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Jono has provided an in depth review of International Cricket Captain 2010 for PlanetCricket. For the latest on ICC 2010, visit PlanetCricket’s ICC 2010 page here.
Another year, another International Cricket Captain release. While the main criticism levelled at this series of games is that each release is nothing more than a roster update, International Cricket Captain 2010 (ICC2010) adds the most to the game since the move to the 3D graphics engine in ICC3. From the outside, it may not look any different, with a very similar aesthetic feel to the previous game in the series, but the addition of an Australian Domestic Career is a big step in the right direction.
The Australian domestic career is a fully-featured part of the game, with a realistic FC, OD and T20 schedule. The contracts system is different to the English version due to the different methods and this does not act as fluidly as could be hoped for, especially the international player selection. However, since this is the first implementation of this feature, problems were going to be inevitable. Since there are only six teams in the Australian domestic competition, each year in this career mode is much shorter than the English version. Also, in game it would appear that the teams vary rather widely in terms of skill, with some teams being much better than others. Overall however, this feature adds a lot to the game, and makes it more welcoming to Australian players. Hopefully the small problems with it can be straightened out in the next release.
Another welcome new feature is the updated English contract system. Instead of just choosing one player as your overseas player for the season, you get to pick four – a main overseas player, a reserve, and two T20 specialists. As can be gathered from their names, the reserve comes into the squad when the main international player is on international duty or injured. The T20 specialists are only present for the T20 games, at a lower cost. Two international players are allowed to participate in these matches as well. To aid in selection of these players, career and season strike rates for players have also been included, so that you can choose the most aggressive players on the market. This feature results in more tactics in the contract screen and give your team a substantial boost in the T20 tournament.
As well as the Australian domestic career, all the impressive features from the previous game are retained in this edition, with the exception of the historic Ashes Series feature, due to that being a special Ashes edition of the game. The updated training, whereby you can choose to improve a bowler's accuracy or aggression, or improve a batsman's ability to play spin, pace, among other options is still present. The T20 World Cup and the 50- over World Cup are both present and regular occurrences in the game as well.
The basic game engine is very similar to the previous editions as well, with the results generated being very realistic – ODI match totals range from 200 up to 350, while a score of 200 in a T20 proves very challenging for the opposition batsman. The test and first class engine is pretty accurate as well, with credible scores being made. It does however suffer from a problem of high fourth innings run chases, and much improved batting performances after a first innings collapse. These are issues that need to be addressed by Childish Things in the next edition of the game. Overall however, this game engine generates much more realistic scores than ICC's main rival, the Cricket Coach series.
The mechanics of how the game is played is virtually unchanged as well. You select a playing XI, including your captain and wicket keeper, before going to the toss. With batting, you can select the aggressiveness that the batsman plays at and whether they should aim to farm the strike. The aggressiveness can be rather subjective at times however, with players on zero aggression hitting sixes and getting run out occasionally. There are many more options available when bowling however. The line and length of the delivery can be changed, along with the field and the aggressiveness of the bowler. It is possible to play the game and do well without adjusting much more than the aggressiveness of both batsmen and bowlers, but to get a fuller experience and more control over the gameplay these options can be utilised to do the best your team possibly can.
There is the option to play online matches as well, using any domestic team. The introduction of the Australian domestic sides however can make this exercise rather difficult. Most teams use NSW due to the large number of Australian players that come from that side. As well as this, there is problems with some people abusing others, and the system by having multiple teams, or disconnecting if they are going to lose. Finally, there are some cheaters, who use unofficial editors to increase the potency of their sides and make matches one-sided. One way to solve this would be to introduce an official editor that renders such edited players unusable in online matches. This is a feature that many on the Childish Things and PlanetCricket forums have called for, for quite some time.
The editor would also solve another problem that crops up every year with the ICC series. The way in which the developer(s) at Childish Things rate their players is flawed. There is no other way to state it when unknown players are thrust almost immediately into the international squads, and become star players within a year or two. This is a problem that is brought up every year, and the main reason why people develop unofficial editors for the game – so that they can fix these problems.
Overall, International Cricket Captain 2010 is a pretty solid game that has a lot of longevity. Players can pick from any of the 16 English county sides, 6 Australian domestic sides or 8 international teams and play indefinitely. It produces solid results, has decent graphics for a management game, and can be a lot of fun for cricket lovers. There are a number of problems with the game, in some places it is in need of an overhaul, and it could take a lot of inspiration from the Football Manager games. Overall though, considering the number of people Childish Things have working on it, ICC2010 is a solid release that provides the most realistic experience of being an international cricket captain.
