My Review/Impressions about the game! (Verdict: Must Buy)

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 !!
 
It'd be awesome if the physics were implented on the pitch. So when the pitch gets older and certain cracks widen, when the ball hits them, the physics decide how they deviate accordingly. It would be brilliant.
 
It'd be awesome if the physics were implented on the pitch. So when the pitch gets older and certain cracks widen, when the ball hits them, the physics decide how they deviate accordingly. It would be brilliant.

Yeah...the best thing is that trickstar has built an excellent foundation, if they continue like this, we might get the best cricket game (i.e the kind that we dream of....not the best as compared to previous ████) in a couple of years!!

They need to develop physics for Pitch, Ball, Make bat a seperate physical object with its own physics, physics for ball hitting the pads helmet body, animations need a total over-haul, stats need to be incorporated!! Phew...lots of work need be done lol!! Trickstar...come one...give us a gift...incorporate all these things in the next year's edition of the game :)!!!
 
Well well well....the more I play this game the more disappointed I am :(!!

Here is why!

Played a T20 match between India (me) vs England at lords on a 4th day weary wicket with overcast conditions! This was on Hard with minimum HUD!

Scores:

India:

326/8 off 20 Overs

England:

213/2 off 20 Overs


- Batting in Test matches seems to be really enjoyable, but I dont know why the same timing windows were not carry forwarded to the T20 match!! Timing the ball in T20 was so much damn easier than test matches! I was hitting boundaries at will!

- AI drops too many damn catches! In this innings itself the AI dropped as many as 10 catches i believe! And all of them were easy ones!

- Its astonishing how backfoot 'pull shots' are played by AI (and maybe even human controlled players can do the same, though i did not try it) to bloody 'yorkers'!! It really is astonishing and frustrating to see that! You bowl a yorker, you would expect the batsman to either hit it in the 'V' or try risking a across the line shot, or just paddle it towards fine leg.....but in this game, the ball bowled as a yorker, magically jumps up to the batsman's head when it reaches him and they keep playing backfoot pulls and cuts!! It really is a game breaker for me! This has spoilt the experience of bowling, as its totally unrealistic and thus a game breaker for me!

- In T20 matches (atleast the one where you post big scores like I did), the AI batsman are either super-human or totally idiotic! First 10 overs I bowled how I would normally do in a real match! The AI dispatched all the deliveries to all parts of the ground (they were all bowled in green areas with meter at green as well)! Its fine if they do that, but when they play backfoot pulls and cuts to yorker deliveries as well, then you feel its almost like cheating!
But then I bowled a negative like, placing all leg side fielders on the boundary and no one at off side boundary, and then I bowled outside leg with a spinner! Here is where the idiocy of the AI came into play! They just kept on trying to play the shots towards the off side....ALL THE TIME!! They did not move towards the leg and try to hit towards off...nor did they come down the track! They stayed where they were, and thus missed the ball every single time as the ball was always 'a ft' away from their bat! They kept doing this for the full 6 overs I bowled this line and in these 6 overs I just conceded 20 runs, most of which were because i moved my line towards the stumps at many times trying to get a wicket as well!! Not once did they try scoring on the on-side....even on Free-Hits!!!

I am very disappointed with this game now!! Only thing I have enjoyed in it is batting in test matches!

I know HUD off is what everyone will suggest, but seriously, that mode is only good for playing shots down the ground or just moving towards leg and hitting ball on off! Not real cricket!
 
Well well well....the more I play this game the more disappointed I am :(!!

I am very disappointed with this game now!! Only thing I have enjoyed in it is batting in test matches!

What happened to your claims of "Best game ever" and "Must Buy"... I take it you are leaning to a score of 6 or so now out of 10 :)
 
What happened to your claims of "Best game ever" and "Must Buy"... I take it you are leaning to a score of 6 or so now out of 10 :)

Not even 6....il give it 5 out of 10 now!! Even in ODI, on hard with minimal HUD on a seaming pitch with overcast conditions, I was able to chase a score of 269 in 30 overs!! One thing better is you cant keep hitting every ball with the slog button in ODI...but even without that being able to score 269 off 30 overs is not acceptable!! I wish the developers had given the option of keeping the field radar off on minimal HUD itself!

This game is definately better than Ashes 09....and the best game since blc99 (well...apart from the yorker turning into a head high bouncer glitch/bug)...but its still has a loooooooong way to go!!
 
You are scoring 360 in a 2020 and then bitching the AI can't chase it :facepalm

Cricket is not only about hitting sixes, also ever heard of a Test match? this game is the best Test game out there, try one of those.
 
You are scoring 360 in a 2020 and then bitching the AI can't chase it :facepalm

Cricket is not only about hitting sixes, also ever heard of a Test match? this game is the best Test game out there, try one of those.

Dude....did you even read what I wrote? I am not bitching about the AI not being able to chase the score!! Read it again...ul know its more about AI being stupid with the bowls being bowled outside leg stump and also the stupid bug where yorkers are hit as backfoot pull/hook/cut shots and the ball magically jumps up to that height!!!

AS for test match....yeah I agree with you, this is the best cricket game for test matches!!! I even wrote about it here:

Batting in Test matches seems to be really enjoyable, but I dont know why the same timing windows were not carry forwarded to the T20 match!! Timing the ball in T20 was so much damn easier than test matches! I was hitting boundaries at will!
 
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angad just wondering if you have won a Test match on hard yet? Ive played 2 so far and lost comprehensively in both.
 
Dude....did you even read what I wrote? I am not bitching about the AI not being able to chase the score!! Read it again...ul know its more about AI being stupid with the bowls being bowled outside leg stump and also the stupid bug where yorkers are hit as backfoot pull/hook/cut shots and the ball magically jumps up to that height!!!

AS for test match....yeah I agree with you, this is the best cricket game for test matches!!! I even wrote about it here:

Mate u must have heard no HUD.. play in that and than tell me if you can win.
 
Couldn't agree with this review more tbh my exact feelings on the game, including the gripe about ball physics. What i'd also love to see trickstar implement, is a "shot modifier" button, to allow switch hits to be played, as well as the ability to sweep any ball (or try to sweep you may get out if executed wrongly ;)), dilshans, and the other kind of shots that the modern game has introduced in recent years.

Just to state I agreed with the initial review not the subsequent rant.
Although I have had a same problem in one t20 game, scoring 310 and the AI managed to get 309, Sehwag scored 140 off about 40 balls, but he was playing "cheating" shots. However this has only happened once in 5/6 t20s, my scores have been 120, 166, 140, 185, apart from the blip i got 310. And the test match play is awesome.
 
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angad just wondering if you have won a Test match on hard yet? Ive played 2 so far and lost comprehensively in both.

I have played 8 test matches (test matches are the best part of IC2010 in my opinion) and have won all of them, but they were damn good test matches!! I love the test match gameplay in this game :)!!

Mate u must have heard no HUD.. play in that and than tell me if you can win.

Dude I tried hud off and though scoring in it was not as easy, one can easily score enough runs by spending time!! Now I know it sounds nice, but in reality its not that nice/realistic as I need to mostly pre-meditate my shots all the time, or play only straight shots, or go down the leg and play only off side shots, thus its not as fun or realistic for me! A user had mentioned how the developers could have given us a slider to determine when the ball on the pitch should be visible....had such a slider been implemented, it would have been much more fun :)!
 
I agree with Agnad on the yorker length bug. I have stopped playing ODIS and T20s due to this bug. Test matches are a lot more fun.
 
^Please you have to say the whole thing. Agnad should join PCB as the president of the board :D
 

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