blockerdave
ICC Chairman
If I had to sum up DBC17 in a short pithy phrase, I'd say @BigAntStudios have fixed what was broke about DBC14, and broke what was fixed.
That is of course using poetic license, as I don't believe either game is "broken", though the UX/Navigation in DBC17 is close to broken. It's certainly not fit for purpose, and I'm struggling for a term that is not emotive but can describe just how bad it is. I make no apology for starting a review talking about something that seems not related to gameplay, but actually it's that bad it affects gameplay too.
I have been busy over the summer / autumn, and that coupled with the fact I had issues with all the big updates meant I didn't get as involved in the academy as I'd have liked. I wish I'd had more time - I would have fought that UX until @Ross changed it or stuck me on the ignore list forever. It's terrible. It's hard to navigate, forces you into unnecessary scrolling and clicks. In DBC14 you could use a hotkey to download a player from the academy list (1 click): in DBC17 you have to enter the player, go the download bit, and click to download (2 clicks and a scroll). multiply that by a minimum of 12 (for a team roster), and you've gone from 12 button presses to 36. FOR EVERY TEAM YOU CREATE!
Let's say you search for @Munkeymomo brilliant teams - you get a list of 19 teams - to download 1, there's 3 button presses (instead of 1), then another to go back to the search, and the search takes you back to the top of the list, meaning you have to a)remember which team you just did, and b)scroll all the way down to them. This x 19 teams.
I've still not found out how to create a "League" for my created teams - in DBC14 I had lists (which I presume are analagous to leagues) for rebel tour teams, for England's worst xi ashes tour, for teams for online... here any teams I create (which may never get past the 2 I've done so far, given making them is such a ball ache) get lumbered in custom.
Why is roster management split between "add" or "remove" player? If I want to add a player, but can't remember who is in the roster already, I have to actually check the "remove" list.
If I link a player, once it's done it immediately kicks you back out to the main menu, so you have to re-select link player again to do another.
If you manage to find the field editor (yes yes i know there's a shortcut), there's a choice of more fields than Mike Brearley used in his whole career, and no attempt to pre-filter them to your bowler, match type, or game situation.
In DBC14, press pause and you got a nice shot of the scoreboard. In DBC17 you get Windows 8 Red-headed stepchild. 2012 called - it wants its tiles back (and it's bloody welcome to them).
10 paragraphs in, and i'm still not on to gameplay. That is how bad the UX is. I am torn between admiration for @Llewelynf @SnowyCasanova @Fissionmailed @Munkeymomo and how they have overcome how bad the academy UX is to make their stuff (and I'm certainly grateful!), and a little bit annoyed they and others who have used the demo academy a lot haven't called out that navigation. It's worse in the game because there's more there, but all this unnecessary clicks and scrolling is in the academy too and we've been lax as a community for not calling it out.
Graphically it's a bit of a mishmash. There's certainly an upgrade, but there is an arcadey quality that jars a bit. The bright colours, that logo that pops up every replay, the slightly too wiry player models - it all has me wondering where to deposit my quarters. Which is a shame, because the stadia, grass, faces etc. are definitely an upgrade on DBC14. The biggest graphical letdown for me was the lighting, as in I played a game where dusk should fall - this was beautiful in DBC14. Here, apart from the floodlights coming on, there were no other clues that the sky was changing. You could see it when you checked the field, but never felt it in game, where it was forever noon.
But to the gameplay. At times it feels like an unhappy marriage between an arcadey bash-along and a deep cricketing simulation.
Bowling was (until @francobaldo1 came along) the great big letdown in DBC14, with an AI that batted in a different game to the human player. That has been unequivocally fixed. Bowling in DBC17 is excellent. AI edges are in the game and the edge physics look good too. I've seen lovely inside edges and top edges etc. as well as outside edges getting the keeper and slips interested. I like the reflex catching mechanic, having been very sceptical when I first heard about it.
The bowling control system is an excellent evolution of the DBC17 and especially for spin. It's really really good. My only criticisms of the bowling are: 1) i don't like the sidestep when changing angle of approach. I accept it's a visual clue you're doing it right that DBC14 lacked, but it's unrealistic and doesn't look great. It's another arcadey touch in the game. 2)if you're using auto or semi-assisted fielding, the fielders run like they are ploughing through knee-high porridge. i've not been able to find the tile / sub-menu to make them sprint...
