Much improved on cricket 2002, imporved gameplay, much harder and more realistic, on the right track...but the game let's itself down with loads of bugs and annoying quirks.
Have a look at these I have encountered so far:
*Run outs galore in 50 over games when the cpu team bats on easy, medium or hard level (especially with custom field setting) completely ruins the realism of cricket.
*Cpu fielders cath the ball on the boundary, then throwing it up in the air it goes over the boundary and it's gone from the batsman getting out to hitting a boundary or six!
*No day night matches in game modes (i.e world series, world cup, etc) they have completely left that out
*When loading a 50 over match from a previously saved game, the night mode turns into day mode, meaning night cricket is completely eradicated from the match (what a step backwards)
*Game cashes when setting a custom field for certain bowlers
*In Team Management, you cannot add players to the Australia A database or any A team database......it appears that the database does not recongise an Australian player as an Australian A player :wacko:
As you can see most of these are major issues which spoil the enjoyment of the game. You can still play the game and get good enjoyment out of it. However as much as I was impressed with the new gameplay modes and challenging levels they have introduced, I get as equally disappointed and let down the more bugs I come across.
In a word I think it's safe to say that these bugs and missed features can only be as a result of "a rushed release"!. I think with more time, I would hope that EA would have been able to put more attention to detail in, in truth they have got halfway there with the best cricket game ever!
I sent an email to HB studios, on one hand congratulating them on the improvements and progress, but on the other saying the buggy game should never be have been allowed to be released in it's current state!. Surprise surprise, no response from them.
What do you think they will do for us?.......I know it's wishful thinking, but I still do not believe a game in it's state should have been allowed to be released to consumers. In some areas the game just does not function in the way it says it should.
I know it won't happen, but they should re-release it coz it's just plain slack in alot of areas.
Satisfying, disappointing and frustrating all in the same sentence!
