Don Bradman Cricket 14 - first impressions thread

[phil1987]

Frustrated with batting to the point of on the verge of taking game back. Mainly in career but sometimes in other modes too, my batsman continually won't play a shot on most occasions and I'm out bowled or LBW Is it a timing thing?faulty game maybe? I thought controller at first but have since changed controllers. Can anyone help?

Dont worry i'm sure someone that has not played yet will tell you how it's done. Seems to be the norm on here.

I will try and help you a little bit but i have only played the game for 8-10 hours so i have no clue what i'm on about.

When batting try predominantly playing most balls of the back foot, don't worry about the full balls they will still drive it down the ground. Even though your initial footwork is going backwards the batsman still ends up in good positions to drive the ball.

You can also try this the other way around by predominantly coming on to the front foot but the short balls will be tricky to play.

The notable thing here is that most of the time your footwork will be premeditated (ONLY AGAINST PACE BOWLING). If you you are waiting for the ball to be delivered every single time before you choose your footwork AND direction you will end up in a bit of strife and find batting a bit hard.

I have employed this tactic of late and it is far more efficient than waiting until the ball is delivered to make all your decisions. Especially on PRO and higher.

 

[HBK619]

That is one way to go.

The disappointing fact is that most of the people in this topic are just throwing in their opinions without having played the game or have just played the game at easier difficulties.

If you do not own the game or have not put hours into the game yet and are trying to justify how hard or easy it is then please stop waisting forum space.

Ok, how about me then?

I have played this game for hours and I know that it is indeed VERY playable without the bowling assistance HUD. In fact, 4 months of my time with the game were spent without the bowling assistance HUD and what taught me about bowling was the diagram we use in the manual, not the bowling assistance HUD.

The simple fact of things, is that if you want to learn how to ride a bicycle you have to take off the training wheels at some point. We're not going to hold your hand the entire way, especially not at the hardest difficulties.

Sometimes you need to take the wheels off, let go of mummy and daddies hands and learn to ride by yourself.

As for batting. I posted my proof today that all it takes is some patience, hitting to the fields, playing the right shots and you can indeed bat well. I made 3 50's today, as I concentrated on making my targets, playing as safe as I could and this was on Pro. I am no master at the game, I just took the time to learn it and now I am reaping the rewards.

 

[sami ullah khan]

^What phil needs, is some sweet chin music . @phil1987 We ride the same boat man. My batting sucks at this point in time but it seems to be more of my own inefficiency than some fault in the game. I also tried what you have suggested regarding the backfoot. I did that last night and I could survive a lot more than I did before. I sure as hell hope that I can cope with this thing and play of front and back on merit of each delivery.

 

[lonewolf5646]

got the game
will be playing it after todays T20
must say what an in depth user manual about batting,bowling and fielding is included with the disc

pretty excited....

 

[Radman]

I've had a bit of a hissy fit, jumping the gun here and there over the way it plays but given more time and practice, I am certainly seeing progress which is great and I'll continue on my pursuit for greatness tomorrow.

The great thing about the game I"m seeing is this game is a rough diamond that shows great potential for the future on top of what is already a quite outstanding foundation laid.

 

[Lord Sajjad]

Please add a fielding HUD so that we correctly know where the fielders are. Fielders are not much prominent. This wlll also solve the run out problem as well in the career mode.

 

[Biggs]

And the refusal to atleast acknowledge the call from Big Ant to play the game for a bit longer than 2 to 3 days...

PFFFT... swiftly judge everything in just a few hours with barely any quality hands-on time, that's how I judges the ladies.

 

[dhump]

Please add a fielding HUD so that we correctly know where the fielders are. Fielders are not much prominent. This wlll also solve the run out problem as well in the career mode.

No it will not be added but something like a hawk vision which will kind of mark the fielders in a manner that you can see them when reviewing field.

 

[Dutch]

Please add a fielding HUD so that we correctly know where the fielders are. Fielders are not much prominent. This wlll also solve the run out problem as well in the career mode.

Do you even have the game yet?

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PFFFT... swiftly judge everything in just a few hours with barely any quality hands-on time, that's how I judges the ladies.

I imagine the hands on time is very quick. Reminds me; must scour the rim of the bath.*

*love ya lots, really, just being a complete Mitchs Johnson.

 

[phil1987]

Ok, how about me then?

I have played this game for hours and I know that it is indeed VERY playable without the bowling assistance HUD. In fact, 4 months of my time with the game were spent without the bowling assistance HUD and what taught me about bowling was the diagram we use in the manual, not the bowling assistance HUD.

The simple fact of things, is that if you want to learn how to ride a bicycle you have to take off the training wheels at some point. We're not going to hold your hand the entire way, especially not at the hardest difficulties.

Sometimes you need to take the wheels off, let go of mummy and daddies hands and learn to ride by yourself.

As for batting. I posted my proof today that all it takes is some patience, hitting to the fields, playing the right shots and you can indeed bat well. I made 3 50's today, as I concentrated on making my targets, playing as safe as I could and this was on Pro. I am no master at the game, I just took the time to learn it and now I am reaping the rewards.

HAHA there are already some complaining about the bowling while the HUD is on(especially spin).

One minute you are on PRO knocking CPU over for cheap time after time so you want more of a challenge and all of a sudden the next difficulty up is bowling without a hud. My apologies i thought maybe the next logical step of making it a challenge would be to improve the AI batting, my bad.