There are 2 great things about batting: 1) the ability to move around the crease, and 2) being able to nail straight drives off seamers. (The spinners appear as godlike as all bowlers were in DBC14 - I certainly haven't got one past a tweaker.)
BUT, and it's a big but, batting is spoiled, as others have said, by large swathes of the field being impossible to hit to. Cover being the most obvious. Some of the animations are pretty ugly too, the front-foot square drive/cut being the worst.
A few other things also spoil the batting, which are mostly related to the fielders. Basically, they are appalling when the ball is on the ground, and supermen when the ball is in the air. There are easy 1s, 2's and 3's every where. Hit the ball along the ground and you get a run. Again, very arcadey. Hit the ball in the air, and the landing circle needs to be at least 25m away from a fielder or they will catch it.
The keeper reactions are like when DBC14 first released - the ball hits him and is immediately on its way to the stumps. That and a pre-cog gully to the spinner are particularly annoying.
Finally, a word about the cameras. They seem radically different and nowhere near as good as DBC14. It may be a question of getting used to them, but I am struggling to think why change something nobody I ever saw complained about? Again, these cameras with their additional movement feels more arcadey. Was there publisher pressure for this type of approach (hence the logo), or was it a BA choice?
Sense of perspective, this game is better and in a better state than DBC14 when it was relased, and I'd hope it gets improved. Lets be honest how DBC14 finished and how it released were practically 2 different games. There is enough here to build on that a similar improvement will give an excellent cricket game.
Is it better than DBC14? In some areas, certainly bowling, it's much better. In some areas, like batting, it's probably not. In the UX, it's a worse by a huge margin. Gameplay wise, it's maybe ahead: better bowling + less pre-meditation in batting - less areas to hit to, still put it marginally ahead of good batting - lots of pre-meditation - poor bowling experience.
Is it better than DBC14 + franco's hack? Probably not at this stage.
3.25 out of 5 at it's current, post-day one patch level for me.
That is of course using poetic license, as I don't believe either game is "broken", though the UX/Navigation in DBC17 is close to broken. It's certainly not fit for purpose, and I'm struggling for a term that is not emotive but can describe just how bad it is. I make no apology for starting a review talking about something that seems not related to gameplay, but actually it's that bad it affects gameplay too.
I have been busy over the summer / autumn, and that coupled with the fact I had issues with all the big updates meant I didn't get as involved in the academy as I'd have liked. I wish I'd had more time - I would have fought that UX until @Ross changed it or stuck me on the ignore list forever. It's terrible. It's hard to navigate, forces you into unnecessary scrolling and clicks. In DBC14 you could use a hotkey to download a player from the academy list (1 click): in DBC17 you have to enter the player, go the download bit, and click to download (2 clicks and a scroll). multiply that by a minimum of 12 (for a team roster), and you've gone from 12 button presses to 36. FOR EVERY TEAM YOU CREATE!
Let's say you search for @Munkeymomo brilliant teams - you get a list of 19 teams - to download 1, there's 3 button presses (instead of 1), then another to go back to the search, and the search takes you back to the top of the list, meaning you have to a)remember which team you just did, and b)scroll all the way down to them. This x 19 teams.
I've still not found out how to create a "League" for my created teams - in DBC14 I had lists (which I presume are analagous to leagues) for rebel tour teams, for England's worst xi ashes tour, for teams for online... here any teams I create (which may never get past the 2 I've done so far, given making them is such a ball ache) get lumbered in custom.
Why is roster management split between "add" or "remove" player? If I want to add a player, but can't remember who is in the roster already, I have to actually check the "remove" list.
If I link a player, once it's done it immediately kicks you back out to the main menu, so you have to re-select link player again to do another.
If you manage to find the field editor (yes yes i know there's a shortcut), there's a choice of more fields than Mike Brearley used in his whole career, and no attempt to pre-filter them to your bowler, match type, or game situation.
