The official blockerdave review...

[The_Pharoah]

Good review. What makes it special is that you've been here from the start so you are more than qualified to give an honest to God review.

I think you hit the nail on the head with the word 'arcade' though. My views are, BA rushed it to meet the Xmas shopping cart. I will leave it at that.

Having said that this is still by far the best cricket game on the market. It's more a one step forward two steps back kinda scenario though. The key question for me is - will i stick to db17 with its obvious flaws or go back to a 3 year old game that's about as rigid (career wise) as anything? I will choose db17. Why? Because it's got some good stuff in it underneath the crap and it's a step in the right direction. The career mode is quite good except they took a short cut and chose a 20/20 mode. why? You don't have time or skills to make big plays in 20/20. You should have atleast done a one day game instead. Pls tell me you guys can patch this in.

Anyway I know the BA guys will fix this and make it better but you don't build your customer base by screwing them over with a sub par game then patching it and saying 'look how good we are for constantly updating this game....for free'.
Do it right the first time.

Anyway I will stick with db17 and cross my fingers BA fix this mess.

 

[blockerdave]

Family emergency has kept me from playing this weekend. Excellent review @blockerdave slightly worrying aswell.

If you had 17 and 14+hack in front of you. Which are you choosing to play each day?

In the short half hour I did get play, I did wonder why 14 wasn't used more as a base? This game does feel like it's completely new with nothing having come before it. Which is a little strange. 14 had a cover drive, 17 doesn't. Bits like that confuse me.

didn't pick up on this yesterday but hope all is ok mate!

 

[warpfactor]

Is any of that information presented on the in-ground scoreboard? That was always quite bizzare to me how (prior to the patches in '14) that information was always on the in-ground scoreboard but never displayed on the HUD?

The inground scoreboard does (at a distance) look like it contains the same info as it did in the last game, but it no longer appears on Pause so there's no way I have yet found to actually have a proper close-up look at it.

 

[Wavelberry]

The counter-intuitive and many click menus especially in the academy really stood out for me in just my download and editing time yesterday especially the add/remove player one (with the remove player one seemingly not removing players from my team and then busting me right up as far as Essex were concerned).

This seemed a lot more streamlined in DBC14 and it made more sense with me clearly being able to see who was in and out of a team and in fact the whole Academy menu seemed much simpler to navigate in that game. I understand they wanted to have consistency of UI across the sports titles but everything in this area seems clunky and multiple clicky.

Having read people's problems with cover-driving I set out to play mainly cover-drives when doing the tutorials yesterday and the only shot I hit that didn't either go in the area between mid-off and extra-cover or between cover and backward point was a back-foot shot which (and I'm probably being overly generous here) went between cover and extra. All the other shots either went in the arcs either side and there were some delicious balls asking to be front-foot cover driven that I more chopped between cover and point.

As a bowler at heart though I'm loving bowling and looking forward to having James Porter steaming in this morning in my first practice match.

 

[Cloud Starkman]

Welll said blockerdave I to have found alot of 14 is missing from 17 especially when it comes to the tour mode I like you love playing the old tests and one day from the 80s and noow it seems very barebones no stats no option to change pitch conditions or even select what umpires we want to use its abit of a catch 22 we get the bells and whistles of the stadium creator and logos but lose that ease of use we had in 14 hopefully things will improve cause I can see a really good game of cricket here

 

[Biggs]

@blockerdave have you played much career mode?

 

[blockerdave]

@blockerdave have you played much career mode?

Not a lot, not really my bag. I will play a bit while waiting for the patch, since I can have a laugh and it doesn't matter. Anything in particular you want me to check out?

I have just played a ladies'* match, and that was great fun. So different. Bowlers much slower so took some getting used to initially. Perhaps not in the spirit of things but I enjoyed seeing how far I could bat out of my crease and still have time to play.

*yes ladies, not women's. Imagine me with a tash, an open red silk robe and matching posing pouch, a glass of scotch and the aroma of Old Spice and roofie as I say again "ladies".

 

[Spitfires2007]

Just a thought. I believe that Big Ant were preparing a day 1 patch for the 22nd. Because of the early release date, they couldn't get that patch out so there may be one before Christmas. I can't play it until then anyway. So I'll have to wait and see

 

[Offie McOff face]

Just a thought. I believe that Big Ant were preparing a day 1 patch for the 22nd. Because of the early release date, they couldn't get that patch out so there may be one before Christmas. I can't play it until then anyway. So I'll have to wait and see

They've already said one has been submitted for approval by Sony and Microsoft I believe

 

[Spitfires2007]

They've already said one has been submitted for approval by Sony and Microsoft I believe

Just proves my point then haha

 

[blockerdave]

@quincy159 you're back!! welcome back mate. I don't know if you've been trying the logo creator, but the world needs retro bats

I'm trying my hand at a st peter, but can't get the font.

 

[T20]

Good review and some good points on overall ux, lighting, game play. Agree on the cameras - definitely can use some polish there especially broadcast which I use the most. Co op can also use some improvements - distorted audio between players, running between, camera etc.

 

[Jerm]

Just a thought. I believe that Big Ant were preparing a day 1 patch for the 22nd. Because of the early release date, they couldn't get that patch out so there may be one before Christmas. I can't play it until then anyway. So I'll have to wait and see

There was a 1.2GB DAT 1 patch on DAY 1, this is a second emergency patch to fix crashes and get best....

we will have to wait several months for PATCH 2

 

[Biggs]

Anything in particular you want me to check out?

Nothing specific, just wanted some general thoughts if you had any.

 

[The_Pharoah]

we will have to wait several months for PATCH 2

thats what I'm worried about. I didn't spend $89 on a game to shelve it for 6 months while I wait for a patch.

Okay, if you had to fix say 3 things, what what would it be? Mine are:

1. crashes. I've had quite a few - these need to be sorted out ASAP. I thought crashes were a PC thing...well I found out the hard way.
2. batting - I don't care if you have to cut/paste all the batting from DB14 into DB17...but do it. ALL I want from DB is to bat for hours on end if I can, esp with the new career mode.
3. get best. I want the latest and greatest.

Thats just my list and I'm a selfish bastard