I agree with you to a degree, there are very much unrealistic expectations attached to this game from some corners, like a million bowling actions etc but what you would expect, given this is the 6th (I think) cricket game they've developed is that they would incrementally build on each one. This has clearly not been the case and this is where most frustration stems from.
We had things like visible pitch wear or accurate player body shapes in their games 7 or 8 years ago which have inexplicably disappeared, not to mention bugs carrying over, especially the last 3 iterations. C22 ended up pretty playable (OP spinners notwithstanding) with a brilliantly populated Academy but what we have now is a game not as good as C22 ended up being, with an Academy where not all C22 creations do not carry over correctly, bats/stadiums specifically and one which has become more restrictive due to the impact of player licensing.
Largely people do not expect Madden or FIFA. What we do expect is for bugs from previous games to have been addressed, some sort of progression of ideas like career mode (still not as good as AO Tennis) and a flexible Academy where peoples hard work from C22 can still be relevant.
This really isn't too much to ask at an AAA price. We don't want Spiderman 2 we just want a cricket game that plays like cricket.
If you count the Table Top and BBL games you would have thought they had had enough practice at it.
Are they overstretched, under publisher pressure?
I personally don’t believe it is incompetence from workers or not being passionate about things.
Don’t get me wrong all the valid criticism is valid and should be addressed but I think the problems lie in work systems and protocols and financial and publisher pressures.
If I were a fly on the wall what would I see? A toxic work environment? A happy relaxed place to work? Chaos? Order and creative space?
I just don’t know. It seems they are trying to cram so many games and so much content in such a small space and time that its all falling over each other.
There’s probably a poor guy or gal working on tennis rackets, rugby balls, cricket stumps, AFL shirts all at the same time: are they ready yet? Is that finished? I need that tomorrow….
Meh, ramblings of a madman.