?Angry gamers feeling let down by over-hyped game? syndrome is something I have observed close up upon the release of every cricket game since EA?s Cricket 2002. Every release-day, cricket-gamers far and wide sally forth to search for the Holy Grail and yet again it seems that they are going to be disappointed. With years of disappointment and disillusionment behind me (I also support the England cricket team) I fired up BLIC07 with low expectations.
Ultimately, whilst Codemasters have undoubtedly worked hard on this title and implemented some nifty new features it seems they have neglected the sine qua non of cricket gaming ? the gameplay.
Put simply the game has major pacing issues and the AI is depressingly stupid.
I started my BLIC07 experience with an ODI between New Zealand and South Africa (with me as New Zealand) and having lost the toss I was asked to bowl. For some reason it isn?t possible to change gamepad controls (nor does it tell you anywhere what they are) so I was stuck with having to use the right shoulder button to get movement to the left. The first thing that struck me is the discrepancy between what the game says is a good length and what is actually a good length. Essentially if you bowl a ?good length? delivery in this game it will always go well over the top of the stumps. Thus you are forced to pitch the ball well up giving the computer a much larger timing zone. Anyway my first two deliveries were length balls outside off stump from Shane Bond, seaming towards the slips. Both were driven for 4 through the covers. After the batsmen changed strike on ball 3 I decided to try and pitch up balls 4, 5 and 6. All were edged to the keeper or slips and all were dropped.
I expressed concern about the proposed catching meter at the first Codies open day and although one of my fears has been realised there was actually a second problem I missed at the time. To quote from the report I wrote of that:
?When the computer edged the ball we were surprised to see the game slow down and a catching meter appear for the wicket keeper; this is part of the new slip/keeper catching system which replaces the auto-catching behind the wicket in 2005. It might be better if this option was to be toggle-able on and off when the game is released as it has the potential to disrupt the flow of the game (and really annoy those of us who could never catch anything in 2005).?
In the actual release the game doesn?t slow down which, by the time you have realised the batsman has nicked it gives you very little reaction time for what is a simple catch. I kept a tally and in the game I played I dropped 9 and caught 2 (and this is after practicing with the new system on the demo). Codemasters have made some allowances for the speed edges go at. Instead of flying off the bat as they would in reality they balloon up in the air. Unfortunately this has actually resulted in us getting the worst of both worlds: it looks dodgy and it?s still extremely hard to catch.
What I didn?t realise was going to happen was that all catches would be the same difficulty to take. So a dolly at silly mid on or a regulation slips catch are as easy/difficult as a one-handed blinder in the covers. This is patently crazy and I can?t understand why something wasn?t done to ensure you had to hit the middle of the catching meter to take the hard ones and more leeway for the easier ones.
This is also true of the fielding system. It?s as hard to get a good throw to the keeper from two yards as it is from two hundred. So, as a result, there are a ridiculous number of overthrows where the bowler hurls it at the keeper with the batsmen not even taking a run. These meters are a good idea so credit to Codemasters but in their current form they are seriously flawed.
Anyway back to the game. South Africa were scoring at 12 an over but losing far too many wickets along the way. There was no attempt by the AI to take account of the situation and say ?we?ve lost a few wickets; let?s just try and score at 4 an over for the moment?. Every batsman came, whacked a few boundaries and then got out. Had I not dropped the nine catches including Kallis six times I would have bowled them out for a lot less than 115 and in fewer overs (it took me 15). Seeing as this is the highest difficulty level, bowling the number one ODI team in the world out for 115 is a bit depressing. Most depressing, as I?ve said, was their complete lack of tactics and awareness of the game situation. 115ao off 15 overs. As I was to discover this could actually get a lot lot worse.
Fleming and Vincent came out to bat with Ntini and Pollock opening the bowling. My first delivery was going to miss off comfortably so I played no shot (in lieu of the leave button). Quoting from my report on the Codies open day again:
?Another major complaint about 2005 was that the batsman lost confidence if he left the ball and thus you were forced to play at every ball. Thankfully this too has now been rectified. There is no ?leave? button but not playing a shot will result in the batsman not playing a shot and there will be no loss of confidence attached (Adam also assured us that he would try to make sure the commentary didn?t say ?and he?s been beaten all ends up by that one? when the ball was left outside off stump! ?
