Don Bradman Cricket 14

Impressions of the PC version, which includes patch 2, seem very positive. Still waiting on patch 2 for the PS3 version, which was supposed to arrive more than a week ago.:II Still, love this game even with its warts.:))
 
The PC version of this is excellent, by far the best cricket game there's ever been, highly recommended to anyone interested in the sport.
 
Nice to see other folks on here enjoying this. Agree about this being the best cricket game ever. There are some rough edges but it's a terrific simulation of the game and is well supported by the developer, Big Ant. Can't stop playing it myself -- much like PES in its heyday.
 
Yeah Ross at Big Ant (the CEO) is great, been in pretty much daily communication with the fanbase on forums for probably almost a year now, and his team keep releasing patches and updates to fix bugs and improve various gameplay elements.

For a first iteration of a series it is fantastic - innovative control schemes, decent animations, nice unscripted physics, great content creation/sharing system etc.

It is a really solid product, I'm very surprised at how well it's built and presented considering it was probably made on quite a small budget.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Totally agree Rob.

Fantastic game and the level of support from Ross and his team is over and beyond anything that I have seen from a developer.

The only thing that I would criticise is the marketing of the game in the UK, it has been very poorly marketed and hardly anyone knows about it, with most game shops not even stocking it. That is a shame because it a high quality game which should have been marketed in a more high profile way.
 
Yeah I've never seen it stocked in any shops either, the marketing certainly could have been better. The PC version also released right in the middle of the Steam Summer Sale, so it got no front page visibility and the 'New Releases' section was less easily accessible.

The original plan was to release it around the Ashes in Australia last year to play off the buzz surrounding it to sell more copies, but the horrific Ashes 2013 game (that got cancelled AFTER release) really soured the market for cricket games so it had to be postponed.

I really hope the guys at Big Ant make enough money on DBC14 for it to be viable to continue as a series, because the quality of the product as well as the way they go about their business is absolutely top drawer.
 
Think I read somewhere that Big Ant haven't made any money on the game yet, according to Ross. Hopefully that changes and they can continue making games. DBC 15 would be a day one purchase for me.
 
I think they expected the first one to barely break even or make a loss, but hoped that building a quality engine for the series and establishing their brand would bring rewards in the long term.

Hopefully it hasn't been a financial disaster, I'd hate to see DBC not continue after this one.

The game would be on a fine footing financially if it wasn't for the horrendous amounts of piracy in India - the game has a big enough target audience of people that can pay for it, it's just that it's the norm for everyone to steal any digital content there...

Big Ant had some data that they collected which showed that 8% or so of the total sales had been made in India, yet they made up nearly 90% of the total players online...
 
I want to get the game but not sold on the idea of Steamworks. However i do understand Steamworks make life lot easier for game developers especially for the smaller one.

Instant purchase if it wasn't realiant on Steam.
 
losslesscompression said:
I want to get the game but not sold on the idea of Steamworks. However i do understand Steamworks make life lot easier for game developers especially for the smaller one.

Instant purchase if it wasn't realiant on Steam.
Click to expand...
What's your problem with Steam? I've never had any issues with it - I have over 150 games on my account, they download super fast and install automatically, update automatically, and for most games these days the saved games automatically get cloud saved so you can easily continue your games from any PC.

There's no subscription fee, it's not 'always-online' and if anything I feel it makes the whole experience actually more convenient - I'd almost rather have a game on Steam than with no DRM.
 
I can understand that and agree with what you say - Steam isn't perfect by any means.

For me personally though, I've found their store to often offer great value on a variety of titles (especially during seasonal sales) and I haven't had any need for their support (or lack thereof) yet or had any issues whatsoever really with the service as a whole.

The fact that on PC there can be so much competition for digital distribution is great, and I agree that GOG, Humble Store and GamersGate are very good. Even having Origin and *shudder* Uplay around is better than a total Steam monopoly.

On PSN/XBL if you want to download a game digitally it is at absurd prices and you only have one option.

Anyway, back to DBC14... It's up to you, but I don't think you should pass up the chance to play the only decent cricket game around if you are into the sport just because of it being on Steam.

There is a 'demo' on Steam which just includes the batting nets practice mode so you can get a feel for the game which you might want to try out :).
 
I think I will pick this up to support the developers. I've only heard good things about this and it's saddening to hear that they aren't making money or only breaking even on this title.
 
Got my first 100 last night. :BSCARF: Took me over 2 months to get.:BLUSH:

I hope the next Don Bradman game allows me to move my wicket keeper closer to the stumps. I've had so many edges drop short of the keeper that were just begging for me to move him up slightly. It's my biggest criticism of the gameplay really.
 
