Back to the drawing board
Initial impressions after eagerly anticipating this release for many months are as follows
1. Very disappointed by the gameplay. there seems to be little semblance of a game of cricket going on here, apart from the stats, and player names.
2. The ability to set fields and/or tactics is undermined by the poor visual representation of the fielding. fielders seem to glide past the ball and just let it go to the boundary. how can you hope to sert a field with this going on?
3. You can have all the depth of stats/ first class competitions you want, but if you don't get the fundamentals of the gamplay right, you have a very boring, predictable, and unrealistic simulation, not a game of cricket strategy and skill.
4. There is no discernable tempo to the game. unlike in ICC, when you could start to get a feel for when you should a a batsmen "take on the bowling". Likewise as a bowler there is no discernable feel to whether you tactics are working or not working. You appear as likely or unlikely to get a wicket at any stage of the game, regardless of the settledness of the batsman, or the type of bowling, fielding you are employing.
4. in it's present incarnation this is a freeware game a best, with a very amateurish game play.
5. unrealistic AI. Who would've thunk that simon Katich and Sachin Tendulkar would be the lynchpin of a NSW domestic Bowling attack, as they were in my game. I had no problems as Qld seeing off the challenge of Lee, Clark, but gee Sachin and Katich were absolute demons, on what was supposed to be a great batting track
I realise this is a first up effort, but really considering the hype on the Rockingham website about all of the features, I am very disappointed at the actual product. Have to question how the developers Glen and Oli could really have the confidence to release this as it is.
I don't subscribe to the "the buy the game now so that it get's better in the future" philosophy of some posters here. If it ain't up to scratch why spend your hard earned cash on it?
IMO ther are other games out there that as a freeware products hold up better than cricket coach. For example the Freeware Aussie rules game Footy Fanatic. I would've happily have paid a budget price to buy Footy fanatic, as it had the elements that make repeated playing fun. That is a feeling of atmosphere, statistical depth, solid gameplay, and a feeling that the tactics you employ have a bearing on the result that unfolds.
I do not see that in Cricket coach in it's current incarnation.
I'll not be proceeding further than the trial version, unless ther are major changes to this game.
I have for years wished for a classy cricket management game, and am not simply dumping on this game for fun. but the disappointment realised upon spending the last few hours trying to work this game out leaves me wondering why this was released as it is. I genuinely want Oli and Glenn to succeed and realise the potential the game undoubtedly has. but to expect people to buy that this is a professional game, and ask in return for it people's hard earned money is a big stretch at the moment.
Initial impressions after eagerly anticipating this release for many months are as follows
1. Very disappointed by the gameplay. there seems to be little semblance of a game of cricket going on here, apart from the stats, and player names.
2. The ability to set fields and/or tactics is undermined by the poor visual representation of the fielding. fielders seem to glide past the ball and just let it go to the boundary. how can you hope to sert a field with this going on?
3. You can have all the depth of stats/ first class competitions you want, but if you don't get the fundamentals of the gamplay right, you have a very boring, predictable, and unrealistic simulation, not a game of cricket strategy and skill.
4. There is no discernable tempo to the game. unlike in ICC, when you could start to get a feel for when you should a a batsmen "take on the bowling". Likewise as a bowler there is no discernable feel to whether you tactics are working or not working. You appear as likely or unlikely to get a wicket at any stage of the game, regardless of the settledness of the batsman, or the type of bowling, fielding you are employing.
4. in it's present incarnation this is a freeware game a best, with a very amateurish game play.
5. unrealistic AI. Who would've thunk that simon Katich and Sachin Tendulkar would be the lynchpin of a NSW domestic Bowling attack, as they were in my game. I had no problems as Qld seeing off the challenge of Lee, Clark, but gee Sachin and Katich were absolute demons, on what was supposed to be a great batting track
I realise this is a first up effort, but really considering the hype on the Rockingham website about all of the features, I am very disappointed at the actual product. Have to question how the developers Glen and Oli could really have the confidence to release this as it is.
I don't subscribe to the "the buy the game now so that it get's better in the future" philosophy of some posters here. If it ain't up to scratch why spend your hard earned cash on it?
IMO ther are other games out there that as a freeware products hold up better than cricket coach. For example the Freeware Aussie rules game Footy Fanatic. I would've happily have paid a budget price to buy Footy fanatic, as it had the elements that make repeated playing fun. That is a feeling of atmosphere, statistical depth, solid gameplay, and a feeling that the tactics you employ have a bearing on the result that unfolds.
I do not see that in Cricket coach in it's current incarnation.
I'll not be proceeding further than the trial version, unless ther are major changes to this game.
I have for years wished for a classy cricket management game, and am not simply dumping on this game for fun. but the disappointment realised upon spending the last few hours trying to work this game out leaves me wondering why this was released as it is. I genuinely want Oli and Glenn to succeed and realise the potential the game undoubtedly has. but to expect people to buy that this is a professional game, and ask in return for it people's hard earned money is a big stretch at the moment.
Last edited:
.
.
