Review Playtest Review/Preview(Review Links, Updated in First Post)

[Ricco_M]

Wow - I've just spent the past few hours reading right through this thread and there seems to be a real positivity to this game which is fantastic. Some great reviews that provide a real insight to the game and so thanks to everyone who took the time to write up their first impressions of the game. Also thanks to the development team who seem to continually monitor the PC forums for feedback - a great sign of commitment to provide a quality game.

I've just looked up a few old posts I made a few years ago after the disappointment of BLIC 07 and it's great to see alot of those concerns now addressed in this game.

However I just have a few questions that I would be grateful if anyone can provide info on:-

1) Is there improved ball physics? i.e.- does the ball bobble and bounce across the outfield or does it stick to the grass like a magnet as in previous games?

2) Stats - For me the inclusion of various stats is a vital part of cricket Provision of Innings Stats and info - worm graph, spider diagrams, manhattans, run rates along with partnership breakdowns. Does anyone know what detail is included?

3) On the squad selection screen does it show info regarding career averages and stats, current form (last few scores) and can you filter it?

4) Did the developers mention if there is "Player form" in a series or tour i.e. batsman/bowler who had runs/wickets in previous match now have a higher starting point on the confidence metre in their next match?

5) Is there now improved On screen graphics during a game? i.e. does it automatically show a comparison of what the other teams score was at the same stage or show comparative manhattan or worm graph or show partnership breakdowns on screen when batsmen complete a stand of 50/100?

6) Is there a highlights package (PES style) at end of game of the main incidents whether key wickets or dropped catches etc??

I know a lot of the above are only minor features and the gameplay itself is the key but they would add a lot to the feel of the game

Thanks

 

[aussie1st]

For the reverse swing is it possible to do in an ODI or even T20? As we saw in England, players got it going as early as the 10th over.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

seems like a lot of you guys are in it to just play single player, i have yet to have a game thats online so I imagine ill be spending most of my time playing human counterparts.

in EA 07 I know virtually every single way to get the comp out, and can take 4-6 wickets in a row consistently on the hardest level. i think no matter how hard they make games, we will always figure out ways to exploit the AI, thats why playing against humans is the best

Not at all, but I want a game where the AI will give me a good game, as well as being fun to play against others. It'll be great to play a cricket game online as well though!

if there so worried then just release demos for the consoles

Excuse me?

off topic but Michael Jackson just died.

So I imagine you won't be heading over to the Entertainment thread to make puerile jokes about him like a lot of people seem to be doing?

 

[k p 24]

I got one question, are there different body types and heights? ie Kevin Pietersen or Andrew Flintoff's to Sachin Tendulkar's height and body type?

 

[ganapati]

Hi guyz,

Not much have been reviewed on commentary! So, wondering if its vague like previous ones where there isn't much of it going on. Let me know if it adds anything to reality of the game or same old one. Also, elaborate more on what its like listening commentary while playing...

And, Is it possible to turn of all indicators like side screen, aiming? Because once you get used to it you know pretty much whats coming. I did hear that you can turn off replay part but I still wanna know about others.

:cool:

 

[King Cricket]

So, the Asian faces will not be that realistic? *sigh* Oh well, never mind. Good reviews, Dean and WHM. Any news on the release date yet?

King Cricket added 13 Minutes and 37 Seconds later...

If this is is the case. Then we have a fully work in upcoming months .I really hope they didn't change file types or even if they change we have Tom,colin or kshitiz ...to crack that. Anyway it is going to be a great game.

The more we can edit the more time it can be used .

Thanks for reply guys

Yup. We'll figure out those and fix the faces in no time. :cool:

 

[MattW]

Sounds like a great game, thanks for the review WHM. The only real concern I have left is this idea of the AI defaulting to a backfoot shot, even for a ball on good length. I suppose this is down to the exaggerated bounce? And I don't like the sound of 'every wicket was a stumping' either. What, even with a fast bowler?

More of an immediate annoyance rather than an issue with the game, basically, just expect to get stumped the first few times you go down the wicket and miss, then you'll likely start to remember

Just a question out of anxiety.
Can we decide where the keeper stands ? For in reality we do occasionally see the Keeper standing up to bowlers such as Vaas,Pathan,Bracken etc.

Not that I saw, the fields are different depending on the bowler's type, but I don't think you can manually move the keeper forward or back.

There are bound to be bugs but I doubt there will be a patch released. One was going to be made for BLIC 2007 but in the end all that happened was a small fix to problems with Xbox Live. Patches for the consoles also take a while to get through Microsoft and Sony.

They sounded like they wanted to release a patch if it was needed, however they mentioned you need to be adding a significant feature to get the patches past MS and Sony. There's no such issue on PC, but I'd be surprised if they did a PC patch and nothing on consoles. There were a few things they were thinking about that could be added in, so there's still a possibility.

I have a little question, hsmith said that the stats are updated in the game. By stats did he mean stats like runs,matches,centuries or does he mean abilities of the player???

Both from my understanding of it.

Hsmith said we can edit 4 custom lineups and their kits. Does that mean there are 4 teams create by developers containing random player which we can edit?

The four teams he mentions are the Transmission Games side, the Codemasters side, which both are made up of people from those companies, as well as an Asia XI and a ROW XI.

Can a batsman come to the crease an hit the first ball for six?? I know that would be very difficult, but is that possible if we get the timing right? In real cricket it does happen. Remember Yuvraj in T20 against England this WC. He came to bat and smacked the first ball over the bowler's head for six.

