Don Bradman 17 review - Buyers beware!!

[t_kaay]

So, having bought a brand new PS4 pro specifically and exclusively to play this game, I couldn't wait to play it when I got my hands on it today. What a disappointment. Been looking forward to this game for the last year only to see a step backwards. I can honestly echo the first post in some of his points. No doubt all his points may be valid but in the 2 hours I have spent playing, or should I say, tried playing the game, I have had it crash 3 times and found the game play to be poor. Its virtually impossible to see the ball when you bat using the far batting camera; the ball disappears when hit in the air ; there seem to be only a limited number of shots you can play and I tried to download the best version teams but I got a message saying the function wasn't available. I know it's early days and I'm sure the BIG ANT team will try and solve the problems but really disappointed. Feel DBC 14 is actually better than 17 right now. Oh, and yes I did download the patch straight away upon loading the game. Biggest problem for me is that you can't see the ball when batting. Fielding interface is poor too. Much easier on DBC 14 to change fields. Will play a bit more over the next couple of days to see what else is wrong or hopefully right.

 

[T20]

Tried 2 co-op games, the game crashed every time before the start of 2nd innings (even after reloading a save).
Valid points by OP and others on the issues. IMO the game feels rushed and a major patch is needed to address the issues.
I am on PS4, v 1.01. PSN day 1 download.

 

[Kiko_97]

You miss the point. It is hugely concerning when a game on its official release requires a huge patch, that says the game has been shipped with known issues. I'm not saying that's the case here with DBC17 but in most cases it is. But the younger generation do accept this because that's all they know.

Games can't be made perfect. As someone who's studied game development I know how difficult it is to make a basic game. Even with all the resources and time BAS have there will be errors. At least now we live in an age where the finished game on disc can be worked on and improved until launch. Also you only see a file size, no patch notes so we don't know what has been changed.

 

[D1sruption]

ive had a couple of crashes and bugs like down the pitch but overall i love the game i think its a step forward from DBC14 and with patches will be great
yes theres a couple of eww things i can look past

as for the cover drive im driving like a beast, actually this is my ZONE shot if i get it right its the area for my scoring,

 

[Royce]

Citation needed. There are bugs for sure, but hardly any of them can be called showstoppers.

BA have a proven track record that they support their products really well. In the last iteration, they went an extra mile and added *new* features in patches along with the bug fixes. Not sure what you are trying to say by "if they cannot fix this" - do you mean they are technical inept or unwilling? And what is your basis for making such a comment?

If you are a true BA supporter, have patience and faith that BA will certainly patch the most glaring issues given some time. If you can't, well tough luck!

#1 - I dont know about you, but I dont really give a damn about "being a BA supporter", they are a business, they make money off their products that they create and sell, if their products aren't of an acceptable quality, they aint getting my hard earned cash!!

#2 - Why is having a "proven track record of supporting their products well" a good thing, does this not suggest that the products they release are inherently flawed and perhaps could have done with more work before releasing them?

#3 - You ask "do you mean they are technical inept or unwilling? And what is your basis for making such a comment?", to which I personally must reply YES! The basis being we wouldn't be experiencing these game-destroying issues if they were technically adept or willing... (per se, there are other considerations, none of which matter imo)

#4 - $100 is a lot of support... most new games do not cost this much!!

 

[Royce]

Games can't be made perfect. As someone who's studied game development I know how difficult it is to make a basic game. Even with all the resources and time BAS have there will be errors. At least now we live in an age where the finished game on disc can be worked on and improved until launch. Also you only see a file size, no patch notes so we don't know what has been changed.

Games CAN be made to a reasonable standard!!

As someone who has not studied game development, I don't give a crap how hard it is, this is their job!! Does your accountant mess up your tax return, then say "But it was really hard!!! Im not to blame!!!"... nope...

This age that we now live in - it promotes this kind of shoddy development process imo, where games are released "in time for christmas", rather than being finished properly... Do you really think that BA literally could in no way shape or form have improved this game before releasing it?? I think they could have, its called "setting a realistic release date"...in this hypothetical scenario they actually test the game properly, and incorporate what would have been the first several bug fixing patches into the actual game!!!! Like MAGIC!!! :O

 

[Satish555]

I am gonna have to agree with this guy here... and again this is just my opinion and every one has a right to their own. To me, the game looks rushed and full of flaws. I bought the game on xbox one from the microsoft store and so far i am really disappointed. I love what they did with the previous title... it was a good first title from them... I went back to playing that instead. But I was expecting a polished product here and to me that is not the case.

