Review Demo impressions thread

[Master Khan]

Well as long as I can see the ball land in crowd (like in real life) and they get rid of that annoying music: in Brain Lara 07.. then I will get it

 

[pcfan123]

How is the swing, i have no really been able to see it, granted I am watching youtube videos in low res. Can you actually see it? and I hope its not exaggerated like in c07

 

[gudduthemaster]

How is the swing, i have no really been able to see it, granted I am watching youtube videos in low res. Can you actually see it? and I hope its not exaggerated like in c07

nope!!not like co7
i saw some swing in that huge video(208 mb),posted few pages before

Edit:-i mean this one

me.
Megashares - Drag. Drop. Yup. The first site to provide FREE file hosting with drag n drop support.

 

[Sureshot]

Ok, so my 360 just RROD on me, now I'm not playing the demo I thought it would be a good opportunity to give my opinion on it for what it's worth.

I must have played around 60 games on it, hard mode and am really enjoying both batting and bowling. Particularly bowling.


AI batting/pacing

With regard to the CPU pacing of their innings I have found that if you bowl a consistent line and length (and have the bowling marker in the yellow, whilst also stopping the bowling meter as near to perfect as possible) the AI batsmen will almost always defend or leave. Only when experimenting with different line and lengths and stopping the bowling meter early did I find the AI batsmen started spanking me all over the pitch.
I do not think that the CPU are aware it is a 3 over match at all. By following my original way of bowling, above, I can regulaly keep them to around 10 runs or less in their 3 overs, whether they are batting first or second.
This is why I don't think they are aware it's a 3 over match as, even when chasing a total, they do not become overly aggressive as long as you bowl consistently well.
If this is how the AI plays in test matches then it is very, very encouraging.

One slight concern is the suicidal run outs which have been happening I would say, on average, once every four or five playthroughs. Don't know how to explain this as I am sure they are not aware of the 3 over limit, so why take such unnecessary risks??

AI Bowling

I have not noticed that the AI pitches too full all the time. I have had many an over bowled at me with varying lines and lengths. Sometimes, yes, a bowler will pitch it up for the whole over, but when starting the demo again that same bowler will then use a completely different line and length, sometimes varying between deliveries, sometimes not. Overall I am quite happy with the AI bowling.

User Batting

My main gripe about batting is purely animation based, not gameplay. I just don't like the way the batsmen react to shots. For example, when playing a front foot defensive, the animation itself is good, but after the ball is fended off the batsman quickly gets up and grounds his bat, holding this pose as if in a catatonic trance. It unfortunately breaks the immersion factor of the game. What would have been nice is if the batsman holds his defensive pose, looks at his stance and then slowly gets back up and prepares for the next ball. There needs to be more transitional animations between playing a shot and preparing for the next shot. At the moment it's all too regimented and robotic.

Apart from this admittedly non game breaking gripe I quite enjoy the batting. I like that selecting your own foot to play off narrows the batting aim marker allowing for more precise finding of the gaps. The edges are excellently implemented in my opinion, allowing for top, bottom, thin and thick, inside and outside edges if mistimed.

One thing that is welcome is that the dreaded lowering of batsmen confidence when leaving a ball is now retired to history. Rejoice.

Fielding

Not much to say about this as it is all automatic unless you want to tell a fielder to throw the ball back at a specific end. The running animations of the fielders is horrid with no sense of urgency and the throwing of the ball looks akward when returning from distance but it's not a gameplay issue so I can live with that.

Loving the overthrows and misfields as well as the backing up. The fact that sometimes the fielders score direct hits, even from boundary throws gives a nice element of tension if you are desperately trying to score an extra, tight run. You never quite know if you're going to make it until the ball makes it's appearance at the crease. Running the bat in/diving is an excellent, if not overdue, addition.

The catching system is superb. I love it. I don't find it too hard and it allows for some real is it/isn't it tension. Once I realised you need to look at the ball and wait for it to go green before hitting A I can now catch 80 percent of all chances, for dolly's I can get all of them.

No more automatic whipping off of the bails by the 'keeper or bowler throwing ball at the stumps on pickup. Rejoice again.

