BLIC On PSP Announced

I got the game now, and it did not start well because I had to pay 15£ extra in custom taxes...
So I start it and "better feel good, better feel high" comes and the smile on my face comes back.
But the loading was not like Shahid Afridi's strike rate. Too my big suprise and dissapointement the only two match options were "ICC 07 WC" & "PRESSURE PLAY". You cannot even play a custom match!!!
Anyway, I was just testing it and a warm-up game between Pakistan & India for 6 overs, I started to bat. Nazir & Afridi hit some singles, but after that I found it very difficult to hit the ball and got bowled over and over again. (maybe because I was sitting in a driving car + it was on test mode)
Anyway, I was 15/9 after 6 overs.
India's chase began as they got some runs, Ganguly hit the ball in the air and the fielding was soooooooooo slooooooooooooooooooooooooow
My beard almost grew back waiting for the fielder to throw the ball back.
One positive thing is that Kamran Akmal doesn't hit the bails everytime like they made mock of his family or something... (on PS2 version)
Some more loading follows, and I try a full-toss ball and Ganguly is bowled...
So bowling did not seem so very difficult for the first time, they didn't hit any boundaries either. I ony hit one, but I am 100% sure within 3-4 hours I will be smacking sixies everywhere. And yeah, no advance shot, sweep shot, etc.
Graphics reminds me of Gameboy Colour, slow gameplay, not much to do in the game. I guess playing the WC for a couple of weeks is it.
Cost me total 500 NOK, definatley don't worth it.
But I wanted a cricket game for my PSP for so many years.
I am being very nice now; 4/10

*ordering ICC3 (PSP) on play.com*
 
thanks for the brief review..as you play more, and get a better feel for the batting/bowling, the matches would be more realistic..can you tell me if the AI in the game is better than the console version?
 
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No test matches?
No custom matches?
No Commentary?

Only a 0.00001% chance of me getting this now.
 
thanks for the brief review..as you play more, and get a better feel for the batting/bowling, the matches would be more realistic..can you tell me if the AI in the game is better than the console version?

Thanks mate.
I know it will be better after a couple of matches, but I hope it won't be too easy as every other cricket game out there.
Will let you know about the AI after my first full one day international, but I think it is better. I still got an easy wicket bowling a full-toss to Ganguly...
 
haha, cricket on PSP is a joke, except ICC3
 
It's amazing how negative everybody seems to be over BLIC on the PSP. People have got to understand that there's only been around 5-6 months since the PS2 version came out, in essence very little time to 'fix' everything that was wrong with the last version. I've been playing it pretty much solidly for the past 10 days, so here's may take on the PSP version.

I thought while BLIC 05 had it's problems, it was a decent template for future games in the series. However BLIC 07 was very much a case of 1 step forwards, 2 steps back and was extremely disappointing. You have to bear in mind that this is a portable version and therefore won't have as much scope and content as a console version.

Batting has always been the strongest area of BLIC and it works pretty well here. I like the analog control, being able to specifically place the ball in gaps, as opposed to EA's 8 directions batting. The higher the difficult level and the lower the batsmens confidence is the harder the timing, which is realistic. The computer like's to set a field and bowl to it, which does make it a little harder to score runs. Plus it's also quite hard to pierce the infield at times. Again realistically this forces you to play for the gaps in the field.

In terms of hardness, slog and village mode are rediculously easy, with county setting still being fairly unchallenging. As an example in a 20 over game with AUS I scored 202/5. Including hitting 70 off the last 4 overs with batsmen on high confidence. Test mode is pretty difficult, as sometimes you time the ball pretty well with a ground stroke, only to be caught behind. Plus it's hard to get a lofted shot over the infield. This results in quite a cautious approach usually, just picking the one's and two's. In a 50 over game with England on test mode, I scored 168 all out from 41 overs. Not exactly thrill a minute, and a lot of hard work!

