heyado
Club Cricketer
Hi Boss,
Thanks for your positive comments after I gave some feedback on CGP6, it's great to see you taking feedback on board to continually improve the CGP series.
Well, I've been playing PC cricket for more than 12 years now, through Allan Border Cricket, EA Sports Cricket 96, Shane Warne 99 and the newer EA games, and CGP7 without a doubt gives the best, most accurate and complete gaming experience I've come across.
Playing an Australia vs Bangladesh test at Dhaka on a normal pitch was the setup.
Australia bats first and Hussey and Hayden keep things moving nicely until Hayden plays back to a skidding arm ball from Rafique and is LBW, Australia 1/56.
Well, from then on it became a rout. The ball was keeping low and Australia wouldn't come onto the front foot as Rafique took 6/53 and Mortaza 4/84 with 4 lbw and 4 bowled. A real life Aussie collapse, I thought.
Javed Omar Belim and Nafees came out and took it to the Aussies as you'd expect, with Gillespie coming in for a pasting and being removed from the attack after Lee and Clark did a good job with the new ball.
Warne and MacGill started tieing the middle order down and then took some wickets. In the end all five bowlers shared the spoils and closed Bangladesh down from 3/200 to 281 all out.
Australia's second dig needed to be slow and steady, and they needed to play on the front foot. Hussey, Ponting, Martyn, Clarke and Lee all passed 50 but none converted it into a century. I eventually declared at 7/439.
Setting 355 to win, early breakthroughs were a must. Lee picked up Nafees early and then it was a procession, all out 103 as the pitch got lower.
My observations:
POSITIVE
* The complete array of dismissals. Bowled, LBW, caught behind, caught slips, caught and bowled. It was great to be able to get batsmen LBW because they played it too late or early, as it is in real life.
* Shots. The spider showed shots to all parts of the ground. Shots could go for runs or be cut off. The unpredictability of a shot coming off was wonderful, and it was very pleasing to see that the standard shots carried lower risk of dismissal compared to the power shots.
* AI tactics. They moved the fields and rotated bowlers. When batting, they opened up at times and would go back into their shell at others. Run rate could go up to almost 5, then drop back to 3 when Warne came on. Super stuff.
NOT SO POSITIVE
* Had more trouble with the spinners than you'd expect. Opened up the roster file and found that Ponting and some of the others weren't given a "spin expert" rating. I think you'd agree that the Aussies are by and large great players of spin, Ponting especially.
* AI bowler accuracy. This is just a personal thing I guess. I found the accuracy and discipline settings too high and changed them down. Reducing discipline back to around the 30 range gave a wider array of lengths, but I really found the Bangladeshis were too accurate. Their real life counterparts have their moments of brilliance, but at times an hour could pass in the game without a ball wide enough to drive or cut to the fence. This is a personal preference, and changing the accuracy back into the 60s and 70s worked for me.
* Bowler fatigue. I thought the bowlers were on too long without being affected, with Mortaza bowling a 16 over spell at one stage before tiring.
OBSERVATIONS BASED ON OTHER PEOPLE'S FEEDBACK
Sometimes shots do pop up in the air in real life cricket when you play what you think is a safe shot. It's called getting out.
I found the drives on a normal pitch did have the element of risk occasionally and would pop in the air. Obviously on a "road" you can drive for four all day. The WACA in Perth is a classic example. If the AI moved a fielder around to deep mid off you'd never get a boundary. It's more an AI problem than anything related to the stroke.
You get smashed about early when bowling. It happens in real life too. The solution is to customise your field and put in a deep cover, maybe a third man, push mid off back and just bowl outside off stump. Keep some guys close in for the catch. Ponting had to do this recently when Nafees went beserk in the 1st Test.
Batasman plays the wrong forward defensive stroke and you get bowled.
Well, that's how Bradman got out in his final test innings, he played the wrong shot. You have an idea in your head of what you want the batsman to do, but occasionally he won't do it and you get out. These factors, I feel, have to actually be in the game for realism.
I think some players want a 100% guarantee that their choice of shot will have the desired result. That's not how the game is played in real life. So many variables of speed, swing, pitch, timing come into play on every delivery. The CPU in this patch has a chance of getting you out every ball, and you have a chance to score runs every ball. That's how it should be.
In closing, this really is a wonderful patch. As you can see from my notes, any changes I'd make are in the roster as opposed to the AI in the game itself, and that's a sign that you're on a winner.
