Ashes Cricket 2013 Review (PC only)

[cricket_online]

Can the folks who have purchased, or are planning to purchase, Ashes Cricket 2013 video game (PC only at the time) pls provide their first impressions and reviews in this thread? It will be easier to follow all the reviews here instead of the reviews getting jumbled up all over the place in the "AC13 General Discussion" thread

Thanks!

 

[fanirama]

Can the folks who have purchased, or are planning to purchase, Ashes Cricket 2013 video game (PC only at the time) pls provide their first impressions and reviews in this thread? It will be easier to follow all the reviews here instead of the reviews getting jumbled up all over the place in the "AC13 General Discussion" thread

Thanks!

Sure. I'm installing it now.. it is an 8.5GB total size from from Steam. (Download shows 3.5GB to get. It is going slow right now - 3-4MB/s. About 30mins. Then I'll play and tell you

Edit : as I play -

+ Loads very quick.
+ menus look nice and sharp
+ menu audio is nice and soothing
+ can select a fav team but the logos seem incorrect for most teams (maybe licensing?). There's also Vipers/ Marauders etc. Not sure what they are? Maybe Aus domestic?
+ Res is 1920x1080
+ Camera is broadcast or behind

+ you can select investec ashes, commonwealth ashes, odi, t20, test or tournament
+ I'm doing an ODI 5 over India v England
+ you can select things like stadiums, rain, weather, temp, win, some eliminator etc.

Okay - after finishing 5 over, I have to say this is a very poor effort. I'd rate the game about a 4 / 10.

The game reminds me of EA Cricket 2002 in its graphics and gameplay.

- graphics are bland and bad
- stadiums look bad
- For the first 3 overs I couldn't hit anything. Then I kinda figured out the controls.... I think. You have to hit it when it leaves the bowlers hand but it didn't work like that for spinners when I had to time it when it reached me.
- The bowler bowls on same side as runner. WTF?
- No nets
- No replays
- No dive button or cancel run
- The animations are unfinished and clunky. Maybe the mo-cap involved someone who doesn't have flowing strokes or is a cricketer.
- I didn't find any backfoot/frontfoot mechanics
- The behind cam actually has interference from wicketkeeper so you cannot see where ball is pitching
- The ball pitch line is indicated by a yellow line with another perpendicular line moving down the pitch and somewhere a spot is shown where the ball lands at chosen speed
- Crowd looks horrendous
- Pitch looks like one paint job
- It works with a controller but it is very elementary. Y for no shot, X for defend, A for ground stroke and B for loft. (from the icons on the top right)


Overall, sadly a very poor game. I will continue to play it more but I might just increase or decrease score +-1 tops. This game is not good.
I'm not mad or angry or anything like that because it was only $20. Still, I think I have played better games on iPad which had better execution.

Lets see how the Bradman game will be. I just need to know how I can get it in the US (Steam is preferred for me, hopefully it will be on Steam).

 

[JustT1m]

It is a terrible terrible, extremely buggy, extremely horrendous excuse for a game. I've just wasted some money, and I really do hope that you do not.

I managed 20 overs of bowling (bowled Australia out for 96, I say bowled, but they managed to run themselves out for 7 of the wickets). Then I quit after 2 overs of batting.

No replays, but to be frank, that's not really a loss considering how bad it all looks & plays.

Animations - Terrible
"Gameplay" - Awful
Graphics - Utterly laughable. You will chuckle then die a bit inside when you see the maximum resolution.

If you've got a bit of spare cash to blow on a game, DO NOT waste it on this.....

 

[EnigmaticZee]

Worst game i have ever played. Verry buggy.
BL99 or Ea99 is much better than this crap.

 

[umosay]

Worst game i have ever played. Verry buggy.
BL99 or Ea99 is much better than this crap.

BL99 is better than all cricket games o_O don't mention that as being close to this rubbish.