Overall

B- very impressed. If I can be sure that the retail copy will fix the idiotic run outs and have intelligent AI to both pace an innings and also adjust their fields and bowling strategies to the situation at hand then this score will be a guaranteed A and a must buy.

Well done Transmission.

Nice review (and you're from Hove so you must be right! You going tomorrow? Huge match, going to be sold out), I literally can't wait to get my hands on my copy, especially if it's in Full HD, as it will look stunning.

 

[dajesmac]

Can you get stumped if you miss a front foot shot to a spinner? And is there a manual stumping button?

Plus I thought I saw somebody in a video after they ahd chosen which swing delivery they wanted had to physically click LB or RB to swing it, can someone shed some light on this? I haven't heard anything about it.

 

[surendar]

i got samsung flat screen etc tv but the 360 looks crap on it ,when i get ps3 version on the sony 40 inches 1080 down stairs then i might see the ball lol
sorry poor recording on iphone will put bowling up next
graham added 9 Minutes and 45 Seconds later...

YouTube - Ashes cricket 09 demo
heres the bowling not as good as batting vid
YouTube - ashes cricket 2009

I feel, this was the better one ( not in camera angle, but the game feel ) compared to other videos which I watched! Nice indeed. I liked the way wicket keeper missed the runout on both the occasions. But I don't understand why umpire has to raise his finger after being asked for third umpire. :confused:

 

[Golden28]

Nice review (and you're from Hove so you must be right! You going tomorrow? Huge match, going to be sold out), I literally can't wait to get my hands on my copy, especially if it's in Full HD, as it will look stunning.

Lol.

Yeah I'll be there. Only live a stones throw from the ground.

And yes, I can't wait for the game either. I'm very fortunate in that I have a PS3 as well as my crapbox so at least I can get the PS3 version to play whilst the crapbox sits in the corner for being naughty.

Roll on the 7th!! Be interesting to get the PSN demo on thursday too, to see if it's any different from the crapbox version, shouldn't think so though.

 

[Sureshot]

Great, looks like we'll have rain in the morning. Which isn't good as I'll be carrying a laptop around the ground at about 11ish! Oh such a long day, not worked since Aussies though, that was a ~ 70 hour week!

I do wish we get a PSN demo at the same time we get the PC demo.

First RROD?

 

[Golden28]

Can you get stumped if you miss a front foot shot to a spinner? And is there a manual stumping button?

You can indeed stump the opposition by getting them missing a front foot shot to spin. It's all automatic BTW but looks great.

Plus I thought I saw somebody in a video after they ahd chosen which swing delivery they wanted had to physically click LB or RB to swing it, can someone shed some light on this? I haven't heard anything about it.

You can vary the degree of swing by pulling either the left or right triggers prior to the delivery. This alters the small bowling marker on screen by swivelling left or right. So for an inswinger, if you pull the right trigger it won't swing as much, whilst holding the left trigger until the marker swivels as far left as it can, you will really swing the ball into the batsman. Nicely implemented IMO.

 

[dajesmac]

You can indeed stump the opposition by getting them missing a front foot shot to spin. It's all automatic BTW but looks great.



You can vary the degree of swing by pulling either the left or right triggers prior to the delivery. This alters the small bowling marker on screen by swivelling left or right. So for an inswinger, if you pull the right trigger it won't swing as much, whilst holding the left trigger until the marker swivels as far left as it can, you will really swing the ball into the batsman. Nicely implemented IMO.

Oh okay, awesome. Thanks mate.

 

[Golden28]

Great, looks like we'll have rain in the morning. Which isn't good as I'll be carrying a laptop around the ground at about 11ish! Oh such a long day, not worked since Aussies though, that was a ~ 70 hour week!

Working? What brings you to the ground at 11am with a laptop then mate?

I do wish we get a PSN demo at the same time we get the PC demo.

Yep, bloody Microsoft gold member exclusives. Bah!

First RROD?

3rd I've now officially had it with the Xbox. I was going to get a new one as they are so cheap but I've heard that even the latest ones still RROD. That is a disgrace.