In closing, the best patch ever for a cricket game on PC, IMHO. :hpraise
With much respect and thanks from Australia,
Heyado
Thanks for your positive comments after I gave some feedback on CGP6, it's great to see you taking feedback on board to continually improve the CGP series.
Well, I've been playing PC cricket for more than 12 years now, through Allan Border Cricket, EA Sports Cricket 96, Shane Warne 99 and the newer EA games, and CGP7 without a doubt gives the best, most accurate and complete gaming experience I've come across.
Playing an Australia vs Bangladesh test at Dhaka on a normal pitch was the setup.
Australia bats first and Hussey and Hayden keep things moving nicely until Hayden plays back to a skidding arm ball from Rafique and is LBW, Australia 1/56.
Well, from then on it became a rout. The ball was keeping low and Australia wouldn't come onto the front foot as Rafique took 6/53 and Mortaza 4/84 with 4 lbw and 4 bowled. A real life Aussie collapse, I thought.
Javed Omar Belim and Nafees came out and took it to the Aussies as you'd expect, with Gillespie coming in for a pasting and being removed from the attack after Lee and Clark did a good job with the new ball.
Warne and MacGill started tieing the middle order down and then took some wickets. In the end all five bowlers shared the spoils and closed Bangladesh down from 3/200 to 281 all out.
Australia's second dig needed to be slow and steady, and they needed to play on the front foot. Hussey, Ponting, Martyn, Clarke and Lee all passed 50 but none converted it into a century. I eventually declared at 7/439.
Setting 355 to win, early breakthroughs were a must. Lee picked up Nafees early and then it was a procession, all out 103 as the pitch got lower.
My observations:
POSITIVE
* The complete array of dismissals. Bowled, LBW, caught behind, caught slips, caught and bowled. It was great to be able to get batsmen LBW because they played it too late or early, as it is in real life.
* Shots. The spider showed shots to all parts of the ground. Shots could go for runs or be cut off. The unpredictability of a shot coming off was wonderful, and it was very pleasing to see that the standard shots carried lower risk of dismissal compared to the power shots.
* AI tactics. They moved the fields and rotated bowlers. When batting, they opened up at times and would go back into their shell at others. Run rate could go up to almost 5, then drop back to 3 when Warne came on. Super stuff.
NOT SO POSITIVE
* Had more trouble with the spinners than you'd expect. Opened up the roster file and found that Ponting and some of the others weren't given a "spin expert" rating. I think you'd agree that the Aussies are by and large great players of spin, Ponting especially.
* AI bowler accuracy. This is just a personal thing I guess. I found the accuracy and discipline settings too high and changed them down. Reducing discipline back to around the 30 range gave a wider array of lengths, but I really found the Bangladeshis were too accurate. Their real life counterparts have their moments of brilliance, but at times an hour could pass in the game without a ball wide enough to drive or cut to the fence. This is a personal preference, and changing the accuracy back into the 60s and 70s worked for me.
* Bowler fatigue. I thought the bowlers were on too long without being affected, with Mortaza bowling a 16 over spell at one stage before tiring.
OBSERVATIONS BASED ON OTHER PEOPLE'S FEEDBACK
Sometimes shots do pop up in the air in real life cricket when you play what you think is a safe shot. It's called getting out.
I found the drives on a normal pitch did have the element of risk occasionally and would pop in the air. Obviously on a "road" you can drive for four all day. The WACA in Perth is a classic example. If the AI moved a fielder around to deep mid off you'd never get a boundary. It's more an AI problem than anything related to the stroke.
You get smashed about early when bowling. It happens in real life too. The solution is to customise your field and put in a deep cover, maybe a third man, push mid off back and just bowl outside off stump. Keep some guys close in for the catch. Ponting had to do this recently when Nafees went beserk in the 1st Test.
Batasman plays the wrong forward defensive stroke and you get bowled.
Well, that's how Bradman got out in his final test innings, he played the wrong shot. You have an idea in your head of what you want the batsman to do, but occasionally he won't do it and you get out. These factors, I feel, have to actually be in the game for realism.
I think some players want a 100% guarantee that their choice of shot will have the desired result. That's not how the game is played in real life. So many variables of speed, swing, pitch, timing come into play on every delivery. The CPU in this patch has a chance of getting you out every ball, and you have a chance to score runs every ball. That's how it should be.
In closing, this really is a wonderful patch. As you can see from my notes, any changes I'd make are in the roster as opposed to the AI in the game itself, and that's a sign that you're on a winner.
In closing, the best patch ever for a cricket game on PC, IMHO. :hpraise
With much respect and thanks from Australia,
Heyado
