SibiNaayagam
International Coach
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2012
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Online Cricket Games Owned
- Don Bradman Cricket 14 - Steam PC
After listening to the many comments here, I decided to distance myself from the discussion for a bit and play atleast for a week before sharing my views. I predominantly play local multiplayer with my buddy or 2vs1 online play - I did try a few vsAI matches too. I have played every BA cricket entry and I feel this game follows the pattern of DBC17 - a decent step up but some new choices being bad choices, removal of working features and continuation of existing issues give it a negative shade. I really enjoy the game but they are some unacceptable elements - here are my views:
POSITIVES:
1. Batting and Bowling are much more polished and the gameplay here is a solid foundation. It’s fun to play.
2. Running between the wickets and Fielder’s throwing speed are much more balanced, therefore neither player could steal singles after hitting straight to the fielder inside the ring.
3. Fielder standing up to the stumps has an improved speed while whipping the bails off.
4. Realistic bowling actions for the few who have it and the impact it has on gameplay is amazing. The fact that my reaction differs while looking at different actions and the release timing also differing, makes me play differently against/with each of those players. Once all batsman, bowlers and fielders have their distinct style from playing to running, it would dramatically improve the gameplay experience due to their differences I feel.
5. Really like the difference in ball physics especially after hitting and also the frequency of gap finding.
6. Yorker balls are harder to hit.
7. Lighting quality is a good.
8. In-game UI is amazing.
9. Most stable online play among any BA Cricket releases.
NEGATIVES:
1. The Menu UI - if the background is white, the logos and letters need to have atleast a black border or shadow so they are visible. Also, it’s too many clicks to start the game - example, I had to go into two different submenus to set the weather and pitch conditions vs 1 last iteration.
2. One of the patches in C19 reduced the legside shot power and restricted batter’s crease movement. But now, they are both back but offside power is reduced. Why can’t we have a balanced legside and offside play OR better, make it dependent on he ability of players? Similarly for the movement, why can’t the amount of movement be proportional to the batter’s unorthodox skill level? AND the most important part of all, why is the offside wide not adjusted accordingly?
3. This is bordering on unacceptable for breaking a fine and basic system that wasn’t an issue before: The tiny camera view on the bottom camera to monitor the running between wickets. It’s been programmed to be showing from only one end which means when the next over is in progress, my view is inverted. It’s driving me and my friend crazy when we go online cause we have to call and run. This is led to too many runouts and the opponent missing some because he threw to the wrong end.
4. Shadows on characters are buggy and the volumetric clouds are pixelated/bugging out.
UNACCEPTABLE:
1. Ground Fielding - The memory of me playing DBC14 is still fresh in my mind and I’m really happy about it’s evolution, despite being small steps over a decade, but I fail to come up with any significant progress in fielding. It’s not even about making it a fun mechanic, it’s about having the bare basics in there. Honestly, for what BA did with batting and bowling in DBC14, I would have expected them to have done it right away but this is the 5th iteration over almost a decade and yet they have failed. It’s unacceptable that international fielders cannot stop balls next to them or stop any boundaries. Please understand that it’s a major hole in the ship right now. I would also be happy to have the slow motion pro-cam for tough stops and boundary saves.
2. Drop catches:Me and my friend are having an average of 10-12 drop catches per match for a T20 game. That’s triple the number of drops compared to my club team in 40 overs. Point is, these are international crickets whose standard of catching has dramatically improved but a piece of code somewhere is making them drop a frustrating number of catches. PLEASE PATCH IMMEDIATELY.
3. Catching Mechanic: Currently, we get the slow motion Pro Cam for catching only when the player is not going to drop or highly unlikely to drop. Compared to C19 where we got it 95/100 times but would drop even if I pressed the perfect button. These both are bad choices because, C22 is taking the control away from me while C19 left me feeling cheated. What should be done is that the timing window of the catch must be different according to the difficulty of the catch and the player’s skill. I would rather attempt an almost impossible catch and fail instead of watching the AI spill it with my correct input or without any input atall.
4. Advance Down the Wicket: On Pro controls, please give me the option to swap my precision shot with it just like how I can change my leave button. It’s impossible for me to premeditate against my very good human opponent sitting next to me especially with the change in stance giving it off early. If I try to time it later, it’s again super hard to toggle the same button as the one that choses shot direction and timing. I would rather premeditate my precision shot (safer) or the unorthodox shots (realistic) than my advance down the wicket which is never a premeditation for a really good batsman against spin.
OVERALL IMPRESSION OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED:
I feel that BA was under the pressure to deliver the game on this specific date for a long time due to distributors/investors and the pandemic with it’s changing conditions meant neither could BA finish the game that they wanted to put out nor could they be delay the release date. This in-turn meant no Beta testing with the trusted few prior to release and therefore turning the actual release into a Beta testing event.
BA did not put out a broken game but it did put out a game that doesn’t yet justify it’s stance as a new iteration. When the removed features are brought back and the fielding is fixed or upgraded to match the quality of batting/bowling (Fielding DLC?) then it would standout as the best in the series. But is it acceptable to start a new iteration’s playthrough much behind your stable prior iteration?
THINKING FURTHER:
Looking at the slow evolution and patches breaking parts of the game, it is evident that the game engine BA is using is its achilles heel. Even EA’s Frostbite is hard to work with as are in-house built game engines. They lack the widespread testing and documentation that pre-built packages like Unreal Engine or Unity have. There is a difference in 5% royalty and what Unreal brings to the table vs buying or the trouble of building, troubleshooting and upgrading a custom engine and I feel BA and the sports game community would benefit heavily from investing in moving towards Unreal.
