I find it extremely disappointing, and disheartening, that even 10 years after BLIC 1999 was released on PS1 we still haven't got a decent cricket game. Compare EAC 2009 to any of the other sports games such as NBA 2k9, MLB 2009, Madden NFL 09, FIFA 09 or Pro Evo for Soccer and the difference is apparent. If a game with so many bugs had been released for any other sport, it would have got a rating closer to 3.5 or 4 rather than a 6 or 7 which we cricket fanatics are willing to give.
The sad part is that codemasters had a decent platform to build on - I still prefer BLIC 99 or even the Sega Megadrive Brian Lara cricket released way back in early 90s (I got it in 94 and was my first cricket game on any platform) - and they have totally messed it up. Every time we feel we are close to getting a half decent game the game producers reboot the game, i.e. get a new publisher & revamp the game engine by starting from the scratch. And by half decent game I am only looking for a game without any major bugs such as no run-out bug or no AI pacing issue which simply makes the game unplayable. Yes, my expectations are so low I don't even expect a decent product - the only thing I want is it's a decent playable game and so far I am still waiting.
A note to publishers: Instead of rebooting the game every 4-5 years, see it through to the end for once by focusing on gameplay improvements every year, or two years, rather than starting from the scratch and adding bells and whistles which I (or most cricket fans) honestly don't care about. As an analogy take the case of Madden NFL series. Madden got the gameplay engine right maybe around 2005 or 06 and since then they have focused on adding tweaks to the engine and now the game is as close as it can be to the actual game. We understand a video game can never be same as the actual sport but who can honestly say that AC09 is cricket? If codemasters had stuck to BLIC 99 or even BLIC 2005 as the base platform, we could have had a decent game by now.
It seems in cricket games we actually get the best game in the first iteration and go down from there. For example I found BLIC 2005 better than BLIC 2007. Another request to the game producers - take your time and release a decent product and not some half-baked offering just to meet your timelines (ashes in this case). Cricket fans/followers would buy a good game even though Ashes, or world cup, are over. I hope EA do so and deliver a quality game later this year (heard rumors that EA will release a cricket game later this year or early next year).
I am so dejected that we go through the same cycle very couple of years - lot of hype around the new game, positive pre-reviews based on hands-on test & q/a sessions with game developers, false promises to fix gameplay bugs by the time final version rolls out and then the big crash
And I can't even comprehend why game producers & developers take such a callous attitude toward cricket games. Cricket has a mass following in following regions/countries :-
1. India and indian subcontinent in general - Indian economy is currently 12th largest (or thereabouts) in the world and growing all the time.
2. UK
3. Australia & New Zealand
4. West Indies
5. South Africa
6. US/Canada - Has large cricket following expat population, i.e. ppl of indian/west-indian origin and lots of english/australian expats.
Granted, this is nowhere close to soccer or baseball/NFL marketshare, but at the same time this is not a small market to be sneezed at, and with the advent of 20-20 cricket (20-20 world cups and IPL), cricket's market is ever expanding.
Game producer/developers should look at cricket videogame as an opportunity and should realize that whoever gives us a decent game will get the marketshare and cricket fans in general are an extremely loyal and forgiving lot. I, for one, would buy a cricket game series every year if the game producer/publisher convinces me that they genuinely want to develop a playable cricket game and at least will put every effort to do so. Sadly I am still to be convinced that this is the case
- A disappointed, dejected, disillusioned, angry, disgusted, despondent, disheartened and dispirited cricket fan
The sad part is that codemasters had a decent platform to build on - I still prefer BLIC 99 or even the Sega Megadrive Brian Lara cricket released way back in early 90s (I got it in 94 and was my first cricket game on any platform) - and they have totally messed it up. Every time we feel we are close to getting a half decent game the game producers reboot the game, i.e. get a new publisher & revamp the game engine by starting from the scratch. And by half decent game I am only looking for a game without any major bugs such as no run-out bug or no AI pacing issue which simply makes the game unplayable. Yes, my expectations are so low I don't even expect a decent product - the only thing I want is it's a decent playable game and so far I am still waiting.
A note to publishers: Instead of rebooting the game every 4-5 years, see it through to the end for once by focusing on gameplay improvements every year, or two years, rather than starting from the scratch and adding bells and whistles which I (or most cricket fans) honestly don't care about. As an analogy take the case of Madden NFL series. Madden got the gameplay engine right maybe around 2005 or 06 and since then they have focused on adding tweaks to the engine and now the game is as close as it can be to the actual game. We understand a video game can never be same as the actual sport but who can honestly say that AC09 is cricket? If codemasters had stuck to BLIC 99 or even BLIC 2005 as the base platform, we could have had a decent game by now.
It seems in cricket games we actually get the best game in the first iteration and go down from there. For example I found BLIC 2005 better than BLIC 2007. Another request to the game producers - take your time and release a decent product and not some half-baked offering just to meet your timelines (ashes in this case). Cricket fans/followers would buy a good game even though Ashes, or world cup, are over. I hope EA do so and deliver a quality game later this year (heard rumors that EA will release a cricket game later this year or early next year).
I am so dejected that we go through the same cycle very couple of years - lot of hype around the new game, positive pre-reviews based on hands-on test & q/a sessions with game developers, false promises to fix gameplay bugs by the time final version rolls out and then the big crash
And I can't even comprehend why game producers & developers take such a callous attitude toward cricket games. Cricket has a mass following in following regions/countries :-
1. India and indian subcontinent in general - Indian economy is currently 12th largest (or thereabouts) in the world and growing all the time.
2. UK
3. Australia & New Zealand
4. West Indies
5. South Africa
6. US/Canada - Has large cricket following expat population, i.e. ppl of indian/west-indian origin and lots of english/australian expats.
Granted, this is nowhere close to soccer or baseball/NFL marketshare, but at the same time this is not a small market to be sneezed at, and with the advent of 20-20 cricket (20-20 world cups and IPL), cricket's market is ever expanding.
Game producer/developers should look at cricket videogame as an opportunity and should realize that whoever gives us a decent game will get the marketshare and cricket fans in general are an extremely loyal and forgiving lot. I, for one, would buy a cricket game series every year if the game producer/publisher convinces me that they genuinely want to develop a playable cricket game and at least will put every effort to do so. Sadly I am still to be convinced that this is the case
- A disappointed, dejected, disillusioned, angry, disgusted, despondent, disheartened and dispirited cricket fan