Imagine my surprise then when Vincent?s confidence meter went down. I found this especially strange, as Kallis had not lost any confidence in the first innings from the 6 times he edged the ball and I dropped it. The mere existence of a system that punishes leaving will all but ruin test cricket as players will be forced to play at every ball.
Anyway first, and on the positive side, I love the 360-degree batting that has been implemented in this game. The thrill of finding gaps and beating the field has the potential to make batting a real joy in this game.
Now, onto the negatives and the bottom line is that batting is far too easy. I?m by no means an expert gamer and found batting on test level quite challenging on BLIC2005. There is no way this is harder though. I was able to score at 10 an over with barely a mistimed shot. The few I did mistime nearly all managed to go to the boundary and I chased the total down in 11 overs for the loss of just one wicket (Fleming finding a fielder with the slog button).
The absolute worst thing about the run-chase for me was that there was no attempt by the computer to change the bowlers or the fields. I was scoring at 12 an over and yet they still had 5 slips and close catchers and Pollock and Ntini were still in the attack. There might have been one over where they packed the ring and I was only able to take 2 off the over but otherwise it was men behind the wicket instead.
Vincent reached his 50 off 26 balls and his 100 off 54 (I was farming the strike to get him to a 100). At no point was I remotely troubled by Ntini who was bowling mid 90?s MPH (150?s KPH).
As I had suspected the saving grace for this game will be online play. I had more fun in a 10 over online match than in any cricket game I can remember. Actually having to think about how the opposition will react and adjusting tactics accordingly is something you won?t find in the offline version. I also found it much harder to find the gaps on test mode even when my timing was good (although this may have been due to the slight lag I was experiencing). Sadly we didn?t finish our game as the game froze and we couldn?t restart it however what I did see was very encouraging.
Positives
Online Play
Shot variation and placement
Defensive shots can go for 4
Easy to change fields and can be set to a player
New shots: sweeps, advance shot
Negatives
Dreadful pacing and AI
Poor fields poorly deployed
Bowling lengths completely wrong
No ducking
No leaving (loses confidence)
No bowling order so spinners open the attack for the computer if they are the best bowler
Catching meter too quick for keeper/slips
Catching meter same for hard and easy catches
?That?s gone? commentary totally unrelated to whether a ball is going to reach the boundary or whether a player is out
No gamepad configuration options
Less depth for player abilities
Ultimately, whilst Codemasters have undoubtedly worked hard on this title and implemented some nifty new features it seems they have neglected the sine qua non of cricket gaming ? the gameplay.
Put simply the game has major pacing issues and the AI is depressingly stupid.
I started my BLIC07 experience with an ODI between New Zealand and South Africa (with me as New Zealand) and having lost the toss I was asked to bowl. For some reason it isn?t possible to change gamepad controls (nor does it tell you anywhere what they are) so I was stuck with having to use the right shoulder button to get movement to the left. The first thing that struck me is the discrepancy between what the game says is a good length and what is actually a good length. Essentially if you bowl a ?good length? delivery in this game it will always go well over the top of the stumps. Thus you are forced to pitch the ball well up giving the computer a much larger timing zone. Anyway my first two deliveries were length balls outside off stump from Shane Bond, seaming towards the slips. Both were driven for 4 through the covers. After the batsmen changed strike on ball 3 I decided to try and pitch up balls 4, 5 and 6. All were edged to the keeper or slips and all were dropped.
I expressed concern about the proposed catching meter at the first Codies open day and although one of my fears has been realised there was actually a second problem I missed at the time. To quote from the report I wrote of that:
?When the computer edged the ball we were surprised to see the game slow down and a catching meter appear for the wicket keeper; this is part of the new slip/keeper catching system which replaces the auto-catching behind the wicket in 2005. It might be better if this option was to be toggle-able on and off when the game is released as it has the potential to disrupt the flow of the game (and really annoy those of us who could never catch anything in 2005).?
In the actual release the game doesn?t slow down which, by the time you have realised the batsman has nicked it gives you very little reaction time for what is a simple catch. I kept a tally and in the game I played I dropped 9 and caught 2 (and this is after practicing with the new system on the demo). Codemasters have made some allowances for the speed edges go at. Instead of flying off the bat as they would in reality they balloon up in the air. Unfortunately this has actually resulted in us getting the worst of both worlds: it looks dodgy and it?s still extremely hard to catch.
What I didn?t realise was going to happen was that all catches would be the same difficulty to take. So a dolly at silly mid on or a regulation slips catch are as easy/difficult as a one-handed blinder in the covers. This is patently crazy and I can?t understand why something wasn?t done to ensure you had to hit the middle of the catching meter to take the hard ones and more leeway for the easier ones.
This is also true of the fielding system. It?s as hard to get a good throw to the keeper from two yards as it is from two hundred. So, as a result, there are a ridiculous number of overthrows where the bowler hurls it at the keeper with the batsmen not even taking a run. These meters are a good idea so credit to Codemasters but in their current form they are seriously flawed.
Anyway back to the game. South Africa were scoring at 12 an over but losing far too many wickets along the way. There was no attempt by the AI to take account of the situation and say ?we?ve lost a few wickets; let?s just try and score at 4 an over for the moment?. Every batsman came, whacked a few boundaries and then got out. Had I not dropped the nine catches including Kallis six times I would have bowled them out for a lot less than 115 and in fewer overs (it took me 15). Seeing as this is the highest difficulty level, bowling the number one ODI team in the world out for 115 is a bit depressing. Most depressing, as I?ve said, was their complete lack of tactics and awareness of the game situation. 115ao off 15 overs. As I was to discover this could actually get a lot lot worse.
Fleming and Vincent came out to bat with Ntini and Pollock opening the bowling. My first delivery was going to miss off comfortably so I played no shot (in lieu of the leave button). Quoting from my report on the Codies open day again:
?Another major complaint about 2005 was that the batsman lost confidence if he left the ball and thus you were forced to play at every ball. Thankfully this too has now been rectified. There is no ?leave? button but not playing a shot will result in the batsman not playing a shot and there will be no loss of confidence attached (Adam also assured us that he would try to make sure the commentary didn?t say ?and he?s been beaten all ends up by that one? when the ball was left outside off stump! ?
Imagine my surprise then when Vincent?s confidence meter went down. I found this especially strange, as Kallis had not lost any confidence in the first innings from the 6 times he edged the ball and I dropped it. The mere existence of a system that punishes leaving will all but ruin test cricket as players will be forced to play at every ball.
Anyway first, and on the positive side, I love the 360-degree batting that has been implemented in this game. The thrill of finding gaps and beating the field has the potential to make batting a real joy in this game.
Now, onto the negatives and the bottom line is that batting is far too easy. I?m by no means an expert gamer and found batting on test level quite challenging on BLIC2005. There is no way this is harder though. I was able to score at 10 an over with barely a mistimed shot. The few I did mistime nearly all managed to go to the boundary and I chased the total down in 11 overs for the loss of just one wicket (Fleming finding a fielder with the slog button).
The absolute worst thing about the run-chase for me was that there was no attempt by the computer to change the bowlers or the fields. I was scoring at 12 an over and yet they still had 5 slips and close catchers and Pollock and Ntini were still in the attack. There might have been one over where they packed the ring and I was only able to take 2 off the over but otherwise it was men behind the wicket instead.
Vincent reached his 50 off 26 balls and his 100 off 54 (I was farming the strike to get him to a 100). At no point was I remotely troubled by Ntini who was bowling mid 90?s MPH (150?s KPH).
As I had suspected the saving grace for this game will be online play. I had more fun in a 10 over online match than in any cricket game I can remember. Actually having to think about how the opposition will react and adjusting tactics accordingly is something you won?t find in the offline version. I also found it much harder to find the gaps on test mode even when my timing was good (although this may have been due to the slight lag I was experiencing). Sadly we didn?t finish our game as the game froze and we couldn?t restart it however what I did see was very encouraging.
Positives
Online Play
Shot variation and placement
Defensive shots can go for 4
Easy to change fields and can be set to a player
New shots: sweeps, advance shot
Negatives
Dreadful pacing and AI
Poor fields poorly deployed
Bowling lengths completely wrong
No ducking
No leaving (loses confidence)
No bowling order so spinners open the attack for the computer if they are the best bowler
Catching meter too quick for keeper/slips
Catching meter same for hard and easy catches
?That?s gone? commentary totally unrelated to whether a ball is going to reach the boundary or whether a player is out
No gamepad configuration options
Less depth for player abilities
Rating
Graphics: 8
Gameplay: 3
Longevity: 7
Patchability: 5
Overall: 6
Graphics: 8
Gameplay: 3
Longevity: 7
Patchability: 5
Overall: 6