In DBC14, press pause and you got a nice shot of the scoreboard. In DBC17 you get Windows 8 Red-headed stepchild. 2012 called - it wants its tiles back (and it's bloody welcome to them).
10 paragraphs in, and i'm still not on to gameplay. That is how bad the UX is. I am torn between admiration for @Llewelynf @SnowyCasanova @Fissionmailed @Munkeymomo and how they have overcome how bad the academy UX is to make their stuff (and I'm certainly grateful!), and a little bit annoyed they and others who have used the demo academy a lot haven't called out that navigation. It's worse in the game because there's more there, but all this unnecessary clicks and scrolling is in the academy too and we've been lax as a community for not calling it out.
Graphically it's a bit of a mishmash. There's certainly an upgrade, but there is an arcadey quality that jars a bit. The bright colours, that logo that pops up every replay, the slightly too wiry player models - it all has me wondering where to deposit my quarters. Which is a shame, because the stadia, grass, faces etc. are definitely an upgrade on DBC14. The biggest graphical letdown for me was the lighting, as in I played a game where dusk should fall - this was beautiful in DBC14. Here, apart from the floodlights coming on, there were no other clues that the sky was changing. You could see it when you checked the field, but never felt it in game, where it was forever noon.
But to the gameplay. At times it feels like an unhappy marriage between an arcadey bash-along and a deep cricketing simulation.
Bowling was (until @francobaldo1 came along) the great big letdown in DBC14, with an AI that batted in a different game to the human player. That has been unequivocally fixed. Bowling in DBC17 is excellent. AI edges are in the game and the edge physics look good too. I've seen lovely inside edges and top edges etc. as well as outside edges getting the keeper and slips interested. I like the reflex catching mechanic, having been very sceptical when I first heard about it.
The bowling control system is an excellent evolution of the DBC17 and especially for spin. It's really really good. My only criticisms of the bowling are: 1) i don't like the sidestep when changing angle of approach. I accept it's a visual clue you're doing it right that DBC14 lacked, but it's unrealistic and doesn't look great. It's another arcadey touch in the game. 2)if you're using auto or semi-assisted fielding, the fielders run like they are ploughing through knee-high porridge. i've not been able to find the tile / sub-menu to make them sprint...
There are 2 great things about batting: 1) the ability to move around the crease, and 2) being able to nail straight drives off seamers. (The spinners appear as godlike as all bowlers were in DBC14 - I certainly haven't got one past a tweaker.)
BUT, and it's a big but, batting is spoiled, as others have said, by large swathes of the field being impossible to hit to. Cover being the most obvious. Some of the animations are pretty ugly too, the front-foot square drive/cut being the worst.
A few other things also spoil the batting, which are mostly related to the fielders. Basically, they are appalling when the ball is on the ground, and supermen when the ball is in the air. There are easy 1s, 2's and 3's every where. Hit the ball along the ground and you get a run. Again, very arcadey. Hit the ball in the air, and the landing circle needs to be at least 25m away from a fielder or they will catch it.
The keeper reactions are like when DBC14 first released - the ball hits him and is immediately on its way to the stumps. That and a pre-cog gully to the spinner are particularly annoying.
Finally, a word about the cameras. They seem radically different and nowhere near as good as DBC14. It may be a question of getting used to them, but I am struggling to think why change something nobody I ever saw complained about? Again, these cameras with their additional movement feels more arcadey. Was there publisher pressure for this type of approach (hence the logo), or was it a BA choice?
Sense of perspective, this game is better and in a better state than DBC14 when it was relased, and I'd hope it gets improved. Lets be honest how DBC14 finished and how it released were practically 2 different games. There is enough here to build on that a similar improvement will give an excellent cricket game.
Is it better than DBC14? In some areas, certainly bowling, it's much better. In some areas, like batting, it's probably not. In the UX, it's a worse by a huge margin. Gameplay wise, it's maybe ahead: better bowling + less pre-meditation in batting - less areas to hit to, still put it marginally ahead of good batting - lots of pre-meditation - poor bowling experience.
Is it better than DBC14 + franco's hack? Probably not at this stage.
3.25 out of 5 at it's current, post-day one patch level for me.
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