ICC 2014 First thoughts?

[muzzy]

After months of waiting for this game (checking facebook daily for updates- such was my excitement for this game) I cannot be more disappointed.

What feels like an update of players and a fresh user interface...there doesn't seem to be much else at all. Whilst I love the concept of a cricket coaching game similar to Football manager - i cannot begin to hide my disappointment at this. I would rather have given £16 for the developers to fund a bigger project than have the money have gone on what seems like not very much at all.


Football manager is much more advanced and got huge investment as they developed their game - yet they reached out to the football community to help obtain player records for clubs from first team all the way to the youth team. Why has ICC 2014 not reached out to its many hardcore fans to come together to help out (for free) in trying to make this game better for all of its fans.

* Why is there no Champions league T20 ? A basic omission when this is the bonus for winning or doing well in T20 tournments but you do not have it.
* Why can you not be offered or select other jobs - for example - a season with Surrey, if i get bored - then i have to start a new game.
* The game is so limited that you cannot make your own fixtures or select tours. i.e with Pakistan there are 6 tests a year - you can do a whole season in an hour.
* This has never been a management game - you cannot be sacked nor any pressure applied to do well - if you lose every game you never get sacked.


Chris - you should engage us and ask us - i want to re-iterate that personally i would pay £30 (twice as much) if the game was developed and there were some really good changes or tweaks. Instead you have charged £16 for an update and left a ardent ICC 2014 fan bitterly disappointed. In future i would rather you actually tell us/me what you are planning to do with the game.

I feel conned and cheated with what feels like an update from 2 years ago. i would look to get a refund but i'd rather you take my money and hopefully spend it on developing a game which everyone see's as having huge potential. I am not going to play this game anymore as it really is a massive let down.

Disappointing but would rather you take this criticism constructively Chris - i am more than happy to give you ideas for improvement but most importantly I would like to hear from you Chris on what your plans are for this game because if it is the same thing next year then you would have lost out on one of your biggest fans.

Muzzy

[iqbalsn]

Finally bought this game again. I didnt buy the last version because paypal kept on giving me error every time i tried to buy the last version.

My first thought about this 2014:
1. Steam is nice. I use steam all the time, and i had no problem at all buying it straight from steam.
2. No more explanation whether batsmen prefer what kind of bowling and front or back foot? Or was it removed already last version?
3. The new interface are neat. Although honestly, its more into the candy eye side only. Functionality are the same.
4. Havent felt any change on 3d engine
5. Since its on steam, i'd expect regular updates for the game?

Thanks,
Iqbal

[Sureshot]

You can see the Batsman preferences in the Personal tab on the Player Profile. We are looking at a solution for showing this in-match.

[someone]

New interface looks unfinished. Hover is important but in this new interface, it's now simply invisible and non-existent. Additional, the color contract isn't nice.
The squad selection screen is difficult as the selected squad is on a different tab now instead of previously being on just the right side.

A new game should be polished but this game seems hurried and is incomplete in several areas.

[SussexRH]

I feel churlish criticising the game, as I'm acutely aware it's the product of some serious dedication on the part of a small team on a small budget. That said, this year's version is hugely disappointing - to my mind, it's gone backwards. The new GUI, while it may work for the handheld/iOS version, is incredibly cumbersome on a PC display - the look-and-feel is now much more 'pick up and play' rather than the detail-oriented interface of games like FM. Add to this the disappearing features - squad display, tool tips for batsman preferences etc., - and no improvements in the management side of the game... All in all it's something of a let-down. I don't begrudge the development team my money - I suspect this is a labour of love - but the focus on handheld and highlights quality appears to have left the 'real' game rather neglected.

[cricfan1]

My First thought great UI but same 3d Engine started to play faced Highlight Bug , Stopped Playing , Seen in Forum there are Bugs Bugs Bugs

So for me it only a Full of Bugs ..

