angad
Chairman of Consent
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2004
- Online Cricket Games Owned
Hi,
I have been following all the comments about this game on this forum and finally got to playing the game yesterday....here are my honest impressions and comments:
Before I write anything else, let me tell all of you who are reading this post that this is THE BEST CRICKET game since BLC99, and if you are looking for a great cricket game....this is it (i.e. as compared to all the games that we have got before)!!!!! I would rate it at par with BLC99 keeping in mind the power of the consoles, the quality of games etc that were available at the time when BLC99 was released and today!!
Here are my impressions (il put them in points as I kept noting them down while playing the game ):
1) Trust me when I say this....Action Cam has been implemented BRILLIANTLY in this game! Not only is batting awesome with it, even running between the wickets is damn immersive as in order to survive a close run, you 'need' to to look at the ball, then at the crease, then at the ball, then maybe even at your partner if the throw is at their end so that you can dive/ground the bat on time!
2) The AI in this game seems brilliant! I played a test match on Hard, and initially they had open gaps for me to take singles which made me think...Damn this game is easy if u wanna take 6 singles till u build your confidence! But Wait a minute...within a few overs, the AI changed its field and converted it to a damn fortress and started bowling to their fields!! Awesome!!
3) You really have to build momentum, gain confidence before you start scoring freely! I noticed that when your confidence is down, even perfectly timed strokes seem to be cut down by fielders, thus resulting in keeping you to 1 or 2, whereas in previous games that same shot would have got you a screeching boundary! Now, before you start thinking that is not realistic, and that you should be able to hit a screeching boundary even when new to the crease (and if you have executed it perfectly)....there is good news...you can still hit a boundary or even a SIX (I hit one with tendulkar...first ball..on hard) but the catch is that there 'seems' to be a sweet spot in the perfect shot range on the timing meter! If you hit that...it will result in a boundary...but beware...there are 90% more chances of you getting out to it!! So now you really need to pick the balls and your shots properly!! Go slam bang and you are bound to get out sooner than later!
4) Animations!! Trickstar really needs to work on the animations!! Pathetic is the nicest thing I could say about them! Human Slip catching is AWEFUL! By the time you take the catch, you are almost next to the batsment (and so is the keeper)....even the umpire has moved to a run-out judging position!! AI slip catches, however, are damn realistic!
5) One big flaw i noticed (more so with the action cam) was that the ball bounces on the wicket without any physics! The bounce on the ball seems to be determined more by the foot selection by the batsman, rather than the physics! Try playing a front foot shot on a short of a lenght ball and then try playing a backfoot shot to the same ball....you will notice what I am trying to say! Basically if you play a front foot shot, the ball bounces till ur hips allowing u to play the glance, while if you play a backfoot to the same ball, he ball miraculously bounces as high as your head allowing you to play a pull shot (and it looks wierd in the replays as well as that bounce from a good lenght is just..well..WIERD). I guess this is to do with the lack of animations or just lack of ball physics!
6) To those asking whether bowler current match stats come up...well they dont while you are playing the game, but when you press pause, on the screen it shows the scores of the batsmen, the current bowler's stats etc
7) When you see a replay of a no-ball, the bowler's foot is actually half behind the crease...lol..just looked funny!!!
8) Keeper seems to take impossible catches!! super human types (well Pakistan surely needs a keepr from Ashes)!!
9) As a batsman, you can 'never' and I mean NEVER really feel 'in' on a not-so-good wicket! if you dont concentrate on every ball, you will get out!!
10) Just given out LBW to a ball sliding down the leg side....felt NICE as to the naked eye it looked plumb to me as well !!
11) While running between the wickets...the x button (for slide/grounding bat) seems little unresponsive at times!
12) If you hit a shot with the wind...the ball goes much further than when you hit against the wind! Its damn noticeable!
13) As I said before, when the AI places field properly with all of them attacking you while the bowler runs down his run up, taking singles really become risky....aeriel shots are anyways damn risky !! This felt just like BLC99 where hitting aerie shots was always risky and ground shots needed perfect execution to get any runs!!
Overall....this is the BEST cricket game since BLC99...and though there are various things that need improvement, Trickstar Games have built an awesome foundation on which they can really create the best cricket game ever!! Though for the next year's installment (if there is one), they really need to work hard and make a lot (i mean a lot) of changes to various stuff like animation, ball physics, improve more on gameplay elements, introduce another revolutionary change to cricket gaming etc!! I now expect huge things from them specially since they already have a near-perfect platform to build on !!