Ok, so you guys want to know what issues have been resolved from last time. There's no catching meter for keeper or slips. That's good. And even on test mode, you'll catch 95% of your catches in the outfield. The keepers don't whip the bails off all the time either, that's been fixed. The computer also run realistically most of the time too, although this was more of a major issue with the 05 version. The AI pacing seems a little better, but not perfect. With the computer needing 7 off the last over I managed to bowl a maiden with the AI trying to play groundstrokes through my tight infield. Pretty dumb. But generally they're a bit better than they were.

Unfortunately the computer still aren't very good at scoring decent totals, and are too prone to throwing their wicket away. It's a bad sign when you can dismiss Pakistan on test mode for 23. Bowling is fun, but you always feel like you're in control and that a wicket will fall at any minute.

The way I play it now is to have 6 over games on test level. This way every run counts and every ball bowled matters. I enjoy trying to defend my total of 28 in 6 overs, and matches only last about 20 minutes so it's good for quick bursts.

If anyone wants questions answered about the game just post them up and i'll give you an answer.
 
thanks for the detailed review!..you've answered a lot of my questions..a few others:

1. is there an option to set confidence level to 100%? i thought the implementation of the confidence meter in the console version was terrible...the AI batsman struggled for runs once they were beaten a couple of times..

2. the fact that you got Pak out for 23 on Test mode is depressing..i'm sure that isnt always the case though (right?), cos otherwise the game is unplayable..since AI chasing is never perfect (as you pointed out, they couldnt slog 7 in the last over), I usually make the AI bat first, and if they cant set a decent target, then there's no point..so how often did the AI bat terribly when batting first on test mode?

tia!
 
1. is there an option to set confidence level to 100%? i thought the implementation of the confidence meter in the console version was terrible...the AI batsman struggled for runs once they were beaten a couple of times..

If you go onto slog mode then I think confidence is always 100%. Alternatively on test mode, the computer likes to weight the confidence meter in it's favour. For example the opening batsmen for them usually have very high if not full confidence from the first ball. Whereas the player's confidence starts quite low.

2. the fact that you got Pak out for 23 on Test mode is depressing..i'm sure that isnt always the case though (right?), cos otherwise the game is unplayable..since AI chasing is never perfect (as you pointed out, they couldnt slog 7 in the last over), I usually make the AI bat first, and if they cant set a decent target, then there's no point..so how often did the AI bat terribly when batting first on test mode?

TBH I haven't seen the AI bat first too often, as whenever I win the toss I usually bat. From what I've seen though they seem to post ok totals, but bat quite slowly with little urgency. It can be competitive however, last night I had a really exciting tied match on a 6 over game, and I think if you bowl in the wrong areas they can punish you. I still think the game overall is a little easy though...
 
I was in my local games store today, managed to get what I was really looking for at a reduced price {new EA Sports Rugby 08 game} and ended up impulsively buying BLIC for PSP!!

I tried a few of the challenge whotsits before trying a few games
Nowt to worry about until I tried a ten over match on Test level!!!!!

Bermuda 47 for 7 after 10 overs.
England, [me] 17 all out. I just couldnt get into the right batting position to hit the ball...and when I did manage to get willow ont' leather, it was really hard to find the gaps...so Ipanicked and tried to slog my way to victory......BAD CALL........my batsmen went down like dominoes.

So....I reckon that matches on Test level will be challenging enough for me to enjoy a competative game of BLIC, {At last}.

The only other downer at present is the loading times, [although I do have other PSP games with similar loading times].

Between overs........about 15-20 seconds.
Loading up games....about 60 seconds.

So...how does it compare with my other PSP games?

MLB The Show 06.......10/10....awesome.
Tiger Woods 07..........9/10.....great.
Pro evo footer 6.........9/10.....sound.
BLIC 07.....................7/10....still trying it out like.
Wayne Gretzky NHL 06.4/10....dire!!! anyone wanna buy it?
 

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