Don Bradman Cricket 14 - first impressions thread

[ChinamanSpin]

- Players rarely use their feet, no inside out shots, no advancing down the wicket.

User input or difficulty level perhaps?

Which innings are you talking about? There was more advancing and movement in the AI's innings.

Also it would be nice if someone creates a Awesome moments thread and put just the positive stuff in there?

Nice idea, it would be good if we could talk about the positives a bit.

On the topic of threads, could the issues be kept into one thread, as the career mode bug/issue discussion expanded into 4 or 5 threads, making it difficult to keep track of and discuss?

 

[stevo1]

User input or difficulty level perhaps?

Which innings are you talking about? There was more advancing and movement in the AI's innings.
.

The AI - South Africa. This vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMUZlOYzPOY

 

[graham]

Can we start a thread with peoples videos of don bradman 14 and make requests i would like to see some
Rain in test match mode pleeeeeeeeeese

still no release date for UK

 

[AngryPixel]

AP, how has the game been so far for you? Can you give a brief insight as to how much have you enjoyed playing it? Is it up there with your expectations or are you like disappointed?

So few hours back i got my copy and ran away from the every forum i was online on. As soon as i got a prompt fto download the teams. I selected yes and it took around 5 minutes for all 79 teams to download.Went to match practise to learn the basics of the bowling. After a good 10 minutes of training i jumped into a match which was interrupted by power cut.
Finally power came back and I started a T20 match between India All time XI vs Aussie All Time XI. After winning the toss i elected to bat first and went bang bang from the first ball as I've decided to check the gameplay. Thus it was no wonder that I was reduced to 30/6 in 4th over. Then i tried to put attention to ball and play accordingly. Thus got nice little partnership going between Kapil Deva and Kumble. Thus score reached 119 by the time i was allout. Kapil got out for 49 runs, not before he took Lillee to the cleaners. Scored 2 sixes and 2 fours before getting out on 5th.
I thought i had a fighting total. Srinath started the bowling and i had no idea how i bowled the first ball but the Aussie opener played it in the air towards cover where again i had no idea how i held on to the catch as later on i dropped as many as 4 catches. After that first ball, everything went downhill for next couple of overs as i tried to grasp bowling controls. After 5 or 6 overs i understood them and got it that i should have spent more time in practise mode. AI did not played as many sweep shots against me as they were reported. I guess its based on your line and length. I remember bowling just good length using spinners.

Pros:
1) Fine edges: You wont notices some of the edges of your own bat or oppositions bat. Thus you would have to be careful in using the reviews and while bowling just appeal for everything
2) AI mentality does change with format. They were overly aggesive in 5 over matches, little less in 20 overs and were leaving some balls in ODIs. Havent tried test match yet.
3) Animations for diving catches are stunning. There are more than 2 or 3 different types of animations for diving catches.
4) Attention to detail: Start a practise match of a long tour and you would see it happening in a more or less empty ground. There would be lot of ambient noise of wind and birds. Appeals are different too.
5) Stats tracking galore.
6) AI sometimes goes for BARS against umpire.
7) Commentary might be minimal but it is apt and accurately depict the on field action.

Cons:
1) Batsman does not show any reaction when a ball hits him.
2) Players from the boundary hit the stumps 9 out of 10 times.
3) Sweeps are far too easy. When i realized this, i was using mainly sweep and reverse sweep for scoring runs.
4) Sometimes fielders put in spectacular efforts to stop the ball just before boundary only to waste it by touching the rope with legs while picking up the ball.
5) The sound of ball hitting the stump is a little too loud.

----------

Pretty disappointed with the variety of shots played by the AI in the Tour Mode. T20 Match Pak vs SA.
-Slogging them with no footwork to leg, just doesn't look right. Think previous games.
- Players rarely use their feet, no inside out shots, no advancing down the wicket.

It must be because of difficulty level of type of bowling because i was playing on pro mode and giving the ball a lot of flight, AI was using feels a lot. Almost 2 or 3 times a over. Sometimes they used advance defensive shot and sometimes they slogged it after advancing it.
Feet movements matte from Pro mode onwards. I missed or mistimed lot of short balls because of staying on frontfoot.

 

[grkrama]

^so who won the match?

 

[AngryPixel]

Can we start a thread with peoples videos of don bradman 14 and make requests i would like to see some
Rain in test match mode pleeeeeeeeeese

still no release date for UK

I'll play a test match in England after some time. Probably that will help. Would report if rain actually comes

 

[cricket_online]

Normalisation already happens in online matches.

Can you let us know what the "online balancing/normalization" entails? Will our batsmen become bowlers and our bowlers batsmen in online matches? We need to understand a bit how this normalization works else how are we expected to even pick teams coz you thing you are going in with 6 batsmen, 1 all rounder, 2 spinners and 3 pacers, but the "normalization" makes it 7 batsmen, 3 spinners and a pacer.

 

[AngryPixel]

^so who won the match?

Aussies chased it down comfortably in 11th over. Surprisingly they played just 1 or 2 reverse sweeps. Makes me wonder if they tend to do that more in 5 over format or it is related to the line and length i was bowling.