 

[cricket_online]

Thanks fanirama and JustT1m. Can you let us know whether there are difficulty levels in the game that you can choose?

 

[shamim]

5/100

 

[fanirama]

Thanks fanirama and JustT1m. Can you let us know whether there are difficulty levels in the game that you can choose?

Not that I see. I don't think there are difficulty levels.

I've played some more and I am able to hit the ball here and there. But every now and then the AI bowls a ridiculously fast ball that you really cannot do much about and get out.

If all you want to do is gently place the ball here and there then I am able to do that with an odd boundary. But I certainly am not able to hit it out of the park every ball.

Not sure why they started from scratch with this game. They should've gone with the IC10 game which I thought was great and built on that.

 

[graham]

Pleeeeeeeeese don't buy this game,
It is the worst game I have ever had to try play
A shocker of a game ..
Soooooo buggy to hell..
So sad to see a company go under ,
But a turd of a game .
Trickstar RIP

 

[MasterBlaster76]

BL99 is better than all cricket games o_O don't mention that as being close to this rubbish.

Quite so - BLC99 was an excellent game. By all accounts, this is an extremely poor game that, despite all the delays, is blatantly unfinished.

I did spend ?13.40 recently - on Xcom Enemy Within; the new expansion for Enemy Unknown and by God was it money well spent! They've completely revitalised what was becoming a bit stale for me.

AC13? Whistle for it - I'm looking forwards to the release of DB14.

 

[Nodster]

It's a pretty dire excuse of a game. I wish there was a way to get a refund, alas I'll be stuck with it for now I guess.

My personal favourite so far is the Wicket Keeper. I saw him dive (when he already had the ball in his hand) twice, and then turned to throw the ball at the stumps for no reason (considering I hadn't made a run).

It's just incredibly buggy and that's really is its first major let down. From camera angle randomly changing to awful fielding animations. It just seems clunky and pretty damn awful. I've been playing games (and Cricket games) since I was about 3 years old. Since then I've been in many beta tests for games, and even they don't compare to this in terms of the amount of bugs and lack of finish that this game has.

I do however, secretly like the batting system. It seems a little harder than the previous titles. I can see what they were trying to do, and whilst it's obviously very similar to old titles, it just seems a little more difficult which to me, is a good thing as in most games you can go 500/0 in 25 overs pretty easily. Though this is completely ruined by how awful the camera angles are. It maybe because of the bad camera angles that makes it difficult though, so there's that I guess.

Bowling is very average and incredibly easy to put the ball on point where you want it. There's no skill involved with it. You can keep consistent line and length ridiculously easy and it's just a reiinvented way of placing a circle (I admit, there's not many ways you can do the bowling, but I like a challenge at least).

Overall, I'd give it a 3/10. It could be playable (barely), if it wasn't for all the problems. I'll no doubt however play it more though, I'm getting my moneys worth regardless.

 

[cricket_online]

Not that I see. I don't think there are difficulty levels.

I've played some more and I am able to hit the ball here and there. But every now and then the AI bowls a ridiculously fast ball that you really cannot do much about and get out.

If all you want to do is gently place the ball here and there then I am able to do that with an odd boundary. But I certainly am not able to hit it out of the park every ball.

Not sure why they started from scratch with this game. They should've gone with the IC10 game which I thought was great and built on that.

A game without a difficulty level!!! That has to be the first I have seen. Even in 90s cricket games used to have difficulty levels. Essentially the game is a bug infested cr@polla with as much longevity as the lifetime of a fruitfly. This looks more like a mobile app/game and I can't understand how 505 Games/trickstar can come up with such a product in 2013.

 

[Snowy]

I do however, secretly like the batting system. It seems a little harder than the previous titles.

Could this be traced back to the lack of any front foot/back foot control?

 

[St0ney]

I seriousley think we should all get a refund of steam for this crap.

 

[MattW]

Batting difficulty seems to come from the baffling timing window - you seem to need to play your shot just after it leaves the bowler's hand.