I think I remember Ross saying that they have taken onboard the feedback about the edges that they are going to do some testing to see what they can do. I agree though that the way edges work could be better, I haven't seen one go to the slips yet - they all seen very fine and straight to the keeper or just failing to carry.

It seems that they have more updates planned (especially regarding modding the PC version) but right now they are working pretty much 24/7 on solving an issue that people with certain Xbox models due to an MS firmware update or something.

I'm still nowhere near getting a century in Career mode! I started on Veteran difficulty though and have gotten into the high 30s a few times but always play a silly impatient shot or midjudge one to get out. It's still fun when you make a cock up though because most of the time it's your own fault. There's definitely a steady learning curve and I can see this game having plenty of longevity.

@Jamezinho - Yeah, originally I was quite cautious thinking that £30+ would be very expensive for a cricket game especially because in the past they've been so sub-standard compared to most other sports games, but took the plunge on it partly because of how well Big Ant come across and I think the game is worth every penny and I wish them every success.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well, I don't think they are going broke and need to rely on crowdfunding - they have also released Rugby League and Aussie Rules games, they use plenty of mo-cap and they can afford to pay a team of employees to work on issues around the clock so they must be somewhat stable.

It's just whether this game will do well enough to make it viable to continue making as a series that's the issue.
 
Ross the CEO of Big Ant has already said on another forum that the game has been a success in terms of the numbers that they had in mind and that they are looking at releasing the sequel next year to either coincide with the World Cup or the Ashes.
 
That's great - I must have missed that :).

I think it was the viability of releasing the PC version at or near the same time as the console versions that won't happen in future due to the piracy happening mainly in India.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
That's great news. Can't wait.

Hope there's a fix soon for fielding formations that like to change themselves without my input.
 
Had this game for nearly 4 months now and have to say that it has been a very long time since I have enjoyed playing a sports game so much, playing it almost everyday.

Love the career mode, playing as batting all rounder. Just at the start of my second season with Lancashire and on the verge of a test call up for England, after having a fantastic winter playing for Queensland down under.
 
kamy100 said:
Had this game for nearly 4 months now and have to say that it has been a very long time since I have enjoyed playing a sports game so much, playing it almost everyday.

Love the career mode, playing as batting all rounder. Just at the start of my second season with Lancashire and on the verge of a test call up for England, after having a fantastic winter playing for Queensland down under.
Click to expand...
Same here, I've hardly played anything else since I got DBC, it is fantastic. Lately I have been playing on Legend difficulty using the "Pro" camera to look through the batsman's eyes. A little disorientating when using a right handed batsman (I'm left handed in real life) but it's really immersive, especially in career mode.

I have also been making some mods for it like stumps, bats and balls which is quite satisfying when it comes together nicely.

I've done plenty more but here's a couple of pics of my stuff;

2M9LRys.jpg


8KdeVrE.jpg
 
Those look fantastic Rob, that Spartan bat looks amazing!

I am getting very tempted to upgrade my PC so that get this on Steam and use some of the fantastic mods.

I might give Pro Cam a whirl tonight!
 
Cheers - I've done more stuff like the Woodworm bats, a couple of Ihsan and Kookaburra ones as well as some retro bats. I've also done some stumps for England Investec tests, T20 Blast, IPL, YB40, Royal London One Day as well as Kookaburra/Dukes balls and more.

Other people have made complete bat packs that replace all 24 of the original bats with popular real ones as well as doing kits/emblems. The PC version is brilliant for mods :).

Pro cam takes some getting used to and you will probably get bowled/lbw a lot before you learn (the hard way) where your legs/stumps are in relation to the camera. It might not be for everyone but I've had a lot of fun using it.
 
Lovely mods there. Yet another reason for me to get a gaming PC. Looking forward to patch 3, which will hopefully tighten the game up in a couple of areas. Love the game though. It's all I've played really since April. Spin bowling.:SMUG:
 
Well I tried Pro Cam last night, my word it is hard and very disorientating! But I can see what you say about it being a much more immersive experience. Played for about an hour and in my final innings I managed to get 25 playing in pro cam and certainly got a lot of satisfaction scoring those runs, and it almost felt real when doing leg glances etc.
 
Yeah it definitely takes some getting used to, and I don't really like the way the view sways around when you're at the non-strikers end, hopefully that gets fixed. Timing one sweetly and finding the boundary just feels really nice in Pro.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom