ICC 2009 review by IGN AU

[Fluroescent]

IGN AU have just released their review of International Cricket Captain 2009, the latest iteration of the ICC series. Rating it a 5.0, it reiterates many of the same issues mentioned by game reviewers such as Gamespot which have plagued earlier games in the series. Among many other things, it notes:

There are none of the bells and whistles that make a simulation like Football Manager a more entertaining day-to-day experience. There's no media interaction, no off-field antics to man-manage, no transfer market drama... Surely there are some ideas out there that could go a long way to making ICC a more immersive, compelling game.

At least a few desired changes have made it into ICC 2009, such as the inclusion of a T20 World Cup, the ability to declare during an interval, and the last two years of player stats available to view at any time. But much of the changes read more like a Read Me file included with a patch. There's hardly anything here that justifies paying full-price if you have last year's game.

It's still not possible to view a player's attributes, so guesswork still plays a large part in picking and choosing a youth squad. You have to persist with players until their playing stats prove them a potential legend or a dud, which can take many games. It brings a tedious pace to what is already a rather slow simulation. And yet again, should we choose to skip a match in a test series, the game warns you that your side will under-perform unless you are hands-on.

ICC is just crying out for change. Surely even hardcore fans of the series are fed up with how little this game has evolved over the last decade. Incremental fixes and database updates haven’t been enough to keep the game relevant when so many obvious problems with this product remain untouched and other simulations like Football Manager go from strength to strength. Where are the Wisden stats? The player editing options? The scenario creator? The fact that Empire Interactive went into administration after the release of last year’s game possibly has something to do with the current state of ICC. Now that developer Childish Things has full control over the license, we can only hope that next year’s game (if there is one) sees a top-to-bottom re-design, revamp and re-think. As it stands, ICC 2009 feels like a bargain bin relic.

Read the full review here. This is the first time I've seen a review out so soon, especially when an exact release date hasn't even been revealed by its developers.

 

[The Blazer]

Harsh but true.

If ICC is a conservative framework gathering dust, Cricket Coach is a (albeit stuttering) revolution.

 

[Hooper]

Lol, people change their minds every day here at PC.

-One day people are excited as new ICC09 news is released almost daily
-People are baggin out CC, saying it will always be crap
-People claiming that CC crashes to much therefore they aren't going to try it
-People try it, say they love it now, but still rate ICC better
-People saying ICC is going to be crap this year

Its all too much for me.

 

[Fluroescent]

Harsh but true.

If ICC is a conservative framework gathering dust, Cricket Coach is a (albeit stuttering) revolution.

True; it's necessary that ICC makes major and essential changes right away, rather than incremental patch-like updates, which is, unfortunately, all we've seen for years and years. The transfer structure must be rewritten from the get-go, and player & media interaction must finally be included; it still puzzles me that we haven't seen any sort of interaction of any kind in the 10 years since ICC was first released -- these are essential inclusions in management games. What can be particularly annoying and unrealistic is when you're not allowed to change your playing staff within the game itself, so when a player gets injured or carted off for international duty, you can't choose a replacement nor can you choose new players for different formats of the game (such as Twenty20 & Pro40 specialists), which isn't the case in real life at all. There's also no interaction whatsoever with the Kolpak system, which is something that's oozing with potential for an interesting inclusion (enticing potential international dropouts to sign Kolpak contracts, for example) in any cricketing game. Neither can you scout for potential or promising players - for a game that doesn't even allow attributes to be seen or include an editor, this is a glaring oversight that really goes a long way in taking any potential excitement out of a game. Averages aren't an accurate indicator of player ability at all -- Derek Randall is an excellent example, and I'm sure there are several other outstanding examples in current world cricket.

I'm thinking the primary reason for them never releasing an editor (so unlike Sports Interactive's Football Manager series, whose efforts have resulted in players creating regular updates and even all-new leagues such as the J-League, which really brings a wonderfully festive community atmosphere to the game) is so that they can continue to release these generic updates each year and so that players would thus be more inclined to buy them (notice that their blurbs always include statements like "most recently updated database of players" and so on) -- I suppose it makes plentiful sense for them, given their recent spate of such releases, but they cannot wish to truly progress (in the truest sense of the word) if they continue in this state.