This is an issue that many more will have a problem with after playing the game for a while.

Most people will be playing this game on PRO and after a while of doing that, the difficulty differences in batting and bowling will stand out more and more so they will go up a level and try and play the game on veteran to try and get an equal contest between bat and ball.

Getting rid of the bowling HUD should be something that happens at the most difficult level and to me it seams like a cheap arcade style of making the game more difficult instead of making the AI batting more advanced.

Bowling to the CPU on veteran should be harder because of better AI batting not because i do not have a bowling HUD.

You are part of the production team for this game so i do not expect anything but one sided point of views. If you really have played this game for as long as you say i'm sure you would have noticed a major issue when playing on PRO where it is just far too easy to knock over the CPU and win games.

 

[Biggs]

Alright, grabbed the ol' iPhone and did a couple of matches. Test (got thrashed) and two T10 matches to cleanse the palette. Seems to be in the shorter formats you get a bigger variety of "moments" happening in the match, I guess that's the compressed time period, or whatever... but here's a few highlights from tonights matches....

DUTCH WICKET

You know you've "got it" when you get a wicket like this, easily my best delivery bowling to date and I'm getting the hang of bowling, still haven't got a clue what I'm doing when I'm bowling spin but @Dutch is turning into my firepower go-to wicket-taker for PlanetCricket. Check out this awesome delivery against @BigAntStudios...

QUALITY KEEPING

Biggs decided to be a "hero" and try a scoop shot, abysmal failure... ended up hitting him plumb in front, then rolling up onto the bat and into the air. The AI immediately appealed for the LBW and you can see them going up the background... The keeper started to jump, then stopped and as you see in the video kept looking up and CAUGHT THE BALL. Biggs, out... Caught. Scorecard got it right too. Very impressive physics and AI reaction, imo...

COMEDY REACTION TIME

@MattW was trying to rescue our innings after the now-traditional collapse (hence the close-in fielders) and was ticking along nicely, looking like getting at least CLOSE to the BigAnt score... busted out the sweep shot, straight into the side of one of the... erm... "chunkier" BigAnt guys... bounces off him into the air on the full and the fielder clumsily tries to both get out of the way and/or catch it at the same time. Hilarious little animation, had to share it...

There was more, but those were the best moments.

 

[Dutch]

@Biggs Brilliant how the ball bounces around after the attempted stop
@phil1987 I respect your opinion mate but you are certainly being grumpy about it. Cheer up, its a cricket game.
Reminds me of...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3vJxrf1r0ak

 

[Biggs]

I had a moment, that I forgot to video when two fielders were going for the ball in the deep, one got close to getting it but the other guy was slightly faster... he wound up and threw the ball back to the bowler...

...except it bounced off the dude in front of him and rolled back to the boundary, didn't go for four but was HILARIOUS. I'd call it a glitch if it wasn't the sort of thing you could see happening to India in the field

 

[Gamer Pradosh]

Ok after receiving the game at 10 am India....Here is my first impressions of the game....Played a 5 over match like all the others and won that comfortably...And played a test at veteran difficulty...
Note:I play all my games without any assist as I find them as a detraction....

Positives:

1.)The gameplay felt very smooth.

2.)Loved Spin bowling..Was able to vary the balls.

3.)Like Angry pixel said if you ground your bat when finishing a run then the AI does not hit stumps [Has become a habit so no such run outs]...

4.)Pace bowling: I need to learn and practice more...I couldnt bowl fast but I was able to see movement for sure..

5.)If you get the hang of the controls [Which I have a bit now] was able to dive,tap back and throw back for 3-4 times..Felt awesome...

6.)I was comfortable with field viewing system in the game..Felt real..

7.)The fielding camera doesn't really show where and how far the fielder is but this element of guessing made me good...

8.)Had very close calls like ball went between bat and pad and was sooooo close to the stumps like it brushed....Was an aweeeee moment for me....And took a wicket when the batsman tried sweeping me and got bowled leg stump...

9.)This game has really made me express when playing like punching in the air after taking a crucial wicket or breaking partnership...Thats really make you feel awesome....:

10.)Hitting big shots is another thing I love in the game and the reason is when I know I connected the shot I wont even run...Even the fielders running at horse speed were not able to stop that....

Negatives: [Not really negative but if done the gameplay would feel even realistic].

1.)In the Veteran level Test that I played the keeper was not able to stump when there were chances..Lost like 3-4 opportunities like that.....

2.)Rarely the batsman stays outside the crease even when pressing the back button...Lost a wicket like that...

3.)7-8 times the bowler crossed over the umpire....Graphics glitch...I think that needs patching [Not sure if others faced this as well....Saw in a user posted video as well...

4.)Had that issue of scores going 0/0 after a session but got corrected after bowling a delivery....If it returns to original score after bowling a ball every time then [Not a big issue at all]..

5.)When the batsman inside edges and if the ball is near the stumps then 2-3 fielders come for picking up the ball that looks a bit off...

6.)When I look around for the field settings even the leg side umpire shows his hand to not bowl [Not affecting the gameplay] but odd...

7.)I think already mentioned earlier that WK dives too much around so there is not really use of the first slip at all...

8.)I think this also was already mentioned that majority of deliveries reached the keeper after one or two bounces only [Even at hard pitch]...

P.S:Loving the CAREER MODE....The best thing to happen in a cricket game for sure......

 

[Biggs]

I mean... SERIOUSLY...

This is hilarious.

What a fun game...