Review Demo impressions thread
- Thread starter barmyarmy
- Start date
.::Stevo::.
International Coach
Go to your Marketplace, go up to demos, scroll to 'browse', then select 'A' in the category and it should be there
Swingers
Club Cricketer
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2009
- Online Cricket Games Owned
Well I guess thats mostly good news, I was worried it would be just a BLIC update, guess I will find outmyself this evening on the bad points, I wasnt expecting perfection with this game but a good step in the right direction at least and after all it is just the demo.
thanks for the info
D
Deleted member 11215
Guest
can you tell me about Stadium Atmosphere ,Graphic, Please :help
All are Half volley,oh god !!
Atmosphere feels quite good, graphic are a bit too pro evo for my liking so if you prefer pro evo graphics to fifa then you'll like these. Big fred doesnt look too bad though
thanks dude ! i'm waiting for your video :P post it as soon as you can !! :PI will post the vidoes later today. Full match.
evertonfan
Chairman of Selectors
Right here's my review then. It's a rush job so sorry if it's a bit disjointed in certain areas. Let me start off by saying that i'm naturally 'glass half-empty' kind of person when it comes to sports and video games so make of that what you will.
I loaded the demo up and was greeted by a lush new main menu screen which i'm assuming will be evident in the final product. It is certainly a lot better than the ugly mess that was in BLC 07.
The demo allows 3 overs of both batting and bowling as either England or the crims so naturally I chose England. Before I started the game I was asked to chose my difficulty level. Now gone are the days of County and Slog and all that; they have now made way for the more conventional Easy, Normal and Hard. I chose Hard because I assumed it would be the most realistic representation of cricket.
The toss looked good and there was a pleasant hum around Lords as I was greeted to the not so beautiful faces of messers Strauss and Ponting, along with a generic Codies umpire. I lost the toss and was put into bat on what was desscribed by Shane Warne and Jonathan Agnew as a seamers paradise. Great.
So my attention turned to Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook. The screen now showed a whole range of displays and controls and I was slightly unnerved by the sheer wealth of things clogging up my screen. But much to my relief it was all easy to understand. New to game are two new indicators of confidence listed under the batsman's names. Before facing the first ball, Andrew Strauss was listed as 'Rested' and 'Solid' but later on in the final over once i'd hit a couple of boundaries it changed to 'Confident' and 'Fearless'. Now whether or not this is an indication of batsman confidence playing a bigger part that in previous titles remains to be seen, as 3 overs is nowhere near enough to gauge this. Staying with confidence, I can't 100% confirm this but I don't think that leaving a ball lowers batting confidence anymore. Don't take my word on this though.
As for the batting itself it was tough going. For the first time in a Codies cricket title I found myself reliant on the defensive stroke button rather than going for broke straight away like in BLC 07 & BLC 05; you really do have ot choose your strokes wisely. For example, 4 balls into the second over I lost Alastair Cook because I decided it would be fun to try a booming cover drive to get the scoring going. How foolish I was, because Cook edged straight behind to Brad Haddin. It's worth nothing that Haddin took the catch as a regulation standing catch rather than a ridiculous goalkeeper style dive that was evident in previous BLCs.
So after making a reasonably decent 12/1 in my 3 overs it was my turn to bowl and I opened with James Anderson obviously. Again, I was put off by the mess of controls and displays on screen but just like with batting, it was easy to master. As those who went to the testing day said, the bowling has undergone something of an overhaul. The core of it remains the same; ie the four face buttons still dictate slower balls, left & right balls and straight balls, but added to this is now the option to switch between cutters, swing, and reverse swing. Understandably reverse swing wasn't available to me in this demo due to me only getting three overs, but the ability to switch between bowling types gives a greater feeling of control to the bowling.
The actual bowling itself is brilliant in my opinion. But what really made me happy was seeing the dynamics of the batsmen. I bowled a maiden first up with Jimmy Anderson with every delivery being on a good length just outside the off stump. Coming back to my point about the batsmen, Simon Katich blocked every delivery bar one wide delivery which we just watched past his bat just like the man himself. But it wasn't until I brought Broad on to bowl to Phil Hughes until I really fell in love with the bowling.