I doubt there is a game prohibitation on first ball sixes, but I'd suggest you'd need to be playing a 5 star team against a 1 star one to do it on Hard. It is not easy in the slightest. Might be a little bit easier for T20s, but you will still need to time it absolutely perfectly.

This question is for developers: Have you made the game easily moddable? Or you have also gone to the lengths to encode the files in a newer format so that modders have the hard time figuring it out. I wish you hav made it easy coz modders would eventually find a way.

Their line was that they make the game not mod it. So the formats will be whatever made it easiest for them.

Considering they took steps so that they could change the game while it was running, without having to make a new game disc, I'd suggest editing is a little bit easier, but you won't find out for sure until you try it.

I don't know bout sony, but on PC their are a lot of hurdles due to microshaft. Any patch,demo or update first have to be sent to Microsoft for bug testing and approval. Thus publisher had to wait for MS. Then MS always find one or more problems and then they send it back again. So the whole process is time consuming. There is only one thing i would like about MS's involvement in Ashes Cricket 09 , that is " The game would support my XBOX 360 Controller" And i could just plug and play without any manual configuring.

No, that is the Xbox that has Microsoft hurdles, there is no such quality control on PC, Microsoft have no say in Windows games.

1) Is there improved ball physics? i.e.- does the ball bobble and bounce across the outfield or does it stick to the grass like a magnet as in previous games?

Seemed so.

2) Stats - For me the inclusion of various stats is a vital part of cricket Provision of Innings Stats and info - worm graph, spider diagrams, manhattans, run rates along with partnership breakdowns. Does anyone know what detail is included?

All of the above are included from memory. There's a display for the lengths of the deliveries as well, and Hawk Eye has been refined.

3) On the squad selection screen does it show info regarding career averages and stats, current form (last few scores) and can you filter it?

You see averages and stats, but I don't think it shows form. We never got the chance to find this sort of stuff out as we started with an empty profile, so some of the more long term game things weren't shown.

5) Is there now improved On screen graphics during a game? i.e. does it automatically show a comparison of what the other teams score was at the same stage or show comparative manhattan or worm graph or show partnership breakdowns on screen when batsmen complete a stand of 50/100?

On screen graphics are greatly improved, but again limited play time means I can't answer those exact questions.

I got one question, are there different body types and heights? ie Kevin Pietersen or Andrew Flintoff's to Sachin Tendulkar's height and body type?

Yes.

Not much have been reviewed on commentary! So, wondering if its vague like previous ones where there isn't much of it going on. Let me know if it adds anything to reality of the game or same old one. Also, elaborate more on what its like listening commentary while playing...

Was mostly the same.

And, Is it possible to turn of all indicators like side screen, aiming? Because once you get used to it you know pretty much whats coming. I did hear that you can turn off replay part but I still wanna know about others.

Well you can't fully turn them off (you can turn off most of it though), but you bowl the last button you press, not what gets displayed. So if you hit the straight ball button, that will flash up, but then if you hit the in swinger button you'll actually bowl that, with no indicator to the batsman. The way you'd tell is looking at where the bowler is bowling. If they bowl a bad line for one type of delivery think about what is a good line for another one. There is the option to turn the pitch indicator off entirely.

Wanted to add that there is the option to switch between Wickets/Runs and Runs/Wickets, was very happy to see that in the game.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

I remember you mentioned that the more you play with a team, the more skill points you get for that team, and the better you can make them.

In that case, isn't it inevitable that all teams end up being 5 stars with all players being 100 in everything? Can you remove skill points?

 

[MattW]

I remember you mentioned that the more you play with a team, the more skill points you get for that team, and the better you can make them.

There are certain circumstances that unlock those points, so I'd imagine it would be harder to improve a good team than a bad one. It is more related to individual performances from memory.

I'm sure there's a way that lowers stats, but I didn't find that out. But you can manually take points off any player.

 

[lazy_chesnut]

Matt, are you sure about the different sizes of players, like a tall KP and a short Tendulkar? I must say I wasn't really looking out for it when I played it, as I just assumed it wasn't in there.

Re the points thing - you don't have to put points onto players if you don't want to. It might be a useful way of sorting out some stats issues on console versions though.

 

[k p 24]

Yeah, in the past BLIC's i don't think they had different sizes and it would be awesome if they did in this one. From the trailer(or old gameplay footage) it didn't really look like they had different sizes and thus i was hesitant.

 

[Allrounder18]

There are certain circumstances that unlock those points, so I'd imagine it would be harder to improve a good team than a bad one. It is more related to individual performances from memory.

I'm sure there's a way that lowers stats, but I didn't find that out. But you can manually take points off any player.

Are you sure cuz thats the last thing I wanted from this game!!! Developers can you confirm this?

 

[CaptainOZ]

One thing that has me buzzed is the fact that defended deliveries can be placed in any direction. You gotta have that. After all, besides timing, what else could be more important than placement?

 

[Left_Hander]

Thanks to all of those who took the time to post the reviews. They seem really positive and I'm looking foward to the game.

Just an aesthics question. Can scores be displayed in the English way and the Australian way? (Eg: 100/2 or 2/100)

 

[MattW]

Matt, are you sure about the different sizes of players, like a tall KP and a short Tendulkar? I must say I wasn't really looking out for it when I played it, as I just assumed it wasn't in there.

Well players seemed to look different from eachother, I'm not 100% sure but I think they were different sizes.

Are you sure cuz thats the last thing I wanted from this game!!! Developers can you confirm this?

I can't tell if you mean that in a good way or a bad way.