 

[Sureshot]

Ouch! It's what happens when you bring something out several months before it is ready.

I did a work placement there from college at the end of May (so all the T20s, Somerset CC and the Aussies) and they asked me to stay on after that. Laptop is for programming the tills, as prices differ for different formats. Come match time I'll be working one of the bars, hopefully in the Shark Shack, as we have so much fun in there! :banana2

 

[Sagramore]

Ok, if anyone is still interested, here are my initial impressions of the demo:
I guess I was hoping for the best and expecting the worst. The actual game is somewhere in between. Graphically the game is mediocre at best. The animations are all a bit dodgy and feel quite jerky. I have given the game a real beasting since getting home from work on Friday and I have to say there have been some real ?eeewww? moments. The first real shocker came when Jimmy Anderson collected the ball in his follow through and attempted the throw the stumps down at the non-strikers end. The ball left his hand backwards and headed towards the keeper!

Another annoyance is that each time there is a close run-out decision; it always appears that the batsman is turning for a second run as the ball hits the stumps. I know that these are only minor complaints but you have to ask yourself that, if this wasn?t a cricket computer game, would it be tolerated?

The commentary is just bloody awful, that is all I have to say about that.

To really appreciate the game, you have to put up with the minor issues and accept that it is Transmission?s second effort (after their dabble with ?Pressure Play? on the PSP). Batting feels pretty good, with none of the ?whack if over mid-wicket for six? mentality. I have played a number of big shots and, usually, I make a right muck of them. I can, however, knock it into the gaps and score ones and twos pretty easily. I do have an issue with the timing, as I find hitting boundaries really hard. I can hit a gap through the covers, with perfect timing (according to the batting meter) and the ball ends up stopping well short of the rope. The A.I., on the other hand, seems to be able to hit booming cover drives, all along the ground, through the off-side with ease.

If this game has a problem it is with the ?good-length? dynamic. I am constantly trying to work out which shot to play to which delivery. Half-volleys seem to be ?good-length? deliveries and if you try and bowl back of a length, you either get hammered by the opposition batsman or you get called wide. This is the big issue for me; I can accept graphical and animation issues, but pitch dynamic and physics have to be somewhere close, otherwise the game becomes a farce.....well almost.

I am un-decided on the AI. Sometimes it seems really good and sometimes really shockingly bad. For example, I played a game where the Aussies needed three off the last ball and Phil Hughes left it alone outside off stump.

Right then; enough guff, what do I think of the game? I have really enjoyed playing it over the last couple of days. It has problems and plenty of them, bowling is great if you accept the default bowling position, which is a half volley length. Batting is great as long as you put up with having to put your cricket knowledge in a box and kowtow to Transmission Games un-realistic line and length.

Will I cancel my pre-order? Nope. It might not be the greatest thing since sliced bread but it is a cricket game and the demo has been fun, so bring on the Ashes

 

[Wealey]

The commentary is just bloody awful, that is all I have to say about that.

Hi guys im new but glad so many people are interested and keen on this game! its bout time we had a solid game and fingers crossed it looks like Ashes Cricket could be on the correct path!

If you ever played the fifa 2009 demo there was no commentary at all!!.... im hoping that this demo version may only have a little bit of the commentary thrown in. We hear Beefy is a commentator as well.. so fingers crossed more maybe added??!

 

[srk121]

Lets nnot get picky about the look of the crowd - it takes up a lot of processing power, so i aint bothered.


What does bother me is the ball stopping inside the boundary.....

Basically, instead of making the AI better, the 'difficulty' setting has been done by adding on ratings on easy mode, and reducing them on hard mode.

So on hard you get poorer rated bowlers and batsmen who dont have the power to hit it to the boundary. Anyone else noticed this?

I disagree with that. The timing with varies from easy to hard mode and it does make it difficult to hit the ball. Ball stopping before the rope is another aspect of the game. If you play on the hard ball you will miss good balls, and bowler will ball you better ball. I really do think this game is great specially multiplayer. i am enjoying vs AI as well.