My first two deliveries with Broad to Hughes were again just outside the off stump but Hughes mercilessly flayed them both to the boundary; Katich was blocking them, Hughes was smashing them. So I decided to pitch it on a more leg stump line and Hughes was no longer scoring. So then I decided to put a short leg in for the final ball of the over; you never know. So I bowled him a trademark Broad short delivery and Hughes gloved it to short leg! Unbelievable. For once in a cricket game I genuinely felt that I had outsmarted a batsmen with clever field placings and bowling rather than the usual clean bowleds and caught behinds. I loved it. Absolutely loved it.
The fielding is different too. We no longer have to time a button press correctly to launch the ball back to the keeper or bowler as in BLC 07, now the fielding is automatic other than when we get to choose which end to throw at by simply holding the right analogue in the corresponding direction, ie, up for keepers' end, down for bowlers' end.
One other thing that delighted me was the fact that the keepers no longer break the bails every single time no matter how safely the batsman has made his ground. I never saw it done once by either Haddin or Prior throughout my playthrough. Lovely.
I could go on, but I want to summarise by saying it's not just BLC 07 with a makeover and a shiny new hat. It's miles better. It's miles better than BLC 05 too. But here's the big one; I think it's gonna be better than BLC 99.
I can also safely say that the animations look a lot better than they do in the trailer. But still not perfect.
To further summarise, here's a brief pros and cons list;
Pro's
-Bowling is wonderful. I really felt in control of every delivery.
-Batting is difficult which is exactly what it should be in a Test match.
-The Keepers behave normally; no more superman dives or excessive stump breaking.
-The bounce isn't as high as in previous BLCs.
-The bats and kits look decent.
-Fielding is simple
-All aspects of the game are easily accesible. Only takes a few deliveries to work everything out.
Cons
-Some of the faces are poor and the hair textures are woeful
-The commentary is not so good; too many anecdotes not enough commentary on the actual play.
-The game interface is a little too crowded and might scare off casual cricket fans.
-The bowling actions still look last gen.
I loaded the demo up and was greeted by a lush new main menu screen which i'm assuming will be evident in the final product. It is certainly a lot better than the ugly mess that was in BLC 07.
The demo allows 3 overs of both batting and bowling as either England or the crims so naturally I chose England. Before I started the game I was asked to chose my difficulty level. Now gone are the days of County and Slog and all that; they have now made way for the more conventional Easy, Normal and Hard. I chose Hard because I assumed it would be the most realistic representation of cricket.
The toss looked good and there was a pleasant hum around Lords as I was greeted to the not so beautiful faces of messers Strauss and Ponting, along with a generic Codies umpire. I lost the toss and was put into bat on what was desscribed by Shane Warne and Jonathan Agnew as a seamers paradise. Great.
So my attention turned to Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook. The screen now showed a whole range of displays and controls and I was slightly unnerved by the sheer wealth of things clogging up my screen. But much to my relief it was all easy to understand. New to game are two new indicators of confidence listed under the batsman's names. Before facing the first ball, Andrew Strauss was listed as 'Rested' and 'Solid' but later on in the final over once i'd hit a couple of boundaries it changed to 'Confident' and 'Fearless'. Now whether or not this is an indication of batsman confidence playing a bigger part that in previous titles remains to be seen, as 3 overs is nowhere near enough to gauge this. Staying with confidence, I can't 100% confirm this but I don't think that leaving a ball lowers batting confidence anymore. Don't take my word on this though.
As for the batting itself it was tough going. For the first time in a Codies cricket title I found myself reliant on the defensive stroke button rather than going for broke straight away like in BLC 07 & BLC 05; you really do have ot choose your strokes wisely. For example, 4 balls into the second over I lost Alastair Cook because I decided it would be fun to try a booming cover drive to get the scoring going. How foolish I was, because Cook edged straight behind to Brad Haddin. It's worth nothing that Haddin took the catch as a regulation standing catch rather than a ridiculous goalkeeper style dive that was evident in previous BLCs.
