What is a fair expectation of game quality? (Voted best thread by Zim)

[MattW]

A lot of posts cite FIFA or even GTA V as part of arguments about Cricket games - something which is commonly countered by reasons of what funding levels games have, the comparable popularity of Cricket games, the size of the markets, how much interest there is, etc.

So - here's a thread to discuss other games in the context of Cricket -

Particularly:
- Other games by current cricket game developers
- Games on sports that have similar popularity levels to cricket (in the local markets not globally)

The AFL, Rugby League and Rugby Union games on the market are probably the closest comparisons.

Transmission Games, which collapsed and mostly reformed as Trickstar, did AFL games on the PS2 from 2004-2007, as well as two cricket games so far.

Big Ant have done both AFL Live in 2011 and two Rugby League games.

The Sidhe and HB Studios Rugby Union games also share publishers with the upcoming cricket games.

How well are other minor sports treated with their games, which developers do a good job, which games set a benchmark for you?

 

[Eugene]

Rugby Challenge has built a good foundation hopefully sales ensure that they can improve on future iterations.

 

[Bluehaze]

I'm tempted to mention F1 201x by Codemasters. Now, i'm not totally convinced it is on the same level as cricket games, but i suspect the audience for that particular sport is small. I'm sure it is no where as big as Gran Turismo, Need for Speed: xxxxx etc. I'm one of those who likes F1, but it seemed pretty clear that Codemasters funded the F1 game pretty well. Of course, it is not exactly bug free, but it still gets quite a bit of playing time.

The funding it gets is probably more than what the cricket game ever received.

 

[MattW]

I suppose a lot of that is from being a bit more popular in the rest of Europe - the reviews I've heard are basically that the first edition was terrible but it improved - which is basically the stock cricket game review, everything's a good base to keep working off, then they start again or change developers. Graphically it looks great - but racing games generally do.

I'm surprised to hear that Rugby Union games aren't that good considering they have a market in France that should have meant a bigger opportunity for games.

 

[blockerdave]

I'm surprised Rugby Union has never had more attention.

I know it is nowhere near as big as football, but still it's a high profile sport, more global than cricket and I would have thought (thought it's just a guess/hunch) in more affluent countries with less piracy issues than some of the cricket hotspots.

Yet every Rugby Union game I've ever played is a crushing disappointment. You get an initial thrill because usually it's several years since you last played a new Rugby game, but you get very bored very quickly.

I guess AI in Rugby is harder than a lot of other sports due to the specialisation of positions. I've not played RLL2 - what's people's thoughts on that? In cricket I'd really like what I think someone (maybe it was MattW) mentioned, that difficulty isn't just about a shorter timing window, but a smarter AI.

In niche sports I don't think we can ever expect the polish that goes into FIFA / Madden, but what I want to see is attention to detail, evidence of some thought about where previous games have gone wrong and could improve, and ultimately a feeling that we're taken seriously rather than just the developer seeming to think we'll take whatever because we've nowhere else to go.

I think one of the reasons Bradman cricket has generated so much enthusiasm here is because Big Ant have certainly made a lot of encouraging noises in this regard. I think we all know whatever shortcomings there might ultimately be in the game once it's released, they won't be a result of laziness/not giving a damn.

 

[Chief]

I suppose a lot of that is from being a bit more popular in the rest of Europe - the reviews I've heard are basically that the first edition was terrible but it improved - which is basically the stock cricket game review, everything's a good base to keep working off, then they start again or change developers. Graphically it looks great - but racing games generally do.

I'm surprised to hear that Rugby Union games aren't that good considering they have a market in France that should have meant a bigger opportunity for games.

France has a largely PC/MAC revenue split, and a console market dominated by pre-owned/import games0.
Germany is the key missing European market for console games... Almost as big as the UK (and in certain genres bigger), so it can effectively DOUBLE your sales potential.
Sadly they don't go in for Rugby OR Cricket... F1 on the other hand...

 

[blockerdave]

yeah very good point about Germany.

 

[Bluehaze]

Agree with you. The first iteration was pretty disappointing, but it has got better with each release. If I am correct, this year will mark the introduction of 80s and 90s car within the game via DLC. It is pretty popular wherever they seem to race except the US market.

As for Germany, shame they are not into Cricket or Rugby. I guess they would be pretty efficient and good at both (Good track record with other sports in terms of funding and facilities).

