My thoughts on future games

[djwolf]

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.

[jonny1408]

I agree with everything you have said.
I would also like to add:

Make it hard to face swing/seaming ball e.g. if bowler chooses to bowl seam up/swinging, each ball should swing/seam differently as in real life, one doesnt seam/swing, one does a bit, one does a lot etc...
More choice of shots, i think there should be at least 10 different areas you can play to on front foot and another 10 on back foot.
Be able to choose how hard you hit the ball e.g. Defend into the gap (a bit like you can on BLC)
Should be difficult to pierce a ring of fielders in a one day game but should be possible just needs good placement.
The batsman should slide their bats in lyk on BLIC 05 not BLC 07, so if its easy run, have bat close to them when slid in, if close then have bat stretched far away from body and if desperate batsman should dive.
Catching/fielding should be like BLIC 05
Pitch should change noticably after weather breaks/over the test/day.
Should be rain in one day games and then change to Duckworth Lewis to give the game more excitement.
Should be able to hit over the infield with a lofted chip, but not go all the way and sixes/fours should be only hit with near perfect timing.
I also feel batsmen settled(confidence) level should change depending on game type e.g. 20/20 easy to get fullly settled after a couple of good shots, 50/50 need to spend about 20 balls to get the batsman in, Test/4-day takes a while to get batsmen fully settled
Batsman should also have a stamina bar, as stamina bar gets less, settled level goes down as fatigued and running between wickets is slower. This stamina bar should be replenished slightly after drinks break, nearly fully replenished after lunch/tea and full replenished for the next day.
Bowlers stamina should go down quicker e.g after bowling 10 overs very difficult to keep them bowling a tight line and length.
Fielders should have stamina aswell, if just bowled 10 overs fielder will run slower to get ball.

Batting Controls

R1-Front Foot Shot
R2-Back Foot Shot
L1-Advance Down Wicket
L2-Sweep
X- Ground stroke/Abort Run
Circle-Lofted shot
Triangle-Leave/Run
Square-Defensive
D-PAD-Placement
Right Analog Stick-Move Batsman Position in crease (all four directions)
Left Analog Stick-Placement

[The Masterplan]

I agree with all you guys have said..

I think that batsmen should be comfortably able to leave balls without there confidence dropping..
And I would like to see the score graphic on the screen look like the sky sports ones or something..

..Just my thoughts anyway...

[Langeveldt]

Cricket 2007, but with the ability to bowl AI batsmen, and fewer catches at silly point against the spinners..

Surely that can't be too hard?

[sledger]

Originally Posted by Langeveldt

Cricket 2007, but with the ability to bowl AI batsmen, and fewer catches at silly point against the spinners..

Surely that can't be too hard?

awta, the only way I could ever bowl an AI batsman on c2007 was with a perfectly pitched yorker with someone fast like brett lee. Need to also be able to bowl someone when they are just trying to defend rather than play an attacking shot.

[lachlan43]

On the topic of commentary, the commentators shouldn't all be speaking from almost identical scripts. The script from RPIC05 was almost identical to SWC99, only there were 5 different blokes saying the things. And the commentators should switch every so often. Certain commentators can be fun to listen to, but not for an entire 5 days of a test match.

[jonny1408]

I agree wholeheartedly with the commentator thing, They could also talk about players more like about past scores and there technique.

I would also like to see more styles of batsman like being able to bat like Pietersen because he is different to every1 else. I understand that you couldn't make the batting style for every player but a varied range.

[Ponting Man]

YER ALL GOOD ideas also if you could make your own team

[Langeveldt]

Originally Posted by Ponting Man

YER ALL GOOD ideas also if you could make your own team

You can on all EA sports games.. On Codies games, an Editor is usually released

[Ponting Man]

EA Cricket better be bloody good i've waited 3 years for it

[Jakester1288]

Originally Posted by Langeveldt

You can on all EA sports games.. On Codies games, an Editor is usually released

Yeah, but you can't save it. I have made a full XI a few times and it doesn't save. I'm on PS2 btw.

[Ponting Man]

You save ur team under the roster saving option i've got it on ps2 too.

[Flem274*]

Save during matches is an absolute must. Really annoyed at the lack of it in EA 2005. RPIC is so much better for it.

[Ponting Man]

You can save on EA Cricket 07 during a game!

[Flem274*]

Originally Posted by Ponting Man

You can save on EA Cricket 07 during a game!

Really? GOOD. EA 2005 was far superior than RP05 apart from the damn save thing. If I'd been able to save I would have playedi t far more. That was before it broke of course, bloody xbox games.