So after making a reasonably decent 12/1 in my 3 overs it was my turn to bowl and I opened with James Anderson obviously. Again, I was put off by the mess of controls and displays on screen but just like with batting, it was easy to master. As those who went to the testing day said, the bowling has undergone something of an overhaul. The core of it remains the same; ie the four face buttons still dictate slower balls, left & right balls and straight balls, but added to this is now the option to switch between cutters, swing, and reverse swing. Understandably reverse swing wasn't available to me in this demo due to me only getting three overs, but the ability to switch between bowling types gives a greater feeling of control to the bowling.
The actual bowling itself is brilliant in my opinion. But what really made me happy was seeing the dynamics of the batsmen. I bowled a maiden first up with Jimmy Anderson with every delivery being on a good length just outside the off stump. Coming back to my point about the batsmen, Simon Katich blocked every delivery bar one wide delivery which we just watched past his bat just like the man himself. But it wasn't until I brought Broad on to bowl to Phil Hughes until I really fell in love with the bowling.
My first two deliveries with Broad to Hughes were again just outside the off stump but Hughes mercilessly flayed them both to the boundary; Katich was blocking them, Hughes was smashing them. So I decided to pitch it on a more leg stump line and Hughes was no longer scoring. So then I decided to put a short leg in for the final ball of the over; you never know. So I bowled him a trademark Broad short delivery and Hughes gloved it to short leg! Unbelievable. For once in a cricket game I genuinely felt that I had outsmarted a batsmen with clever field placings and bowling rather than the usual clean bowleds and caught behinds. I loved it. Absolutely loved it.
The fielding is different too. We no longer have to time a button press correctly to launch the ball back to the keeper or bowler as in BLC 07, now the fielding is automatic other than when we get to choose which end to throw at by simply holding the right analogue in the corresponding direction, ie, up for keepers' end, down for bowlers' end.
One other thing that delighted me was the fact that the keepers no longer break the bails every single time no matter how safely the batsman has made his ground. I never saw it done once by either Haddin or Prior throughout my playthrough. Lovely.
I could go on, but I want to summarise by saying it's not just BLC 07 with a makeover and a shiny new hat. It's miles better. It's miles better than BLC 05 too. But here's the big one; I think it's gonna be better than BLC 99.
I can also safely say that the animations look a lot better than they do in the trailer. But still not perfect.
To further summarise, here's a brief pros and cons list;
Pro's
-Bowling is wonderful. I really felt in control of every delivery.
-Batting is difficult which is exactly what it should be in a Test match.
-The Keepers behave normally; no more superman dives or excessive stump breaking.
-The bounce isn't as high as in previous BLCs.
-The bats and kits look decent.
-Fielding is simple
-All aspects of the game are easily accesible. Only takes a few deliveries to work everything out.
Cons
-Some of the faces are poor and the hair textures are woeful
-The commentary is not so good; too many anecdotes not enough commentary on the actual play.
-The game interface is a little too crowded and might scare off casual cricket fans.
-The bowling actions still look last gen.
Last edited:
Leepy
School Cricketer
What build of the game is this demo? If it is the same build as the one the guys played at the playtest, then some of the issues discussed in this thread may have been fixed in the final build of the game. I believe the developers mentioned fixing "final bugs" in the 2nd Question and Answer.
gudduthemaster
International Cricketer
Man Great Review of Demo
,but Only 3 overs test 
BTw quoted sentence has made my day,Cant wait to Play Pc demo,
evertonfan
Chairman of Selectors
Have to say I made a mistake with the bowling paces; playing through again and Anderson is averaging 79/80 with the odd 90mph ball. Still, it doesn't detract from the playing experience.
Punk_Sk8r
National Board President
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2006
Batting is really nice. I'm pretty naff at the bowling. But I am in love with the batting it's actually hard, doesn't always go for four, can get little nudges into gaps etc.
Only thing I found odd, you have to press the shot your going to play like pretty much after it leaves the bowlers hand. It feels like your timing it really early but it's not.
Can't wait for the demo expansion for the PC demo.
Only thing I found odd, you have to press the shot your going to play like pretty much after it leaves the bowlers hand. It feels like your timing it really early but it's not.
Can't wait for the demo expansion for the PC demo.
Just a question with the bowling. Was the ball speed realistic with the 90mph + bowlers or did it still feel loopy?
cheers
Leepy
School Cricketer
Yea I think this must be an older build of the game as the developers said they were fixing these bugs. It is probably fair to assume that this will be fixed in the final build.
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