Don Bradman Cricket in the Press

[AL_Amin]

Call of duty has bugs; its the same s**t every year but of course you wouldn't care IGN, because you get to dance all the way to the bank.

 

[whiteninness]

The main things that scored against us were "design" issues, as in they didn't like our design ie radar

I think that it's a fantastic idea to make the user look around at the field and not use a radar, but there are two problems that seem to hamper it, of which only one is fixable:

1) The 360/PS3 have limited resolutions and graphical capabilities, and cricket grounds are huge. Players on the boundaries can get confused for cameramen, people in the crowd and even adboards (according to a video review I watched)

2) The fielders move way too fast and throw much too accurately. All running between wickets becomes very stressful and this is compounded if you don't have a good knowledge of where the fielders are.

I don't know if you plan to add in a radar. I can't imagine it'd be difficult and it'd probably help some people. I imagine it'd be against the BA design philosophy, which is meant to be overlay-minimal. The massive bowling timing overlay probably fits into this category too, but has been added to help people who are a bit slower to accept the new style of bowling

 

[smasta]

I think this is mainly the "fault" of the user though. People have jumped straight into career mode yet they should be playing team mode matches where you have 10 wickets in hand and can practice batting more You get lots of practice in career mode when bowling because even if you get spanked you still get to bowl again. If you play a single bad shot you can be out and that's it.

On the contrary its really satisfying even to get 20 runs scored with your career player but hugely disappointing getting all out with total of approx 150 in a test match against Russia.

 

[Guybrush Threep]

Reviewers can say what they want. I have bought a heap of sports games from FIFA to table tennis and I am enjoying DBC more than any of them.

Am I biased because I enjoy cricket, yes. But I've also played other cricket games that I've picked up a couple of times and left them to gather dust after that.

I personally would give the game an 8/10. With a few bug fixes, more animations with better transitions and some better AI this would easily be a 9/10 for me. The good thing is that most of what people are complaining about can be fixed. What Big Ant have got right are the foundations.

 

[dhump]

I read IGN review and I must say it is a pretty ill informed piece. He failed to understand manual or didnt tried everything and tried to write the review.

 

[barmyarmy]

I am happy with the testing.

It's far from broken, testing these games is a far more difficult task than is being given credit in the emotional dialog above.

I'm part of the testing group for an online game I play and I now smile when I see "what idiots tested this? How did they miss x, y, z?"

 

[79cricket]

The score is lower than we wanted from IGN but they have some good points rised here. Shane Watson of cricket games, that made me laugh.

 

[DenizG]

The IGN review is a tad harsh don't you think? I mean, they gave ashes 09 an 8.2 and I thought that was awful compared to DBC 14.

However i guess these criticisms are fixable, and aren't stopping my friends whom i've convinced to get the game to get it.

I've got a feeling IGN will give the lowest review, it's not a great one either. Won't stop me from enjoying it though!

 

[outbreak]

I don't think it's too harsh, for me I'm starting to enjoy the game more and I know I will keep playing it non stop for a long period of time. But remember major review sites are generally not going to be cricket obsessed people and the review is for the audience at large. As great as big ant are supporting the game and as grateful we are that we have gotten a good platform for a cricket game we need to remember this game costs money. I paid more for this game than nba2k14, for me I know I will get my value for money but for the mass market I think DBC2014 isn't quite on the same level as nba2k14 which is a AAA release. I think the reviews could point out more that if you are a big cricket fan the game is worth getting. I think the reason some other cricket games had higher scores is due to the fact that they may not be better than DBC2014 but they were easier to pick up and smash some runs and have a bit of fun for a reviewer who only has a short period of time to play a game before their deadline. For cricket fans they will find cricket based sites who do a review will be more inline with their experiences.

Another thing to note is I am enjoying dbc2014 more than I enjoyed NBA2k14 which is saying something because I play NBA2k religiously every year that game comes out and basketball is the only other sport I follow besides cricket. One thing I am trying to do is compare this more to the early 2k games I played and it surpasses their early efforts at a career mode imo which is a good sign for the future. Maybe the next edition can be more polished and aim for the regular gaming crowd a bit more.

 

[kunal29101980]

just a quick fix for the run outs by miss judge quick singles specially behind the wickets and fine leg area...change camera setting for Running to "Fielding 1" option...that helps..

 

[laxsidd]

Came across this review today. Not sure if this has already been posted here:

Don Bradman Cricket 14 review - Xbox 360 Game Reviews | MMGN Australia

 

[Slugger]

"Offering a mixture of casual matches, real-world tours, custom tournaments, online play and a fully fledged 20 year career, there?s no shortage of content to keep you occupied until Australia plays its next Test in October ? although I can?t help but wonder why a game carrying the Bradman name wasn?t pushed back until the next local season."

Had to laugh at this comment, Obviously not a member on planet cricket....

 

[BigAntStudios]

Yeah, how unpatriotic of me.

Reminds me of the FB, BigFooty, and emails I get with comments like "it's footy season dickhead"...


I should add that I think most here would agree with:

Got Right
+ Best cricket game in years
+ Bowling and batting generally work well
+ Community driven teams
+ Captures the passion and mental side of cricket

Got Wrong
- Massive learning curve
- Lacking polish, a little glitchy
- Career bat/ball difficulty unbalanced
- Recurring terrible run outs


Except I think "Massive learning curve" is by design. The other stuff will be patched then we're on a 10, right?

 

[pickledyoda]

Huge wrap from oldest son for new Playstation game Don Bradman Cricket 14...tough...bowling hard...especially spin...well it is the Don !

Endorsed by a real cricket player!....'s son

 

[MattW]

I should add that I think most here would agree with:

Could I copy paste that down the bottom of the review I'm currently writing?