I will only play when the highlight bug will be resolved

[someone]

I feel churlish criticising the game, as I'm acutely aware it's the product of some serious dedication on the part of a small team on a small budget. That said, this year's version is hugely disappointing - to my mind, it's gone backwards. The new GUI, while it may work for the handheld/iOS version, is incredibly cumbersome on a PC display - the look-and-feel is now much more 'pick up and play' rather than the detail-oriented interface of games like FM. Add to this the disappearing features - squad display, tool tips for batsman preferences etc., - and no improvements in the management side of the game... All in all it's something of a let-down. I don't begrudge the development team my money - I suspect this is a labour of love - but the focus on handheld and highlights quality appears to have left the 'real' game rather neglected.

Exactly. I would gladly take the old interface over the new interface.

[Heisenberg]

I feel that they have changed the look and layout which didn't need changing and made it worse, yet the game itself which does need updating has had no improvements and is the same as last year. I will still play the game as its the only one on the market but Im a little disappointed.

[outbreak]

Hate to say it but the new GUI is hideous and hard to find what used to be easy functions. Haven't been able to get into the game at all and I'm not sure why things have been moved around so much on the PC version just to cater to tablet users. Should add in a classic layout option if people wish to use that.

[pearljammonkey]

Thanks for all of these 'reviews', this years version of icc will remain one of the first that i have never purchased.
Usually its just a case of buying it a month or so after release so it comes with the first few patches updating the major issues. But this years version seems to have a more deliberate change in direction that I'm not sure any patch will fix entirely.
As an example its almost like a kick in the teeth to see the new game have no option to edit players names when all we've been crying out for forever is to bring back the ability to import player photos. We are cricket fans - we want more immersion, more detail, more stats. if i think of all the versions of icc I've played over the years, the version i played the most was icc2000, followed by ACC/icc2/icc2013. Why?

[monte-d]

dreadful

Dreadful! I've binned it and gone back to the 2013 version.

Sorry Chris - I can see that it must be difficult to update a game with limited resources - and it makes sense to make the game work over several platforms - but it is not really acceptable to expect us to pay for a work in progress with little or no improvements to the game.

I dislike the new interface intensely. It looks great from the other side of the room, but when you come to use it, it is horrid. The old gui was clear and well laid out. This is not - for instance not being able to see the squad you have already selected whilst you browse through players, or not being able to see the batsman's preferences when you set a field. The graphics for pitch wear etc and for type of player are no longer so obvious/useful.

Whilst the look has changed, the mechanics have not. for instance we might have expected a drag and drop to select players but we still have a double click for select and keep, inherited from the first version of the game 16 years ago.

My biggest problem with the game is the loss of 2 player mode. This was 'family and friends' mode. I used to play it with my son. How many other Dad's did that? When a new version of a game is released, we expect new features to be added. We do not expect major features to be dropped. The new version of the game looks like an unfinished project that was rushed into release because it could not be delayed any longer.

Good things - the player database has been updated - but England's fastest bowler, Mr Plunkett, still appears as only medium-fast (as was M Johnson for Australia is the 2013 version, I wonder if he has been updated?).

[Sureshot]

Medium-Fast is faster than Fast-Medium in the game.

[Dick Van Dykes Disco Dog]

Medium-Fast is faster than Fast-Medium in the game.

Without checking the game are there any English bowlers who are classed as "Fast"?

I've seen Johnson, Steyn, Tait, Malinga etc but haven't seen any English guys yet ...

[KGKOOLKAT777]

I am really enjoying the new AI for this edition, it seems to be a lot more intelligent this year which is very promising! The graphics can be a little laggy but all in all, very impressed

[monte-d]

Medium-Fast is faster than Fast-Medium in the game.

Sureshot, I really appreciate that you took the time to reply, but you seem to have missed the point ... fast medium or medium fast really is the least of the issues that people are raising in this thread ... and I get the impression that we are all long time supporters of the game ... probably the guys you can't afford to lose