I can't even remember the last Rugby game i played. All i remember was that the game was made by EA Sports. I'm sure i have the CD for it around here somewhere.

 

[whiteninness]

In niche sports I don't think we can ever expect the polish that goes into FIFA / Madden, but what I want to see is attention to detail, evidence of some thought about where previous games have gone wrong and could improve, and ultimately a feeling that we're taken seriously rather than just the developer seeming to think we'll take whatever because we've nowhere else to go.

Are you aware American football is only played in two countries? It is fairly niche, just a well populated one

 

[MattWS]

love this thread!

rugby challenge 1 i bought and quite enjoyed. i used to love the old ea sports installments. Obviously they decided there wasnt enough of a fan base or something. i never got rugby challenge 2 so i cant comment on it however there were a number of issues in 1 which were annoying as a rugby fan.

first was the passing. Not to backline but straight to a forward all the time unless you held down the pass button for long enough, very frustrating. The second was kicking! was just to easy.

complaints aside, for the first rugby game in years it was great, built a fan base and brought out a sequel trying to fix old bugs etc.

now thats all i can hope for this game, DBC14. First game in a few years for cricket. there will be issues however i just hope people back the game enough for big ant to make a sequel and fix up some of the possible 'dislikes' of the game, maybe even gain licences.

big problem i have with a company like 505, judging from the screenshots released ages ago, they threw a game toegther with licenses and were going to release something similar to IC2010, a horrible game. What would allow them to do that? no competition.

why did they stall...big ant. BA came along with a beautiful game which would take over the market. the lack of competition in the cricket gaming market drove game quality down as 'companies' thiught they could put together slight improvements and cricket fans like us would have no choice but to buy their game.

boo.

 

[blockerdave]

now thats all i can hope for this game, DBC14. First game in a few years for cricket. there will be issues however i just hope people back the game enough for big ant to make a sequel and fix up some of the possible 'dislikes' of the game, maybe even gain licences.

I would 1000 times prefer a feature like cricket academy and few/little licenses, than no CA and restrictive licenses like Ashes seem to have with England/Australia

 

[MattWS]

CA looks great, im just saying that when cricket australia and the ECB see this game, they could realise their eggs are in the wrong basket.

 

[MattW]

CA looks great, im just saying that when cricket australia and the ECB see this game, they could realise their eggs are in the wrong basket.

505's money is in the correct basket however.

 

[MattWS]

my money wont be in their pocket

 

[IceAgeComing]

The thing with the "American Football is only played in two countries" thing is very silly. Firstly; you're talking about a sport that has over 100 millon people watching its biggest game (sorry for daily mail link; but its the best source that I could find!); with a PRE-SEASON game getting 10 million. You're talking about a smaller numerical audience when compared to cricket; but one with young, passionate fans that live in the most influential country in the world. Also, more and more people are watching and playing American Football around the world - Superbowl Sunday in Glasgow last year was absolutely heaving with people all there to either watch the game, get drunk, or usually both. Madden has a larger market than just the US - if they didn't, then they'd do what they do with NCAA games, or what 2k/Sony do with the MLB games and either don't release them in Europe, or only do digital releases.

To get back on topic; people will probably pan DB14 at release for "not being as good as FIFA"; ignoring the fact that cricket is harder to program; EA is a giant company, while BigAnt is really a TinyAnt in comparison; and FIFA has been released for over 20 years for all systems, and 6/7 years for the current generation. What we should expect is a good, fun game that probably will have a few flaws, but nothing major. It will take a few iterations to get to the depth of features that EA has; plus also to add what is missing and iron out any gameplay issues. That seems to be BigAnt's approach with RLL2 (which I have played and i would recommend to anyone with a passive interest in either form of rugby); and although its not perfect and I'd wish that they'd iron out a few problems that it has, its 100 times better than any previous league game. I've not played RC2; but it seems that they are doing the same approach which is a good thing.

Cricket has a unique problem amongst sports of having a large fanbase, but a very large number of whom are still in developing countries and often can't afford to pick up games at release, or for whatever reason pirate the game. As soon as the working classes in India reach the same standard of living as those in the West (a fair few years away, yet!), then the attention that big developers will spend on developing cricket games will dramatically increase, as the market suddenly gains millions of people. Lets hope that that Don Bradman cricket is the Madden of cricket games by then!