IGN Review

[MarksNotts]

Just found this review of the new game

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/998/998614p1.html

[Scritty]

Oh dear.

IGN is one of my "goto" sites for reviews (along with Gamespot and eventually Metacritic)

The review is pretty damning. I was suprised at the end of it that he gave it 5/10. His comments up to that point suggested a lower score than that.

Well, we know what the changes are, and I will still be getting it. The points made in the review are not new, and have been made on this forum before. Just intersting to see a virtual outsider from the ICC community express much the same criticisms as those inside, (perhaps he came to this forum and read up).

Oh well :(

Paul

[the_trademarc]

One word: "Ouch"

I don't know under what circumstances the game was reviewed, but I reckon its off maybe a couple of nights, a few years into it perhaps.

I guess we have to judge for ourselves

[SMX11FOX]

At the end of the day he's right, the only reason we have been buying the game is because we are cricket nuts, i wont be buying this years effort im sorry to say but hopefully the revamp they will be doing will rejuvenate the series and they can take my money again :)

[ICClover]

I dont give any weight to the review. Any review of ICC which gives attention to graphics and sounds funamentally does not understand the game.

[bigmo52]

to be honest im not fussed about any of the media stuff etc. the sound is a bit annoying, the graphics is a good point. but more then that i like the aspect of not knowing how good a player will be until u try him out.

i play international only, and its interesting to see a player who is always on top in the batting averages in squad selection and the sense of satisfaction you get is imense when he works out.

what does annoy me a little bit is the misrepresentation of players. hope this is rectified. i want irfan to be an all rounder like he is and yuvi.

looking forward to the new version tho, i hope it doesnt let me down!!!

[Steely123]

Despite the fact i haven't played the new game, i disagree with a few things in the review. Most of the things that they criticised to me sounded really good.

The screenshots of the new match engine look really good to me.

When they compared the game to football manager, ICC is its own game and i think that having no stats makes the game better. Especially when you get a youth player with an average around 50 who you think should be an excellent player and then doesent quite perform, or when you get a spin bowler with an average of about 28, is rubbish in first class games, but is a constant wicket taker in one dayers. To me that is the beauty and appeal of the game.

I guess i must be a cricket nut :)

[Scritty]

i think that having no stats makes the game better. Especially when you get a youth player with an average around 50 who you think should be an excellent player and then doesent quite perform, or when you get a spin bowler with an average of about 28, is rubbish in first class games, but is a constant wicket taker in one dayers. To me that is the beauty and appeal of the game.

I guess i must be a cricket nut :)

No I agree. :)

I mean people don't come with bar codes attached in real life saying ..

My name is Dave Jones, I am a very good batsman, will average over 40, favour my right hand, handle local pressure well, but will take time to mature on the international stage. I'm injury prone, but a hard worker and can bowl a bit of spin if required.

I mean what would be the point of playing a game that told you all that ? Finding this out, making the judgements yourself IS the game.

If you remove that it's just a case of sticking your best eleven out match after match in the sure and certain knowledge that your selection and tactics are perfect...how dull would that be ?

Good point

And i'm still getting the game. Chris is pretty much a one man band, and I've been pleasently suprised at the changes this iteration will include (the fact they should have been included about 5 years ago is another point).
;)
ICC is taking baby steps, but unlike my thinking of maybe 6 weeks ago..it IS actually making them, and for that I will support it.

Paul

[muhammad saad]

A bit low score but I agree with the basic points like no media interaction ,no player personalities no U19 teams no ability to get fired etc.

[patrickF690]

thats harsh but i dont care i will be still buying icc 09 :)

[aus5892]

I dont give any weight to the review. Any review of ICC which gives attention to graphics and sounds funamentally does not understand the game.
I have to agree. It seems he is putting too much comparison into the game with Football Manager and not realising that the game, its team and its market are all much smaller than that.

When you have such a small team like Childish Things do, you cannot expect major changes year after year. Sureshot and I have almost doubled the team by joining this year. How many times do you see a small-ish game try to bring in major changes and fail completely? How many times do you see them overlook what's wrong with the current version and just try to bring in new features for the sake of having them? Has anyone ever played AFL Premiership 2005-2007? You had a manager mode that was just in the game for the sake of it but that had more flaws than a diving instructor coaching a cricket team. They brought in smothering and it occured much too often, and then some.

ICC has an even smaller team than that and an even smaller budget. It is frustrating to see the features you each want included (be it more stats, more domestic setups or something else) be left out year after year, and we know that. However, it is simply not viable to include any of those features with such a small team, such financial and time constraints. If we did, they would be rushed and wouldn't work properly, and the game would suffer for it.

To say the game has not been changed at all since the first version is quite ridiculous. It's true that there have been minor changes on a year to year basis, but go back and compare it even with ICC 2006, for example, and you'll see that there has been a massive improvement.

With Chilidish Things now owning the full rights to the game rather than having to do what Empire tell us to do, it means that we have more freedom to include more features next year, and rest assured we are actually on the way to including these things next year.

[Scritty]

I have to agree. It seems he is putting too much comparison into the game with Football Manager and not realising that the game, its team and its market are all much smaller than that......

With Chilidish Things now owning the full rights to the game rather than having to do what Empire tell us to do, it means that we have more freedom to include more features next year, and rest assured we are actually on the way to including these things next year.

From the posts in the lasts few weeks from yourself and the team, this seems to be the case (AFL manager is a truly awful game IMO, I would urge anyone to try the demo just to show themselves how badly a reasonably well financed TBSS can be done...yeuch).

Let's see how this goes over the next 12 months... :cool:


Paul

[Sureshot]

Lasting appeal is one of the biggest attractions of the whole series and should be a 7 or 8, how many times do we someone with a screenshot in 2200s? Presentation and Gameplay are wrong too, the new interface is sleek and the gameplay is, in my opinion, the most accurate it's been.

I think in the future, I would like to see ICC 2009 seen as the transition, or, the start of something new. We are making more steps for 2010 and if we weren't interested in taking the game forward, this place wouldn't be here. I know that for most people, gameplay is the most important part, well, I believe that is our biggest improvement for 09.

[Scritty]

I think in the future, I would like to see ICC 2009 seen as the transition, or, the start of something new. We are making more steps for 2010 and if we weren't interested in taking the game forward, this place wouldn't be here. I know that for most people, gameplay is the most important part, well, I believe that is our biggest improvement for 09.

This is very good news

:)

[muhammad saad]

Lasting appeal is one of the biggest attractions of the whole series and should be a 7 or 8, how many times do we someone with a screenshot in 2200s? Presentation and Gameplay are wrong too, the new interface is sleek and the gameplay is, in my opinion, the most accurate it's been.

I think in the future, I would like to see ICC 2009 seen as the transition, or, the start of something new. We are making more steps for 2010 and if we weren't interested in taking the game forward, this place wouldn't be here. I know that for most people, gameplay is the most important part, well, I believe that is our biggest improvement for 09.

Well practically its need a complete over haul in order to include new features as the current engine cannt even made to include career strike rate let alone other stats so I think you guys should just take the match engine and redesigned the game engine completely.