My first game and brief thoughts

[James]

I've played my first game of BLIC over the past couple of days playing as New Zealand against Zimbabwe at Wellington.

The scorecard is attached, what was the most surprising was that 3 and a bit days were rained out! Wellington isn't that bad weather wise

Positives

* Love the ease of the menus and getting started
* Overall, am impressed by the graphics
* Bowling is lots of fun, especially playing with the special delivers.

Negatives

* Wellington looked nothing like the Basin Reserve. I presume this is due to licensing issues.
* AI is a little weird. As you can see I was bowled out for 82, yet Zimbabwe don't enforce the follow on?
* Changing the field, you can't have different fields for different bowlers, it stays the same so if you want different fields you have to change the field placements every over
* Commentary, this drove me absolutely nuts with the same things being said over and over and over and over again. It's a real shame cricket games can't match the football games out there commentary wise

Although I've listed more negatives than positives I absolutely love the game and haven't done any Cricket Web work in two days due to being so addicted

 

[auscricket]

Good read James. I definetly agree with AI, in a game I played last week I bowled England out for 351, and I (Australia) was bowled out for 97 (it was my first match, come on :P), they were 4/133, but they didn't force the follow on, bearing in mind that there was 1 day left.

But it is a superb game, well done Codemasters, you've knocked over Cricket 2005 in style.

 

[James]

Perhaps they just took pity on us mate

 

[marc71178]

With regards the commentary, I wouldn't say Football games are any better to be honest.

 

[James]

I've always thought the FIFA EA Sports Series has had good commentary

 

[Kweek]

NO the EA commentary is crap! so much said the same really. the commentary is quiet nice really.
talking about best spinners and stuff. and really cool like Lang said before...when they are in a chat and the other ones talking one screams while the other ones talking GOT HIM!!!!!

 

[Shoaib]

I've always thought the FIFA EA Sports Series has had good commentary

I don't agree because I think that the commentary has always been poor in FIFA series as John Motson repeats the same things again and again.Commentary hasn't been improved a lot in FIFA series since FIFA 99.Gameplay and commentary are better in Konami's Pro Evolution series but the graphics are better in FIFA though.BLIC 2005 vs Cricket 2005 is another FIFA-Pro Evo match up for me.

 

[Shoaib]

Overall, am impressed by the graphics.

Mate,gameplay is good in BLIC 2005 but the graphics really suck.How r the cartoony graphics of BLIC 2005 "impressive"?

 

[sawu]

James, how did you get the game? I'm assuming you ordered it from Europe?

If so, how much did it cost?

And is it definate that the Australasian version of BLIC/RPIC will not have any changes/bug fixes? Or could they possibly make some changes to the code before they release it here?

Thanks

 

[James]

I actually like the graphics in BLIC, it's the AI that really lets the game down IMO. The game I played this afternoon was between Australia and New Zealand is a classic example. I dismissed Australia for 205 and they had me 150/9 when they suddendly decided to give Darren Lehmann a bowl, he went for 54 runs from 3 overs and I won the match! Obviously, the bowling changes are scripted and don't allow for a particular situation in the game.

I ordered it from the CW Online Store - http://www.cricketweb.net/cricketgames/blic2005/order.php

 

[James]

Here's the match summary

 

[scritty]

Mate,gameplay is good in BLIC 2005 but the graphics really suck.How r the cartoony graphics of BLIC 2005 "impressive"?

To me they are WAAAAYYY better in BLIC2005. Ok the colours and kits are closer to the real thing in EA2005, but as soon as a bowler runs in, or a fielder chases the ball, the animation is so poor it puts me off the game.

Fielders seem to run in treacle..long strides that cover no ground,
Batsmen seem to be made of 6 "shapes", head, body, 2 arms and 2 legs, all on simple hinges , some of the head positions when a shot is played just look so unrealistic.

Faces are "stuck on" to an oval template..not even always in the middle !! And the same faces appear over and over on the lesser known players. Sometimes the head moves, and the face orientation doesn't change. It's enough to give you nightmares !

Bowling is not so bad - improved since 2004. But generally the whole graphical feel of BLIC seems far superior. EA2005 looks just thrown together

Facial expression is virtually non existant in EA, very well done is BLIC.

Texture tears. Even on my 6800ultra an a 3.6 PIV and 1.5 gig of ram, I get texture and poly tearing on EA. White "lines" appearing where two textures or polygons join. Thought all that was left behind 5 years ago

Menus are a joke, seem scaled innapropriately from a very low res.

 

[Jamee999]

My first Test match will be up soon (sometime tomorrow) It's Pakistan vs England on a Crumbling Peshawar(IIRC) potch, and Pakistan elected to bat first and they're about 60-5 with Harmison and Jones taking 2 each.

 

[Jamee999]

4 wickets in 4 balls for STEPHEN JAMES HARMISON!

 

[barmyarmy]

Yeah the tail are annoying useless. Even my created player got 5 wickets in a row!

 

[Jamee999]

Bowl it straight and full - they swing and miss.

 

[Behlol]

In commentry i will not agree with james.Because unlike other cricket games there is a lot of commentry on world 11 or wen the commentators played etc