Are'nt we over-estimating Don Bradman cricket-14?

[Gabe]

I would say DBC lived up to its hype. The controls - both bowling and batting - are spot on and revolutionary.

I'm really struggling to think of any way in which the batting controls are revolutionary. They don't feel massively different to other cricket games and, in some ways, offer a bit less freedom and subtlety than Ashes 09/IC10. As for bowling, I've only bowled in career as a spinner and whilst I would say the controls for that are different, I'm not sure I say revolutionary there, either. Certainly good (and I do like the idea of rotating the stick to add spin, for example), but I'm not sure the impact it will have on the genre in years to come.

I think it's more than lived up to the hype and it's beautiful to look at and at times, you get the feeling of a real match situation playing against someone or the AI.

For me, any sense of realism disappeared quite early, due mainly to the really, really awful field settings, where I had silly mid-off and silly mid-on backed-up by a long-off and mid-on. And then it happened again and again. Add to that seeing 3 slips and a gully in both Pro40 and T20 matches and it just destroys immersion, especially when the AI is happy to leave nobody covering the massive gaps at point and square leg instead.

The other thing, and I've said this before, is the presentation. There are so many simple things missing that I refuse to believe would be tough or time-consuming fixes - lack of maidens on the scorecard, not showing my top score on my little 'card' when I walk in to bat are just but a couple of examples. Then there is the lack of stats in general.

The end result is that although International Cricket 2010 is the poorer game compared to DB14, it is so much better at making me believe I'm participating in a proper cricket match experience, and a lot of that is down to the presentation. I'm not talking about the commentary here (though that helps) but the general spit-and-polish.

I remember the first time a sports game properly wowed me with how slick it all was, how TV-like. It was FA Premier League All Stars, released back in 1999 (I think). It was almost like watching Sky and became the template for the modern FIFA games.

On the plus side is that - in truth, almost by default - it *is* the best cricket game around. The career mode is a wonderful way to play the game, the Academy offers huge scope for customisation and I can see real potential in future iterations (let's just hope they come to PC!)

 

[IceAgeComing]

I think a few people were expecting MLB The Show or FIFA-style quality all round: and if you compare it to that then its probably not as good. The thing is, that was never a fair judgement point; since DBC14 was a first release and had.. limited funding compared to those games. I was expecting a good game that represented the core game of cricket well and, bar a few annoying bugs, it generally does that well. It hopefully means that the depth and complexity of other modes in other sports games can be introduced in future iterations if the core gameplay doesn't need to be drastically changed, only refined.

 

[blockerdave]

I think a few people were expecting MLB The Show or FIFA-style quality all round: and if you compare it to that then its probably not as good. The thing is, that was never a fair judgement point; since DBC14 was a first release and had.. limited funding compared to those games. I was expecting a good game that represented the core game of cricket well and, bar a few annoying bugs, it generally does that well. It hopefully means that the depth and complexity of other modes in other sports games can be introduced in future iterations if the core gameplay doesn't need to be drastically changed, only refined.

Gameplay wise yeah it was never gonna be as polished as that; but the poorness of AI field sets and the lack of stats really are big misses because they were better in "lesser" cricket games.

 

[Rowdoss]

Opinions are very welcome......knobheads aren't

EDIT: Actually thats not quite true, many a knobhead has been thoroughly enjoyed by members popping in and out of the threads.....errrm i should probably stop right there...

 

[grkrama]

this forum has no place for opinions,

Do share which opinion of yours you haven't been able to get it across or air it on the forum ?

 

[Gabe]

I think a few people were expecting MLB The Show or FIFA-style quality all round: and if you compare it to that then its probably not as good. The thing is, that was never a fair judgement point; since DBC14 was a first release and had.. limited funding compared to those games. I was expecting a good game that represented the core game of cricket well and, bar a few annoying bugs, it generally does that well. It hopefully means that the depth and complexity of other modes in other sports games can be introduced in future iterations if the core gameplay doesn't need to be drastically changed, only refined.

I can only speak for me, but I was never here to get any hype about the game as I didn't even know it existed until late last year, so I had no lofty expectations. I do fully appreciate that the budget doesn't compare with other sports titles, but I specifically mentioned 2 little things which should not have taken any real time to implement but would have just added a little bit more to the overall effect.

