends and team-mates grinding out a draw in a test, feeling the rush you can only feel standing in the middle of the MCG as you debut for the Biggton Gamecocks against the Yellow Jackets Killer Whales?
Addendum:
I come down on the side of playing cricket first, entertainment bells and whistles second, with a balance between the two showcasing the on-field action elements like flying stumps, the two aren't mutually exclusive but less is more. The feeling I get from Big Ant is that's where their passion lies too. They want to put you on the field, they want you in control as you play the game across all the different gameplay modes but specifically in career mode it's about you as the player being on the field. I personally believe as the game evolves a stronger focus on playing cricket vs watching cricket will give the game immeasurable value the longer you play it.
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