 

[cricket_online]

Whoa guys. Whoever is using the videos to judge how I play, please note that I'm playing like that just to show you how the game works.

I'm obviously trying to improve my skills

Anyways, the bowlers do tend to bowl on the leg side a lot. Even the balls I played on the leg, either I could have played them straight or on the on side. Majority of the deliveries are not really on the off stump or outside it, in most of the matches I have played.

That's a concern as well and hopefully will be fixed in a patch. You don't expect 4 deliveries an over on the leg stump every over.

 

[balkeet]

So few hours back i got my copy and ran away from the every forum i was online on. As soon as i got a prompt fto download the teams. I selected yes and it took around 5 minutes for all 79 teams to download.Went to match practise to learn the basics of the bowling. After a good 10 minutes of training i jumped into a match which was interrupted by power cut.
Finally power came back and I started a T20 match between India All time XI vs Aussie All Time XI. After winning the toss i elected to bat first and went bang bang from the first ball as I've decided to check the gameplay. Thus it was no wonder that I was reduced to 30/6 in 4th over. Then i tried to put attention to ball and play accordingly. Thus got nice little partnership going between Kapil Deva and Kumble. Thus score reached 119 by the time i was allout. Kapil got out for 49 runs, not before he took Lillee to the cleaners. Scored 2 sixes and 2 fours before getting out on 5th.
I thought i had a fighting total. Srinath started the bowling and i had no idea how i bowled the first ball but the Aussie opener played it in the air towards cover where again i had no idea how i held on to the catch as later on i dropped as many as 4 catches. After that first ball, everything went downhill for next couple of overs as i tried to grasp bowling controls. After 5 or 6 overs i understood them and got it that i should have spent more time in practise mode. AI did not played as many sweep shots against me as they were reported. I guess its based on your line and length. I remember bowling just good length using spinners.

Pros:
1) Fine edges: You wont notices some of the edges of your own bat or oppositions bat. Thus you would have to be careful in using the reviews and while bowling just appeal for everything
2) AI mentality does change with format. They were overly aggesive in 5 over matches, little less in 20 overs and were leaving some balls in ODIs. Havent tried test match yet.
3) Animations for diving catches are stunning. There are more than 2 or 3 different types of animations for diving catches.
4) Attention to detail: Start a practise match of a long tour and you would see it happening in a more or less empty ground. There would be lot of ambient noise of wind and birds. Appeals are different too.
5) Stats tracking galore.
6) AI sometimes goes for BARS against umpire.
7) Commentary might be minimal but it is apt and accurately depict the on field action.

Cons:
1) Batsman does not show any reaction when a ball hits him.
2) Players from the boundary hit the stumps 9 out of 10 times.
3) Sweeps are far too easy. When i realized this, i was using mainly sweep and reverse sweep for scoring runs.
4) Sometimes fielders put in spectacular efforts to stop the ball just before boundary only to waste it by touching the rope with legs while picking up the ball.
5) The sound of ball hitting the stump is a little too loud.

----------

Thanks for sharing that first time experience and congrats on getting hold of the game FINALLY!
Looking forward to such refreshing reviews of other members.

 

[AngryPixel]

That's a concern as well and hopefully will be fixed in a patch. You don't expect 4 deliveries an over on the leg stump every over.

That is indeed a concern. I rarely got any ball on off stump or outside off stump.

 

[Wealey]

The AI - South Africa. This vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMUZlOYzPOY

From what I saw it didn't seem too bad. From a cricketing point of view the right gander played the off spinner to leg and the lefty played the leggy to leg. Which I guess you would expect in general.

I don't know if this is just coincidence but the lefty on one occasion backed away gave himself room and hit the offs over cover! Very nice!

Also the reverse sweep was def used less in 20/20 than we saw in the 5 overs!

 

[ChinamanSpin]

So few hours back i got my copy and ran away from the every forum i was online on. As soon as i got a prompt fto download the teams. I selected yes and it took around 5 minutes for all 79 teams to download.Went to match practise to learn the basics of the bowling. After a good 10 minutes of training i jumped into a match which was interrupted by power cut.

Snip snip

Thanks for your impressions. How many overs did you get bowled out in?

Have/would you be able to bowl 50 or 100 overs in an innings without getting bored and simulating? Do you prefer facing/bowling with pace or spin? Sorry for asking a lot of questions.

Hopefully the sweep's prowess will be tweaked in a patch. Gameplay wise, the legside bowling is currently my only real concern.

 

[AngryPixel]

I was bowled out in 12 overs. Batting is not difficult if you dont try to slog every ball and try to rotate strike. But Sweep is a big concern. My tail enders were reverse sweeping Warne comfortably and getting 10 or 12 runs of his every over.
Initially the when i started bowling in the t20 match, it was a little frustrating due to my lack of practice and inability to grasp all the controls. Moreover my fielding was worse than my bowling. The chances which i was creating were getting dropped. I remembered dropping 5 catches in the match which could have turned the game. Later on when i got hang of bowling i started to enjoy it but by that time match was already out of the hands. I'll try to complete one whole test matches after some time and let you guys know whether i was bored or enjoyed it.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Is the reverse sweeping on the lowest difficulty? Tried the highest difficulty level yet?