I have been following all the comments about this game on this forum and finally got to playing the game yesterday....here are my honest impressions and comments:
Before I write anything else, let me tell all of you who are reading this post that this is THE BEST CRICKET game since BLC99, and if you are looking for a great cricket game....this is it (i.e. as compared to all the games that we have got before)!!!!! I would rate it at par with BLC99 keeping in mind the power of the consoles, the quality of games etc that were available at the time when BLC99 was released and today!!
Here are my impressions (il put them in points as I kept noting them down while playing the game ):
1) Trust me when I say this....Action Cam has been implemented BRILLIANTLY in this game! Not only is batting awesome with it, even running between the wickets is damn immersive as in order to survive a close run, you 'need' to to look at the ball, then at the crease, then at the ball, then maybe even at your partner if the throw is at their end so that you can dive/ground the bat on time!
2) The AI in this game seems brilliant! I played a test match on Hard, and initially they had open gaps for me to take singles which made me think...Damn this game is easy if u wanna take 6 singles till u build your confidence! But Wait a minute...within a few overs, the AI changed its field and converted it to a damn fortress and started bowling to their fields!! Awesome!!
3) You really have to build momentum, gain confidence before you start scoring freely! I noticed that when your confidence is down, even perfectly timed strokes seem to be cut down by fielders, thus resulting in keeping you to 1 or 2, whereas in previous games that same shot would have got you a screeching boundary! Now, before you start thinking that is not realistic, and that you should be able to hit a screeching boundary even when new to the crease (and if you have executed it perfectly)....there is good news...you can still hit a boundary or even a SIX (I hit one with tendulkar...first ball..on hard) but the catch is that there 'seems' to be a sweet spot in the perfect shot range on the timing meter! If you hit that...it will result in a boundary...but beware...there are 90% more chances of you getting out to it!! So now you really need to pick the balls and your shots properly!! Go slam bang and you are bound to get out sooner than later!
4) Animations!! Trickstar really needs to work on the animations!! Pathetic is the nicest thing I could say about them! Human Slip catching is AWEFUL! By the time you take the catch, you are almost next to the batsment (and so is the keeper)....even the umpire has moved to a run-out judging position!! AI slip catches, however, are damn realistic!
5) One big flaw i noticed (more so with the action cam) was that the ball bounces on the wicket without any physics! The bounce on the ball seems to be determined more by the foot selection by the batsman, rather than the physics! Try playing a front foot shot on a short of a lenght ball and then try playing a backfoot shot to the same ball....you will notice what I am trying to say! Basically if you play a front foot shot, the ball bounces till ur hips allowing u to play the glance, while if you play a backfoot to the same ball, he ball miraculously bounces as high as your head allowing you to play a pull shot (and it looks wierd in the replays as well as that bounce from a good lenght is just..well..WIERD). I guess this is to do with the lack of animations or just lack of ball physics!
6) To those asking whether bowler current match stats come up...well they dont while you are playing the game, but when you press pause, on the screen it shows the scores of the batsmen, the current bowler's stats etc
7) When you see a replay of a no-ball, the bowler's foot is actually half behind the crease...lol..just looked funny!!!
8) Keeper seems to take impossible catches!! super human types (well Pakistan surely needs a keepr from Ashes)!!
9) As a batsman, you can 'never' and I mean NEVER really feel 'in' on a not-so-good wicket! if you dont concentrate on every ball, you will get out!!
10) Just given out LBW to a ball sliding down the leg side....felt NICE as to the naked eye it looked plumb to me as well !!
11) While running between the wickets...the x button (for slide/grounding bat) seems little unresponsive at times!
12) If you hit a shot with the wind...the ball goes much further than when you hit against the wind! Its damn noticeable!
13) As I said before, when the AI places field properly with all of them attacking you while the bowler runs down his run up, taking singles really become risky....aeriel shots are anyways damn risky !! This felt just like BLC99 where hitting aerie shots was always risky and ground shots needed perfect execution to get any runs!!
Overall....this is the BEST cricket game since BLC99...and though there are various things that need improvement, Trickstar Games have built an awesome foundation on which they can really create the best cricket game ever!! Though for the next year's installment (if there is one), they really need to work hard and make a lot (i mean a lot) of changes to various stuff like animation, ball physics, improve more on gameplay elements, introduce another revolutionary change to cricket gaming etc!! I now expect huge things from them specially since they already have a near-perfect platform to build on !!
!!!
!!
), dilshans, and the other kind of shots that the modern game has introduced in recent years.