 

[CG123]

Is what i think needs to happen is only bring out a new game every 2-3 years and have them release an official patch every year updating the data base for just a small price
At the moment you are almost just buying a new database for ... (not really sure of the price)
But it is just to costly for not enough improvements

Also i think they should more or less start again from the beginning and have 2-3 years to work on getting a whole new game instead of just updating the database and a few bugs while adding in 1-2 new feature here and there

For the likes of the FIFA series you go back and play 02 and it is just too bad to play, you take a look at the graphics and they are terrible
With ICC i have 02, 05 and 08 and sometimes it is hard to really tell the difference between them
Currently I only buy it every 2-3 years and even then there is only minor changes

Personally i feel this would be the way to go as they just are not updating the game enough to warrant a whole new game every year

 

[IloveGilly]

The ICC series is way behind the Football Management series, it's just a whole new level of simulation. I'll contradict myself and say that gaming sites don't really know much about Cricket Simulations but still excited for it despite the truth riddened in the game.

Waiting for them to actually "evolve" their sense of Cricket management.

 

[Gilly Fan]

I've been waiting for years for ICC to introduce more features and leagues but it's never happened. Cricket Coach seems the way to go if they can get rid of the bugs. They have all the leagues as well which makes it even better.

 

[Sureshot]

The ICC series is way behind the Football Management series, it's just a whole new level of simulation. I'll contradict myself and say that gaming sites don't really know much about Cricket Simulations but still excited for it despite the truth riddened in the game.

Waiting for them to actually "evolve" their sense of Cricket management.

Of course we are, look at the size of the team and budget of SI, now look at ours, which has maybe 5-6 people working on it.

I'd take more note of some of the review if the reviewer had a sense of sports management. The impression they gave was that they only picked players once their stats had matured, and used them purely to assess whether someone was good or not. No idea of, and to quote ILG, a sense of cricket management.

We know people want us to evolve more, and so do we. But there are limitations, people have to remember this, we can't do something, if we can't technically/financially do it. But there are plans a foot for 2010.

 

[Cricketdude]

I'm hoping for faster gameplay(in 2009), I still believe it's too slow. But hoping for a lot more in 2010.

 

[The Blazer]

Of course we are, look at the size of the team and budget of SI, now look at ours, which has maybe 5-6 people working on it.

Cricket Coach has maybe 1-2 people working on it. Look at the size of that team and their (presumably lower) budget.

I know you are endorsing the game, but you must look at the facts. Since its initial release, ICC has introduced nothing new (except for a horrible 3D match system which is overshadowed by the easier to the eye 2D system of old) and yet it is still attracting potential customers due to the lack of competition on the market.

The ICC series has always had solid gameplay but I'm afraid that if continues to motor along at this sedate pace, then its fanbase may start to diminish.

 

[Cricketdude]

Look at what TAOC has done with like no budget(a lot). Again, look at the facts.

 

[Hooper]

Look at what TAOC has done with like no budget(a lot). Again, look at the facts.

They've done what? They haven't even got a game out. TOAC is a bad example..

 

[Sureshot]

TAOC? Admirable effort, but it's taken how long?

I don't think any of us are under the illusion that things can't be improved, but I've stated we are making steps for 2010.

 

[surendar]

TOAC is a bad example..

Yes indeed, TAOC is a bad example for the team work because there is hardly any team.

And with ICC09, I think I will buy ICC09 along with AshesCricket 09. Its been years since I bought a game, hence I am going to!

 

[Allrounder18]

TAOC? Admirable effort, but it's taken how long?

I don't think any of us are under the illusion that things can't be improved, but I've stated we are making steps for 2010.

So plz clear us have you guys finally ditch the old game engine? Cuz I know that this engine cannt be upgraded and if not realistically there cannt be any major changes we can expect in 2010 version.