 

[ajamils]

After waiting for years for a newer version of the DBC 14 (which was flawed but playable) what we got is a broken, unfinished, untested and unplayable game. I won't repeat what others have already mentioned but would like to ask Big Ant how they can release a game in this condition. Granted, I've never worked in game industry but done enough programming and development to know that if I ever released such a buggy software to clients, I would have not only lost my job but would have lost the client as well. Sure, Big Ant is no EA Sports so we don't expect perfect game at release but at least it shouldn't have so many issues that QA/testers should have picked up within few minutes of playing the game. If you can't afford decent QA team or game testers, I'm willing to offer my services for FREE.

I guess this is what happens when there is no competition . I bet if there was any other cricket game in the market, we would be returning our copies for full refund.

 

[Biggs]

Do you really think that BA literally could in no way shape or form have improved this game before releasing it?? I think they could have

As someone who has not studied game development

Case dismissed, if it pleases the court we'll take lunch early. The jury is dismissed.

 

[BRAB]

You asked for a citation and I give you several...forget about the post release patching track record....how did the below showstoppers pass QA....

Cover Drive
How could anyone at Bigant not notice that one cannot play a Cover Drive (which was apparent to me within 10 minutes)? Even if this was missed by the developers.......haven't they done QA for even one day, If the people doing QA had any clue...they would definitely not pass a game where 50% of the offside field is inaccessible. Furthermore, the fact that attempting a cover drive triggers an animation where the batsman exposes his stump and attempts a nothing shot is game breaking and off putting.

Leg Glance

The leg glance ends up at mid wicket in front of square and rarely goes to backward square leg...let alone fine leg. There is no back foot leg glance animation either which is one of the bread and butter shots. Leg glance issues again render a large chunk of the onside inaccessible.

Stroke Variation
If you consider one side of the field (lets say offside)....it spans 180 degrees....but there are only 4 or 5 animations covering the entire spectrum....the much proclaimed analog batting controls should be capable of ensuring placement for every 10 degrees at least.....which means that there should be 18 possible variants of offside ground stroke play depending on my analog stick position but sadly it is only 4 or 5.

The same holds true on the leg side as well.....DBC 14 was slightly better in this regard (although not completely analog as proclaimed) and offered 7 or 8 variants. A sequel should have seen improvement in this core aspect, let alone suffer in this area as is evident now.

@BigAntStudios @mikeymerren Having Helicopter shots, Dilscoops, Stadium Creators etc are just bells and whistles....and in my opinion irrelevant if you cannot get the simplest, fundamental aspects right, especially those that already existed in the previous version.

Did you just question the legitimacy of the Helicopter shot?

 

[Targaryen]

All those who are complaining about the game shouldn't forget that the official release of the game was dated as 22/12 which is now broken in release of console versions. Though this has nothing to do with your arguments regarding the game and the bugs, it make sense at some point.

We all know that before the game is released on console, a thorough check will be done by MS &/or Sony to make sure the product which will be delivered to the customers will not have any flaws in it. If the game has gone through these verification thing and then reached to you then it is obvious that it has been approved without any flaws being detected.

BA has delivered one the the best cricket games ever i.e, DBC14 and they have done everything they could to fix the bug reported by members and it was their passion and dedication of COMPLETING a game. The same can be said here aswell. When there was a stadium bug, BA gave up their weekend and fixed that bug. This is their passion and dedication. They will not get anything from the Academy as it is a free to download. But yet they have done it (bug fixing) without any reward.

Your right with what you are doing. An individual will get frustrated if they have paid 100$ and have got an unfinished & buggy product. It is quite unfortunate that it has been crashing, only few shots/stroke, and many more... But believe me, BA will fix everything. You can't just complain things, if you list out what you guys are experiencing then they'll surely fix it. Let's show some gratitude for their work throughout.

Be patient and you will get the fruit of it. Good luck

 

[Chevo]

I bet if there was any other cricket game in the market, we would be returning our copies for full refund.

Speak for yourself.

what we got is a broken, unfinished, untested and unplayable game.

Weren't here for ashes cricket 2013 huh?

 

[Waxx123]

So wait for more patches to buy? Sounds like there are lot of issues with the game right now. Based on reading the impression here.

 

[Jerm]

So wait for more patches to buy? Sounds like there are lot of issues with the game right now. Based on reading the impression here.

Since when have we purchased any patches for DBC? everything has been free!

 

[chaman82]

"Also, while all the modification sliders are great, why not just make the game as realistic as possible in the first place? Why must I trial and error for hours on end to get the ball to react as it would IRL, when thats what im paying you people to do for me?"

@Royce

I have to say I agree on the above point.