Sell me the game!

[bestbrother]

First off, new here, so hello and hopefully this is the right place to come.

Inspired by todays events ive got the Cricket bug... and as I enjoy management games, this seems like the go to place for that.

Now obviously ive heard of the game but just never fancied it, so now that I do, im doing the rounds on reviews, forums, opinions, Youtube etc.. just trying to garner what the game can do, what it cant, what it will give me and what I will hate.

The biggest problem im reading is that the game is basically what it was 5-6 years ago.. so its more of a database update year on year. Now as a first time purchaser that wont be a huge issue for me as ive nothing to compare it to, however those nagging doubts creep into my head when spending 20 quid.

I will have a barrage of questions, but lets start with those at the front of my tiny mind...

1 - Does the game have a season limit cap?
2 - Are all domestic competitions represented well?
3 - Is the database good enough to use or does it need editing?
4 - How long do seasons take to complete?
5 - As someone who is no where near an expert on the sport, can I still have fun, manage a team well enough to make it enjoyable?
6 - Does the game have a regen system ala FM?
7 - What other aspects of the game require managing or is it pick a team and go?
8 - I dont know how transfer work irl Cricket, but are the done here correctly? if so, can you have a scenario where you get a huge budget and can snap up all the studs?
9 - Do i have to manage a national team, or can I stick to county cricket?

There will be more, i just want to really get the feel for the game. I come from FM, OOTP, a smidge of EHM and a dash of TEW... so I enjoy management sims, but I am easily put off games if they dont cut the mustard (ie the various dire Rugby management games we have had).

I know I can take a punt for 2 hours on Steam, but id rather take that punt with knowledge, rather than buy, refund and not really understand what im getting into.

Cheers,

[Dhruv]

Nz should have won..

[Alrounder80]

1. I don't think so.

2. Most are represented very well, yes. Currently Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan (as well as all associate and affiliate nations) don't have domestic competitions available to play. Bangladesh also only have the T20 (BPL) as playable and not their FC or OD games.

3. The database is very accurate. It's worth noting that the game doesn't allow editing of players and you can't actually see player skills and instead have to guess through using a player's averages in 2nd XI cricket, domestic cricket and international cricket performances.

4. This completely depends on how you play the game. If you simulate all the games in a season, it'll obviously finish very quickly. If you play all the games but set the highlights option to none, matches will finish in 10-20 mins, etc etc. You can spend as much time or as little time as you want in each game caring about tactics. I can't really say how long a season will take to complete considering all the different factors I need to know before answering.

5. I'd say you can learn to enjoy the game and slowly learn the nuances. You can also ask for help here. There is also already a rough guide that RVallant below:

https://childishthings.com/forum/forum/current-and-future-games/cricket-captain-2019/66759-rough-guide-to-formats

It will also help to start the game on Easy mode to help you ease into it without having to excessively focus on the tactics aspect of the game.

6. It does have a regen system. For the English Domestic system, you can allocate a part of your budget to your youth players, and depending on how much you spend on this, you have a higher likelihood of pulling in some young regens midway through the season. I'm pretty sure this budget allocation aspect is limited to the English County circuit. For other domestic circuits (as is also the case for the English one), you get the chance to sign a bunch of regens that are generated each season if you want. When managing an international team, these regen players simply appear after each season amongst all the other irl players for you to pick from.

7. If in a Domestic career mode, you have to deal with Contracting of your current players, youth team players and any other uncontracted players you want to buy (including signing overseas players). You also have to deal with player form, stamina and skill. This is managed through you allocating Physio sessions to players who are low on stamina, Coaching sessions (batting or bowling) to improve player form (player form is shown through a 5 star rating system that changed depending on a player's recent performances), Technique training (whole host of options in terms of what aspect of a player you want to improve or change) to younger players (usually players under the age of 25 are most likely to be affected by this training), and fielding/keeping training which obviously improves a fielding/keeping skill of a player. You also have the option to put players who you decide not to pick in the starting XI of your game to play 2nd XI cricket in Domestic Competitions (with certain exceptions that aren't worth getting into), though the actual 2nd XI game isn't playable but simulated by the AI. Other than this, all that's left is to pick the team, allocate a keeper, select your opening bowlers and batting order and go. You can easily make it a pick the team and go game by not caring much about the coaching aspect of the game of course.

8. The way it's done in CC19 and previous versions does seem a bit simplistic, but it's easy to understand and manage. At the end of every domestic season, you have a set budget (this depends on how well you do in respective competitions) to resign your own players out of contract, sign youth players in your academy + all others that are uncontracted, all uncontracted players in general and overseas players. You could get a scenario where you get a huge budget, but only if you dominate the domestic circuit by winning most, if not all, competitions.

9. You don't have to manage a national team. You have the option to manage any domestic team within the available domestic competitions. If you do well enough, you will eventually get offered to manage your national team which you can decline if you aren't interested in this. You can also get offered to manage different county teams within career if you perform well enough, which you can also of course decline.

[Sureshot]

No season limits, we sometimes see saves from the 24th century!

[bestbrother]

Cheers for that reply. I might give it the 2 hours you get on Steam and see what comes of it.

The bad reviews appear to point to the game being much of a muchness year on year... but as a new player i wont have that tainted opinion of the game.

[bestbrother]

Well I gave it a go and sadly have refunded the purchase. This isnt a slight on the game as a whole, but I felt that I wouldnt get value from it.

My main sticking points are; lack of player attributes not only leave me wondering how or why someone is doing well (or not) but also I find it hard to get attached to the players and get a feel for what they bring to my squad. I knew about this before buying, but when playing it stood out to me as something im missing.

Secondly is the UI, now im not an expert but even if the game was open to community 'skins' like FM, then things would be alot better. Sadly it just dosent draw me into wanting to play the game or wade through the menus that are there.

Its definitely on my radar though and I can see why cricket fans really enjoy the game, but for me as a more casual fan of the sport, I need a bit more just to hook me in to it.

Look forward to seeing what 2020 brings.