Article by guest - Read More...
Another year, another International Cricket Captain release. While the main criticism levelled at this series of games is that each release is nothing more than a roster update, International Cricket Captain 2010 (ICC2010) adds the most to the game since the move to the 3D graphics engine in ICC3. From the outside, it may not look any different, with a very similar aesthetic feel to the previous game in the series, but the addition of an Australian Domestic Career is a big step in the right direction.
The Australian domestic career is a fully-featured part of the game, with a realistic FC, OD and T20 schedule. The contracts system is different to the English version due to the different methods and this does not act as fluidly as could be hoped for, especially the international player selection. However, since this is the first implementation of this feature, problems were going to be inevitable. Since there are only six teams in the Australian domestic competition, each year in this career mode is much shorter than the English version. Also, in game it would appear that the teams vary rather widely in terms of skill, with some teams being much better than others. Overall however, this feature adds a lot to the game, and makes it more welcoming to Australian players. Hopefully the small problems with it can be straightened out in the next release.
Another welcome new feature is the updated English contract system. Instead of just choosing one player as your overseas player for the season, you get to pick four – a main overseas player, a reserve, and two T20 specialists. As can be gathered from their names, the reserve comes into the squad when the main international player is on international duty or injured. The T20 specialists are only present for the T20 games, at a lower cost. Two international players are allowed to participate in these matches as well. To aid in selection of these players, career and season strike rates for players have also been included, so that you can choose the most aggressive players on the market. This feature results in more tactics in the contract screen and give your team a substantial boost in the T20 tournament.
As well as the Australian domestic career, all the impressive features from the previous game are retained in this edition, with the exception of the historic Ashes Series feature, due to that being a special Ashes edition of the game. The updated training, whereby you can choose to improve a bowler's accuracy or aggression, or improve a batsman's ability to play spin, pace, among other options is still present. The T20 World Cup and the 50- over World Cup are both present and regular occurrences in the game as well.
The basic game engine is very similar to the previous editions as well, with the results generated being very realistic – ODI match totals range from 200 up to 350, while a score of 200 in a T20 proves very challenging for the opposition batsman. The test and first class engine is pretty accurate as well, with credible scores being made. It does however suffer from a problem of high fourth innings run chases, and much improved batting performances after a first innings collapse. These are issues that need to be addressed by Childish Things in the next edition of the game. Overall however, this game engine generates much more realistic scores than ICC's main rival, the Cricket Coach series.
The mechanics of how the game is played is virtually unchanged as well. You select a playing XI, including your captain and wicket keeper, before going to the toss. With batting, you can select the aggressiveness that the batsman plays at and whether they should aim to farm the strike. The aggressiveness can be rather subjective at times however, with players on zero aggression hitting sixes and getting run out occasionally. There are many more options available when bowling however. The line and length of the delivery can be changed, along with the field and the aggressiveness of the bowler. It is possible to play the game and do well without adjusting much more than the aggressiveness of both batsmen and bowlers, but to get a fuller experience and more control over the gameplay these options can be utilised to do the best your team possibly can.
There is the option to play online matches as well, using any domestic team. The introduction of the Australian domestic sides however can make this exercise rather difficult. Most teams use NSW due to the large number of Australian players that come from that side. As well as this, there is problems with some people abusing others, and the system by having multiple teams, or disconnecting if they are going to lose. Finally, there are some cheaters, who use unofficial editors to increase the potency of their sides and make matches one-sided. One way to solve this would be to introduce an official editor that renders such edited players unusable in online matches. This is a feature that many on the Childish Things and PlanetCricket forums have called for, for quite some time.
The editor would also solve another problem that crops up every year with the ICC series. The way in which the developer(s) at Childish Things rate their players is flawed. There is no other way to state it when unknown players are thrust almost immediately into the international squads, and become star players within a year or two. This is a problem that is brought up every year, and the main reason why people develop unofficial editors for the game – so that they can fix these problems.
Overall, International Cricket Captain 2010 is a pretty solid game that has a lot of longevity. Players can pick from any of the 16 English county sides, 6 Australian domestic sides or 8 international teams and play indefinitely. It produces solid results, has decent graphics for a management game, and can be a lot of fun for cricket lovers. There are a number of problems with the game, in some places it is in need of an overhaul, and it could take a lot of inspiration from the Football Manager games. Overall though, considering the number of people Childish Things have working on it, ICC2010 is a solid release that provides the most realistic experience of being an international cricket captain.
Article by guest - Read More...