I mean, both top scores in each format (for when the player comes out to bat) and maidens bowled are located elsewhere in the game and I don't believe adding them would have only been possible with an increased budget. The maidens-thing is the most baffling; I've not known any other cricket game - going all the way back to the ZX Spectrum - to not include maidens for a bowler's stats. Sometimes it is the little things that add up to make something much better.

As I said in my previous post, though, I - like you - hope that future iterations will successfully build on this good start.

 

[grkrama]

I would certainly agree with that if even half the effort spent on leader board thats completely useless to majority was directed at statistics , the levels of immersion would have been multiplied atleast 2X times.There is something nice about seeing those presented to you as you walk out to bat or bowl and establishes your identity with the player further, esp in career mode.

 

[MattW]

Sure enough, they include a bowler's maidens on the ground's scoreboard - just not in any of the hud or 'game' scorecard.


Can I renew my suggestion for the scoreboard to be cut to every couple of overs - along with the overs remaining in a match, current temperature and a breakdown of the extras, about the only thing this score board doesn't do is show the specific wicket information - the rest is done better than the scoreboard we actually get.

Even the innings are ordered correctly!

 

[Rowdoss]

The silly thing is though, and i keep harping back on it, the franchises people wish, hope and think this series should live up to have been long running series.
budgets and size of teams aside , its the continual improvement that gets these things where they are. Sure budgets and employee numbers are crucial but people have just got to look at the big picture.
DBC 14, for all it faults (i prefer to call them foibles) is an incredible first up effort.
Feature rich, ground breaking control systems, im actually quite astounded at what Big Ant have crammed into a first up effort.
The example i keep going back to is NBA live.

Once an outstanding, much loved series, it came a cropper for whatever reason i cant remember now. But they had a hiatus, worked on a title for a bit which was canned then started from scratch with NBA Live 14.
Big budget, big team (which surely had some BBall experience) and they coughed up a dogs breakfast.
The areas DBC falls down a little are not unique to just this game. AI in sports games has long been the bane of gamers' existence.
However the one thing i dont get is a small minority of planet cricket members (now call me crazy but i expect most or all planet cricket members are ACTUALLY cricket game fans and have a long history with the relatively few titles over the years) being in total denial about this game.
If you love cricket games and have played a lot of the titles through the years then there is no doubt this is the best cricket game available ( despite its few shortcomings) and it points toward a very exciting
future and it astounds me some MEMBERS of a CRICKET GAMING SITE cannot or refuse to see it. This game needs and deserves our support.

-End Rant

 

[zombieian]

I think it depends on what you want to use the game for. I quite happy just to play the odd 20/20 bash. I know it's not perfect, but at least it's fun for me. I can understand people's gripes about the AI though, and I would like to be able to manoeuvre the ball about a bit more than I can at the moment.

 

[inertSpark]

Do share which opinion of yours you haven't been able to get it across or air it on the forum ?

Lol too true!

There are a few opinionated people around (myself included!), and this forum is an excellent place to air those. Posts aren't deleted for no reason, and the admin are fairly lenient with regards to moving posts. So, you can say that any and all opinions, within reason, remain in public domain for all to see. Now whether people agree with those are a different matter, but hey, that's what discussion is all about! If someone were narcissistic enough to genuinely believe that their opinion was and is the only way, then I can see how they might take offense to people not agreeing with them!

 

[grkrama]

Can I renew my suggestion for the scoreboard to be cut to every couple of overs - along with the overs remaining in a match, current temperature and a breakdown of the extras, about the only thing this score board doesn't do is show the specific wicket information - the rest is done better than the scoreboard we actually get.
Even the innings are ordered correctly!

^ this, some how managed to get a couple of shots of the scorecard,





This would really help as well a few more like no of 4's and sixers,SR for batsman.

 

[MattW]

View attachment 128868

That one's odd - there's no mention of the Middlesex score. Presumably you're batting second given the target and run rate required.

 

[inertSpark]

Unfortunately, that has been all too true in the past.

Well I've been a lurker for many years (for mods etc) but never had a forum account until recently however (or if I did have an account, that has long since been forgotten!). I can't really speak with experience about the way things used to be. That said as far as forums go, this one is excellent. If you want to see what a badly run forum is like, go check out GTAForums! I'm grateful to PC at the very least, because it informed me about DBC14!

 

[zombieian]

I am a member of two forums to do with one of my other interests (Napoleonic military history) and I don't remember one instance of the kind of back biting that occurs here on occasion. I should know, because I have been the victim of some of it.