Just lately I've been thinking about cricket games (with the cricket season starting) and how they have changed over time. I think it's really about time a genuinely addictive game was released. C2007 was a reasonable effort which looks nice enough and makes batting more enjoyable but it still has too many annoying bugs and lacks real atmosphere. I feel it's also far too repetitive in that it shows the same scenes inbetween deliveries and overs.
Things I'd like to see in future games:
- More realistic crowds and sound effects (the home crowd should be heard cheering on their team and roaring as the pace men come in to bowl, they should react to whatever is happening on the pitch including ooh's and aah's)
- Bring back the sun shadows that change with the time of day, I loved that feeling of batting right at the end of the day
- Show the scoreboard and stats with the cricket pitch/ground in the background after each over (much more realistic like watching TV, I hate the boring black colour)
- Players should be more animated (they should do stretches, mess with their gloves, rub the ball, talk to each other etc)
- More varied and random dismissals
- More fun action with edges and dropped catches
- A more advanced A.I which should include scoring at a decent rate not 1 per over in test matches, also bowling to a plan more often
- Better commentary with statements after most deliveries and especially those where the ball has beaten the edge and make it more varied
- Make it feel good to win a match (show the crowd all cheering, the players celebrating and get the commentators to show some enthusiasm, show the presentation ceremony for winning trophies)
- Make it harder to hit boundaries and sixes so when you do it feels like an achievement
- A career mode where you have credits, can buy/sell players and also get offers from other teams/counties
- Include a player's form rating which changes depending on previous matches played (similar to C2007)
- Make the batsman's confidence level increase more slowly and make it reduce significantly for a few deliveries after an edge or a poor shot until they time it well again
- Include player injuries (make batsmen to have to retire hurt on the odd occasion)
- Make it rain more often in matches and include bad light late in the day
- Show the team balconies
- Include short drinks breaks
I know that's a pretty long list but all things which would be important to me being a true cricket fanatic.
Surely it is not that difficult to make a game look and play in a realistic fashion. I think the games developers should go back to basics more and focus on realism and gameplay with slightly less emphasis on graphics and presentation. Graphics have already reached a point where they can't look much better. I still think that BLC on PS1 was a very good game which had tons of atmosphere which was mostly just down to a very loud crowd who got behind the home bowler running in. No other game since then has given me the same tense feeling when facing the first over in a foreign country. BLC had it's number of faults, the game was quite slow and the players all looked overweight but it was fun and involving and that has been lacking in newer releases.
Let's hope we get some good cricket games coming out soon. It's been a long wait.
Things I'd like to see in future games:
- More realistic crowds and sound effects (the home crowd should be heard cheering on their team and roaring as the pace men come in to bowl, they should react to whatever is happening on the pitch including ooh's and aah's)
- Bring back the sun shadows that change with the time of day, I loved that feeling of batting right at the end of the day
- Show the scoreboard and stats with the cricket pitch/ground in the background after each over (much more realistic like watching TV, I hate the boring black colour)
- Players should be more animated (they should do stretches, mess with their gloves, rub the ball, talk to each other etc)
- More varied and random dismissals
- More fun action with edges and dropped catches
- A more advanced A.I which should include scoring at a decent rate not 1 per over in test matches, also bowling to a plan more often
- Better commentary with statements after most deliveries and especially those where the ball has beaten the edge and make it more varied
- Make it feel good to win a match (show the crowd all cheering, the players celebrating and get the commentators to show some enthusiasm, show the presentation ceremony for winning trophies)
- Make it harder to hit boundaries and sixes so when you do it feels like an achievement
- A career mode where you have credits, can buy/sell players and also get offers from other teams/counties
- Include a player's form rating which changes depending on previous matches played (similar to C2007)
- Make the batsman's confidence level increase more slowly and make it reduce significantly for a few deliveries after an edge or a poor shot until they time it well again
- Include player injuries (make batsmen to have to retire hurt on the odd occasion)
- Make it rain more often in matches and include bad light late in the day
- Show the team balconies
- Include short drinks breaks
I know that's a pretty long list but all things which would be important to me being a true cricket fanatic.
Surely it is not that difficult to make a game look and play in a realistic fashion. I think the games developers should go back to basics more and focus on realism and gameplay with slightly less emphasis on graphics and presentation. Graphics have already reached a point where they can't look much better. I still think that BLC on PS1 was a very good game which had tons of atmosphere which was mostly just down to a very loud crowd who got behind the home bowler running in. No other game since then has given me the same tense feeling when facing the first over in a foreign country. BLC had it's number of faults, the game was quite slow and the players all looked overweight but it was fun and involving and that has been lacking in newer releases.
Let's hope we get some good cricket games coming out soon. It's been a long wait.
