PlanetCricket
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- Joined
- Jan 13, 2010
The Cricket Power Website went live today, and with it the 3D browser based game went live. Priced at $9.99 to play the full game in a weird online/offline hybrid – I’ve struggled to see where value for money comes in here – you are essentially renting the game for a year, the FAQ states that ‘the online components will be sunset on December 31st 2011.’ and with a game that is solely online by virtue of being browser based, it means once the year is finished, unless an offline client is released to paying customers, you won’t be able to play online with a game you paid for. Personally that’s enough reason not to purchase the game – I’ve done so because I’m willing to waste $10 on it if it means stopping others from doing so.
If it were a really good game, then perhaps it might be worth it, but from my first match, the game suffers all the faults Cricket Revolution does, and adds in plenty more new ones. The biggest being a huge skew towards the batsman, both AI and player. As a bowler, anything that isn’t on the stumps with a pile of swing is smashed away, and anything that is more often than not buys you a wicket. There’s no difficulty level option, so the only way to get a decent game is to deliberately hold back and just bowl middling pies that get the AI defending or playing defensively, which with how unrewarding bowling is, gets boring quickly.
Speaking of options, you have exactly two – which team you play as in the tournament (you pick one team at the start, and have to start a new tournament to play as a different team) and whether you want the sound on or off. Beyond that, everything is fixed, the fixed window size you play in, the fixed 10 over matches and the fixed single player mode. That’s right – this is an online only game that doesn’t let you play online against others. The FAQ states:
So, with reaching the top position on the leaderboard the only goal of the game – I think I’ve already finished it. While you can keep going to win the world cup, the depth of gameplay isn’t there to make me want to.
The game is indeed officially licensed, all the players have correct names, kits and somewhat close faces. You certainly notice the sponsorship, with giant Pepsi and Reliance Mobile signs in your face and about 100 World Cup logos reminding you it is licensed.
If the game was an improved Cricket Revolution, with the licences added – sure it might be a good game, and certainly worth $10. However, it isn’t that – it is a cut down and watered down version of an already poor cricket game. There are no redeeming features I can think of – you still have to download 100MB of data and install it just to run the game, and you only get one chance to download it, so it isn’t in any way portable like a flash browser game like HowZat – which ruins the only thing that could be in its favour.
Presumably the CD version mentioned on the website might come with proper offline play – which would improve things slightly. But with the lack of real player vs player online, poor controls, bad AI, bad graphics and lack of gameplay options – even with being able to play without the browser side of things it doesn’t stack up as being worth $10. And that’s ignoring the fact if you buy online, you’re just renting it for a year.
Don’t buy it, just download a World Cup patch for Cricket 07 instead.
Cricket Power Official site: http://www.cricketpower.com/
In Game Screenshots: http://www.planetcricket.org/games/gallery/cricket-power/cricket-power-screenshots/
Discussion Forum: http://www.planetcricket.org/forums/cricket-power/
Article by Matt Whitehorn - Read More...
If it were a really good game, then perhaps it might be worth it, but from my first match, the game suffers all the faults Cricket Revolution does, and adds in plenty more new ones. The biggest being a huge skew towards the batsman, both AI and player. As a bowler, anything that isn’t on the stumps with a pile of swing is smashed away, and anything that is more often than not buys you a wicket. There’s no difficulty level option, so the only way to get a decent game is to deliberately hold back and just bowl middling pies that get the AI defending or playing defensively, which with how unrewarding bowling is, gets boring quickly.
Speaking of options, you have exactly two – which team you play as in the tournament (you pick one team at the start, and have to start a new tournament to play as a different team) and whether you want the sound on or off. Beyond that, everything is fixed, the fixed window size you play in, the fixed 10 over matches and the fixed single player mode. That’s right – this is an online only game that doesn’t let you play online against others. The FAQ states:
Can I play Cricket Power with others?
Cricket Power tournaments are played against the AI only, however players constantly compete against the community to achieve the best batting, bowling and overall results to reach top position on the leader boards.
Cricket Power tournaments are played against the AI only, however players constantly compete against the community to achieve the best batting, bowling and overall results to reach top position on the leader boards.
So, with reaching the top position on the leaderboard the only goal of the game – I think I’ve already finished it. While you can keep going to win the world cup, the depth of gameplay isn’t there to make me want to.
The game is indeed officially licensed, all the players have correct names, kits and somewhat close faces. You certainly notice the sponsorship, with giant Pepsi and Reliance Mobile signs in your face and about 100 World Cup logos reminding you it is licensed.
If the game was an improved Cricket Revolution, with the licences added – sure it might be a good game, and certainly worth $10. However, it isn’t that – it is a cut down and watered down version of an already poor cricket game. There are no redeeming features I can think of – you still have to download 100MB of data and install it just to run the game, and you only get one chance to download it, so it isn’t in any way portable like a flash browser game like HowZat – which ruins the only thing that could be in its favour.
Presumably the CD version mentioned on the website might come with proper offline play – which would improve things slightly. But with the lack of real player vs player online, poor controls, bad AI, bad graphics and lack of gameplay options – even with being able to play without the browser side of things it doesn’t stack up as being worth $10. And that’s ignoring the fact if you buy online, you’re just renting it for a year.
Don’t buy it, just download a World Cup patch for Cricket 07 instead.
Cricket Power Official site: http://www.cricketpower.com/
In Game Screenshots: http://www.planetcricket.org/games/gallery/cricket-power/cricket-power-screenshots/
Discussion Forum: http://www.planetcricket.org/forums/cricket-power/
Article by Matt Whitehorn - Read More...
