Planetcricket.net International Cricket 2010 Official Review
We cricket fans often like to think that it is the nuances and complexities of the sport that make it what it is. Aside from making our sport so impenetrable at times to outsiders they also make it nigh on impossible to create a realistic computer simulation. What team would put just one fielder on the leg side then start peppering the batsmen with short balls? How many batsmen would come in with their team 30/6 and proceed to hit their first 2 balls for 6 and their 3rd to a fielder? What slips fielder has the reactions to run forward three steps and take a diving catch off a 90mph edge?
It is though a measure of the jump made by International Cricket 10 that we?re no longer talking about game-breaking bugs (offline at least) and instead beginning to focus on the minor adjustments, the irritations and the small unrealisms that prevent this game from giving more satisfaction.
As ever before I wrote this review I went back and read what I had written for the previous incarnations. The first questions always have to be have they listened and have they fixed things?
To both questions we can give an unequivocal ?yes?. As most people are by now aware Codemasters and Transmission Games asked Planetcricket to help develop a patch to fix the major issues outstanding from the release of Ashes Cricket 09. This dealt with bowling lengths, runouts and over-aggressive AI amongst other things. Whilst the patch itself wasn?t released Trickstar games lead programmer Heath Smith (formerly of Transmission) has made it clear that the work done on the patch was used to build International Cricket 10.
So does the game go sufficiently beyond AC09 as promised or are gamers being asked to shell out for a patched version which should have been delivered for free?
No patched version would have contained the action cam or (fake) IPL teams, nor would it have had the extra game modes, stadiums, teams and players. Is this enough though? A new camera view and content that could/should have been DLC anyway.
The action cam is certainly a fresh approach although I do recall having a first person option in some of the earlier EA games and most the online flash ones. The reason it?s most than just a new camera view though is the way the game is played when using it. Returning to the nuances of cricket, we all want to watch the ball out of the bowlers hand and work out the type of delivery and the action cam is certainly a step towards that. Introducing a HUD off and action cam option will definitely ensure that almost no-one can master the game. The trouble is that, for me, the action cam still doesn?t feel like much more than an extra camera view. It doesn?t yet have the immersive quality that was undoubtedly envisaged at its inception. Nice idea but must try harder.
In other ways though IC10 certainly does go beyond a patched version. In terms of gameplay, to borrow a phrase, the patch was a sticking plaster this is a surgical job. The whole game feels much smoother to play and much more reliable in terms of how the computer will react. You can now trust the openers to leave some, block some, rotate the strike and score at 3-4 runs an over (sometimes anyway) rather than the frenzied T20 test starts that characterised AC09. AI bowling is certainly more lethal. Bowlers aim at the stumps and force you to play. Runs are hard to come by (using block and attacking shot at any rate) and there is a sense that you must build confidence to build an innings. And then we come to lofted shots. Oh dear.
Much has been made by the developers about the concept of risk and reward for playing certain shots. I criticised AC09 for having too high a reward compared to risk for advance shots and here in IC10 that imbalance appears to have extended to lofted shots. A combination of poor and good shots regularly going for boundaries and timid tailenders being able to hook for 6 first ball have turned lofted shots into a get-out-of-jail-free card for batters lacking confidence. I suspect what has happened is that attacking and defensive shots were made more difficult to play on hard yet somehow lofted were not. The result is that it is very tricky and requires much concentration to use the first two yet cleanly-hit maximums are all too easy. I found it harder to play forward defensives than slog 6s at times.
I don?t want to be too critical as IC10 is a very enjoyable game and, offline, seems to provide realistic matches and, a few gripes aside, has no major issues. I don?t think though, that nearly 20 years since online gaming first began and, at a juncture where most other games seem to have got it right that we should continue to be given such a poor online experience. What is it about cricket that makes it so hard for it to work online? Is that why EA have never even released a cricket game with online capability? AC09?s online problems included refused connections, rampant quitting, unsporting tactics and an experience weighted heavily towards batting. The two requests we made for the AC09 patch were: make online hard difficulty and punish quitters by giving them the loss.
Unfortunately online for IC10 has managed to be even worse with the appearance of a disconnection bug that is too widespread to be blamed simply on isolated cases or slow internet. As a result it has been hard to tell whether the sportsmanship rating introduced has had any effect yet. Certainly even if we disregard some of the disconnects as not being the result of one player or other quitting there still seems to be sizeable chunk of players who would rather lose their sportsmanship rating than lose a game. The online game is also still massively in the batsman?s favour with a good batter able to take apart any bowling attack at 20 rpo or more.
I want to end this review by being positive. International Cricket 10 is the best cricket game yet and will gives hours of enjoyment. Everything about it is better than Ashes Cricket 09 and any game before that and Trickstar and Codemasters deserve a lot of credit for listening to the real cricket-gaming fans and making a game that can be enjoyed by casual and hardcore gamers alike. I?m certainly not alone in this view. Most feedback on the game from people who were deeply dissatisfied with AC09 has been very positive. It?s harder to bowl the AI out; conditions actually seem to make a difference, there?s more of a sense of earning a wicket and we?re a fairly demanding lot in then cricket-gaming community.
It?s in the spirit of that final thought that I will deliver my ultimate verdict on the game. Very good but we want more. We want stat tracking, we want depth, we want bouncers that don?t get hit off the front foot for 6, we want better AI pacing and situational assessment, we want players to take fewer than 10 seconds to turn back when you cancel a run and, most of all, we want to feel like we?re playing a real simulation of a cricket match. Is that asking too much? Probably.
Ratings
Gameplay ? 80. Much improved on AC09. Lengths better, pacing better, AI better.
Patching ? 40. This is what happens when you don?t release on PC and encrypt your roster. Piracy goes down but so does patching and longevity.
Longevity ? 50. A planned 2011 World Cup release suggests that Codies don?t see this as being high either.
Graphics ? 75. Looks nice to me but loses points because other games have moved on from cutout crowds and cricket hasn?t.
Overall ? 80. It?s a great game and the best yet.
