Chief, what would you give IC10 out of 10? What were your 3 biggest gripes with it?
OK: Time to answer this incredibly good question. Overall I still enjoy the game a lot, and maintain that I consider it the best action cricket game made yet. It?s a niche sport, and an even more niche game, and yet the reaction from most quarters was incredibly positive. I appreciate that many of you, the hardcore, wanted even more from it but please understand that when I say that I was delighted with it, that?s not to say I didn?t think it was possible to do even better.
For me, the BAFTA nomination was a vindication of our efforts: to be considered in such a competitive category against some amazing, some well established and some incredibly well-funded games was incredibly humbling for the whole team. I mean, LOOK at them!
I?m sure you can appreciate how much that meant to everyone involved in making it... Right? RIGHT?
However, no matter how proud, there were obviously some things that I thought were negatives/gripes: you ask me for 3 main ones, then here you go:
? Lack of manual control over your shots: Although I can pick a direction, my foot position and a choice of defensive, lofted or ?normal? AND how hard I want to hit it, sometimes I want to play a very specific shot and the game doesn?t get what I?m trying to do. Sometimes this is frustrating (for example, I?m aiming for deep square and want to sweep as the ball is quite fullish, but the batsman doesn?t get this and goes for a pull.) Especially when you need to take risks and the batsman plays a safer shot, this is annoying.
o It?s frustrating, but this is a limitation with the batting system. It?s such a delicate balance ? give the use too much control and it gets very difficult, as you have to not only select the right shot, but also the right timing, and getting both right is very hard: it led to much pad-smashing. Can it too much and it becomes too easy and doesn?t feel like you?re fully in control, meaning that even if you DO hit a good shot, you feel like the computer helped you do it, so the feeling of reward is deflated. For me this is the same difference between PES and FIFA, but I know others feel different: personally I?ve always found FIFA clunky and over-easy because of the assistance, whereas PES gives you a much bigger feeling of accomplishment (although it makes the accomplishments rarer!)
? Often it feels like you?re playing ball to ball, but there?s no real sense of how each ball fits together as the match plays out: Although the target run rates etc do appear on the HUD from time to time, it doesn?t help me if I?m batting first: I?m guessing at a target score. Rarely do you feel like each ball is part of a match ? And certainly when it?s a tournament it?s even further dispersed.
o We should have come up with a way to address this. And indeed I?m very hopeful we?ve nailed it in AC13 with some of the decisions we?ve taken.
? Too much reliance on timing ? Although much improved from AC09, too much of the game is reliant on timing for success: Success should be equally about the decisions you make (what shot to play, ball to bowl etc), However, this also relies on making sure the player understands what the correct decisions are, re-enforcing through rewards for the right decisions and punishing the wrong ones. (See
Firth?s First Law of Games Design | AppyNation ) It breaks the law.
o Again, I think there are ways we can improve this. We?re still tweaking some of the mechanics, particularly with the bowling, to try and fix this. It?s also largely about the feedback loop to the player, which I?m confident we can improve greatly in AC13.
Now, to the other part of your question. I HATE ratings out of ten: they don?t carry context and can be misleading when taken away from the main body of critique, often becoming arbitrary. Example: I once made a game that the review described (and I?m paraphrasing a bit) as ?This is absolutely perfect for those into this sort of game, yet the score was 6.5/10? Another game (A DS title) got a review which gave ?Graphics? 7/10, but in words described it as ?getting the very best visuals possible for a DS game.?
However, if I don?t number it up, you?ll all think I?m ducking the question, right?
So reluctantly I'd say, in the context of cricket games of all time, I give it an 8, which I take to mean: ?The best cricket game I?ve played, but hopefully not the best cricket game I *will* play.?
I await your rebuttals.