Also, no question about BA’s passion or commitment towards making a great cricket game. But as a professional cricketer, I feel BA lacks some nuances of cricket and sometimes basic elements too. I think adding a cricketer in a producing role would be helpful too.
POSITIVES:
1. Batting and Bowling are much more polished and the gameplay here is a solid foundation. It’s fun to play.
2. Running between the wickets and Fielder’s throwing speed are much more balanced, therefore neither player could steal singles after hitting straight to the fielder inside the ring.
3. Fielder standing up to the stumps has an improved speed while whipping the bails off.
4. Realistic bowling actions for the few who have it and the impact it has on gameplay is amazing. The fact that my reaction differs while looking at different actions and the release timing also differing, makes me play differently against/with each of those players. Once all batsman, bowlers and fielders have their distinct style from playing to running, it would dramatically improve the gameplay experience due to their differences I feel.
5. Really like the difference in ball physics especially after hitting and also the frequency of gap finding.
6. Yorker balls are harder to hit.
7. Lighting quality is a good.
8. In-game UI is amazing.
9. Most stable online play among any BA Cricket releases.
NEGATIVES:
1. The Menu UI - if the background is white, the logos and letters need to have atleast a black border or shadow so they are visible. Also, it’s too many clicks to start the game - example, I had to go into two different submenus to set the weather and pitch conditions vs 1 last iteration.
2. One of the patches in C19 reduced the legside shot power and restricted batter’s crease movement. But now, they are both back but offside power is reduced. Why can’t we have a balanced legside and offside play OR better, make it dependent on he ability of players? Similarly for the movement, why can’t the amount of movement be proportional to the batter’s unorthodox skill level? AND the most important part of all, why is the offside wide not adjusted accordingly?
3. This is bordering on unacceptable for breaking a fine and basic system that wasn’t an issue before: The tiny camera view on the bottom camera to monitor the running between wickets. It’s been programmed to be showing from only one end which means when the next over is in progress, my view is inverted. It’s driving me and my friend crazy when we go online cause we have to call and run. This is led to too many runouts and the opponent missing some because he threw to the wrong end.
4. Shadows on characters are buggy and the volumetric clouds are pixelated/bugging out.
UNACCEPTABLE:
1. Ground Fielding - The memory of me playing DBC14 is still fresh in my mind and I’m really happy about it’s evolution, despite being small steps over a decade, but I fail to come up with any significant progress in fielding. It’s not even about making it a fun mechanic, it’s about having the bare basics in there. Honestly, for what BA did with batting and bowling in DBC14, I would have expected them to have done it right away but this is the 5th iteration over almost a decade and yet they have failed. It’s unacceptable that international fielders cannot stop balls next to them or stop any boundaries. Please understand that it’s a major hole in the ship right now. I would also be happy to have the slow motion pro-cam for tough stops and boundary saves.
2. Drop catches:
3. Catching Mechanic: Currently, we get the slow motion Pro Cam for catching only when the player is not going to drop or highly unlikely to drop. Compared to C19 where we got it 95/100 times but would drop even if I pressed the perfect button. These both are bad choices because, C22 is taking the control away from me while C19 left me feeling cheated. What should be done is that the timing window of the catch must be different according to the difficulty of the catch and the player’s skill. I would rather attempt an almost impossible catch and fail instead of watching the AI spill it with my correct input or without any input atall.
4. Advance Down the Wicket: On Pro controls, please give me the option to swap my precision shot with it just like how I can change my leave button. It’s impossible for me to premeditate against my very good human opponent sitting next to me especially with the change in stance giving it off early. If I try to time it later, it’s again super hard to toggle the same button as the one that choses shot direction and timing. I would rather premeditate my precision shot (safer) or the unorthodox shots (realistic) than my advance down the wicket which is never a premeditation for a really good batsman against spin.
OVERALL IMPRESSION OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED:
I feel that BA was under the pressure to deliver the game on this specific date for a long time due to distributors/investors and the pandemic with it’s changing conditions meant neither could BA finish the game that they wanted to put out nor could they be delay the release date. This in-turn meant no Beta testing with the trusted few prior to release and therefore turning the actual release into a Beta testing event.
BA did not put out a broken game but it did put out a game that doesn’t yet justify it’s stance as a new iteration. When the removed features are brought back and the fielding is fixed or upgraded to match the quality of batting/bowling (Fielding DLC?) then it would standout as the best in the series. But is it acceptable to start a new iteration’s playthrough much behind your stable prior iteration?
THINKING FURTHER:
Looking at the slow evolution and patches breaking parts of the game, it is evident that the game engine BA is using is its achilles heel. Even EA’s Frostbite is hard to work with as are in-house built game engines. They lack the widespread testing and documentation that pre-built packages like Unreal Engine or Unity have. There is a difference in 5% royalty and what Unreal brings to the table vs buying or the trouble of building, troubleshooting and upgrading a custom engine and I feel BA and the sports game community would benefit heavily from investing in moving towards Unreal.
Also, no question about BA’s passion or commitment towards making a great cricket game. But as a professional cricketer, I feel BA lacks some nuances of cricket and sometimes basic elements too. I think adding a cricketer in a producing role would be helpful too.
Last edited:
