Don Bradman Cricket 14 - first impressions thread

[boycs]

What a fantastic game. I'd begun to think that all cricket games were doomed to be boring, but not this one. Bowling is actually fun and batting feels like real cricket. An inspired decision to get rid of those ridiculous pitch markers where you made your mind up about which shot to play during the bowler's run-up.

Well done, Ross, and the Big Ant team. You've transformed cricket games!

Like a lot of people here I have a couple of problems:-

? my batsmen are lazy when grounding their bats or turning back from a cancelled run;

? the AI batting give up their wickets cheaply. It's a little too easy to get wickets compared to the effort you have to put in batting (I'm on Pro by the way).

 

[Vikas Maloo]

Played the game for a a week now. Really nice game with a novel gameplay that is quite close to the real thing. As with most of the others, there are the common bugs of run outs, stumpings, super human fielding. However, the ones that I cant seem to get a handle on are two things with batting;

If the ball is outside the off stump on a fullish length and I am trying to hit on the onside of the front foot, it still goes for a pull shot and always misses, am never able to flick the ball from outside the off whereas on the stumps, i can do so.

Against spinners, again on the front foot, I find it next to impossible to cover drive or hit the ball in that area if the ball is slightly wide off the stumps. It inevitably goes for a cut shot and edges it to the keeper even on full balls. The right analog is distinctly on the down and left side and it really should not be trying to hit the ball behind point.

Would really appreciate any help on these issues.

 

[Jadel]

Played the game for a a week now. Really nice game with a novel gameplay that is quite close to the real thing. As with most of the others, there are the common bugs of run outs, stumpings, super human fielding. However, the ones that I cant seem to get a handle on are two things with batting;

If the ball is outside the off stump on a fullish length and I am trying to hit on the onside of the front foot, it still goes for a pull shot and always misses, am never able to flick the ball from outside the off whereas on the stumps, i can do so.

Against spinners, again on the front foot, I find it next to impossible to cover drive or hit the ball in that area if the ball is slightly wide off the stumps. It inevitably goes for a cut shot and edges it to the keeper even on full balls. The right analog is distinctly on the down and left side and it really should not be trying to hit the ball behind point.

Would really appreciate any help on these issues.

down and left for cover drive? Mmm

 

[barmyarmy]

Loving career mode so far, not great at batting but had a few decent scores from no. 6. My only issue with career so far is the lack of an option to change the player in anyway, I.e. bats, pads, helmets etc. but that's just me.

I set mine at the start during player setup. Not sure if you can change it once career starts but I'd have thought so. I bat in a cap...

 

[Vikas Maloo]

down and left for cover drive? Mmm

Play with Broadcast Camera so batting controls are inverted. And the issue is not the off/onside direction but why cut instead of cover drive and pull instead of flick.

 

[Jadel]

Play with Broadcast Camera so batting controls are inverted. And the issue is not the off/onside direction but why cut instead of cover drive and pull instead of flick.

I wish I was broad minded and accepting but there are some things people do that are too creepy and weird for me to accept. This is one of my personal failings. While batting on broadcast camera isnt high on this list it is on there. As such I want nothing to do with it.

As far as your player executing the wrong shots the most likely solution is you're doing it wrong. The shots are determined by RS direction and timing. If either one of those is messed up it wont go where you want it. I have never seen an issue with it apart from the fact its hard to get right.

 

[rizwanahmaduk]

Hi,

I am not sure if this is because my bowling is awesome but I just played three t20 games, india on both occassions were bowled out for less than 50 and south africa bowled out for 54...I am playing on pro level....

I think I may need to go upto veteran level now

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Here's a final update on my Test match on PRO difficulty. West Indies (AI) v Zimbabwe (Me).

Once again another really poor batting performance from myself in the 2nd innings, luckily I got myself set with Waller and started to make half decent partnerships with the tail.

I got a couple of early wickets but the AI put on a frustrating partnership of 48 between Chanderpaul & Bravo but once again the AI throw the match away (all 3 run outs were due to the batsmen not getting back into the crease after backing up )

So another easy victory for the Zimbos!

Next i'll be doing a full tour of England with Zimbabwe as shown here: http://www.planetcricket.org/forums/don-bradman-cricket-14-forum/your-custom-tours-87853.html

 

[Cliffo]

The fielders hit the stumps a lot when throwing the ball in from the boundary. Even when throwing it in gently. Even when they batsman's in the crease and not running. Middle stump, nigh on every time. It's pretty impressive, but a bit irritating. And once you notice it, you can't unnotice it.

 

[kamy100]

Got this edge after a really good over where I mixed up the deliveries really well:
Don Bradman Cricket 14 - BARS - YouTube

 

[billionaiire]

Played a LOT on the PS3 this evening after USPS delivered it in on the east coast of USA. Here are my first impressions.

1. I purposely played the 2010 Cricket game by Codemasters last week to refresh my memory and enjoyed it quite a lot. I popped in Don Bradman Cricker 14 and I am overall pleasantly surprised.

2. I am playing on a 55" TV sitting about eight feet away. While 1080p would have been great, 720p is still very good from a minimum of eight to ten feet from a similar size or even a bit smaller size TVs. But the graphics are obviously going to look amazing on a PC platform.

3. I didn't find any games online so I turned to the computer and played a Five 5 and tried a career mode. The bowling is a bit challenging and I honestly didn't feel the excitement come through yet. Batting however is very much fun. I know that bowling takes a while to shine and I am going to be patient.

4. There are a LOT of options when it comes to the gameplay, and the career mode, and that's a good thing for those who like poking around.

5. Yes, the fielders are a bit too accurate and there is a couple of minor annoyances with running between the wickets closer to the crease but easily fixable with a patch.

6. I also found a fielder standing straight in line of the batsman at the boundary line, and I doubt whether that fielding position should even be available.

7. The color and contrast on screen can be improved a bit as the ball does not always stand out crystal clear.

8. The crowd cheering can be a bit more alive and fuller to add a true flavor to the game of chance.

9. The leather on willow sounds are nicely captured.

10. Finally, some camera angles following the ball hit by a batsman are quirky and do not convey the direction of the shot too well and lose the original frame of reference. They are not very easy to fix but who knows.

Overall, a definite improvement in many areas noticeable right away from all previous cricket games. Please fix a few annoyances and this game will be legendary. Thank you Big Ant Studios and Tru Blu.

 

[swilson]

Is the game on Xbox 1080p?

 

[Frostyvegi]

The bowling is a bit challenging and I honestly didn't feel the excitement come through yet.

I didn't really have any 'wow' moments with bowling until I decided to try Mitchel Johnson to try and get some bounce (Something that elluded my career bowler). Picked a hard wicket in the casual match.. first ball from Mitch went straight into the poor batsman's head.. (didn't injure him, but I swear there was some 'reaction' to it on impact more than just shrugging it off).. next ball was a full piched delivery that he completely missed and went plumb into the pads and was given LBW.

Then a day or so later with my career player had a huge, geunine nick to third slip (only had a 3'rd, a 5th and a gully) at real good pace.. another great wow moment.

I've thrown out the Batsman (far) camera and gone for the close cam with transparent batter.. and this has made a huge difference (at least on the practice pitch). Earlier seeing the line and length of the ball has made the difference like night and day for batting for me.. had just that split second more time to make a decision rather than only being able to pre-mediate the shot selection (even on legend mode). Previously I'd found my player (far mode with transparancy turned off) would, depending on the handedness of the player and what side of the wicket they would bowl on, obscure the ball for most, if not all of the flight.. pretty much leave me guessing on some deliveries the speed and line of the ball.. causing many issues. Can't wait to play tonight with my career players and see how batting really is now.

 

[Westindies]

its nice to know that ps3 and xbox versions bugs are worked out and PC version will not have any of these bugs thanks to ps3 and xbox users

 

[balkeet]

The pc delay is a blessing in disguise.