This page will detail all the features you would like to see in ICC 2001/4.
Sensible suggestions will be added here and passed on to Empire.
General
A clearer way of sorting the team and players - it is a bit packed.
A database editor.
A Fantasy XI or something of that nature which means you can play the great
players against the great players.
Different sized pitches.
Management
More difficulty levels.
Foreign players and teams more up to date. The players
and teams are as up to date as possible. All data is supplied by an external source and is
normally correct for the end of the previous English county season.
Buying and selling during the season to increase the interest in the management
side. This does not happen in real life.
More management controls e.g. morale of the players or team overall. This is effectively covered by form.
More emphasis on the finance side of management.
A way of increasing the ground facilities e.g. build nets or more stands for
crowds to increase sales.
Scouts to look for new or improving players.
Save money each year for an academy to improve and increase
young talent.
Employ specific coaching staff and physio (and second
eleven coach - perhaps an old first team player).
Ability to skip the rest of a match once the match has been started.
Ability to auto-play a whole season if you are going through a rebuilding stage
and you need to get to the transfers!
To be able to print off the averages from the squad selection list.
A Tours for international management.
Separate One Day/Test touring squads.
More tour matches especially when you play an international team. e.g. West
Indies when they go to Australia.
World Cup every 4 years.
Able to release players at a given time during the season, and sign players who
have been released at the same time. e.g. when Tim Walton got released by Essex last year,
you should be able to sign him.
More world-class players coming up through the youth team.
Newspaper showing flash headlines of the matches held on the previous day just
like a sports newspaper.
After each season a summery of the performance of the team under the captain i.e.
wins, loss %, advice and remarks from the management for the captain.
If the captain is performing badly he should be sacked!
Graphics/Interface
New graphics engine for highlights.
Different camera views e.g. behind the wicket or from square.
Scorecards presented in much more similar way to TV (i.e. similar to Channel 4).
Assign photos to new players. There are 'spare' photos provided on the CD but
couldn't they be automatically 'attached' to newly created players?
Commentary / Sound
Another commentator.
More commentary.
The game is too quiet - There should be some music when the game is in the
options area. Personally I'm not so sure - cricket is a quiet
game normally :-)
Match
Batting
The possibility to instruct batsmen to take quick singles e.g. against defensive
field.
When you start your second innings, you should be able to change your opening
batsmen.
More balls should be left by the batsman and go through to the wicket keeper.
I think that you should have the choice of where the batsmen take their guard.
Like on middle stump or outside leg stump e.g. Kim Barnett.
Option for batting player to make batsman 'favour' a certain shot direction. Can
help force manipulation of field placements, but slight risk of occasional mis-hit.
Option for batting player to denote minimum number of runs required from a ball -
useful at end of one day game where, e.g., only 6 runs will do, not just an aggressive 4.
Bowling
Control the speed/spin of a deliveries.
Speed gun.
Different actions used by bowlers.
More noticeable difference between Fast-Med. and Fast bowlers.
Bowlers pace getting faster as their career progresses. Also
slower as they get older and are in the twilight of their career?
Option to select for bowler a 'vary attack' icon, which, as seen on highlights
screen, will vary line and length throughout over. May disrupt batsman but could lead to
occasional loose delivery and/or settled value of bowler freezing/decreasing.
Bowlers have different styles e.g. Sir Gary Sobers is down as fast medium
but in fact bowled leg spin, off spin and even genuine quick during his career.
Fielding
Specific ratings and training for fielders. Particular for wicket keepers.
Give players fielding abilities either general value, or break down into (e.g.)
run speed, reactions, catching, throw speed and accuracy. The player can thus make most of
their team. Acknowledges also different fielding abilities of sides which can often make a
20-run difference.
Add on the highlights screen, a number or name above each fielder to denote
identity. The batting player can then choose whether to run another or stay put via left
and right mouse clicks. As with skip game option, computer controlled running will be a
tad more cautious and not acknowledge weaker fielders. A small change which would
revolutionise the game, giving a much greater 'hands on' feel.
Different run-out situations would be nice e.g. keeper or bowler whipping off the
bails.
A number designated to each player, so positions can be swapped within field
settings. I have had about a hundred dropped catches in the slips due to two players who
are automatically put there, but changing the fielders using user settings means the line
and length cannot be changed easily.
The square leg umpire should give run outs at his ends.
Let us manage different domestic league teams. At least Australian, but why not
India, South Africa and the West Indies. Never heard a decent reason why this isn't the
case. There are several reasons - difficulty in researching all
the extra players, licencing problems, major coding changes required to handle all
different domestic formats/rules etc.
Redesign the game engine. ICC has had essentially the same engine for ages. Put
together a new one along champ man lines. Stats for Fielding: catching, stopping,
throwing. Batting: defending short ball, spin, timing, power, running. Bowling: accuracy,
pace, seam movement, swing etc. Others: Mental handling pressure (hidden), teamwork. This
will make the game tactically more realistic and players will mature properly, learn to
handle pressure, bowlers lose pace gain accuracy etc. Whilst
nice as an idea practiaclly impossible to get all these details correct for every player.
More on team spirit. If you field an unchanged line up for a long time players
morale will increase. Players should have bust ups with you or other players, and should
have off the field problems-these can all reduce morale. Some players are more
argumentative than others Lara, Cork. The player should have to figure out whether they
are good enough to keep in if they are ruining team spirit.
Pressure-players making test debut, facing bowlers with high reputation, involved
in a run chase, seeing wickets fall at other end, bowling death overs in a onedayer etc.
are all under more pressure should be simulated.
Feedback-there is none. you never know why things are happening. It makes the
game unrealistic and dull. Firstly you should have a rough idea how aggressive the
opposition are trying to be. Secondly,you should get feedback from your own
players-bowlers should recommend fielding changes, tell you what the opposition batsmen
weaknesses are, etc.
Bowling
Leg stump is still meant to be defensive (should only be for leg spinners) for
seamers either they want to attack (off stump) or tuck players up by bowling straight.
The pitch characteristics aren't detailed enough. There is no mention of seam
(moisture in the pitch) how fast the pitches are (fast pitches easier to score off- more
dangerous for batsmen-slow pitches suited to medium pacers).
Bowling bouncers is to much hassle-you should be able to instruct your bowler to
bowl the odd short when he wants, rather than always readjusting his length.
Left hand right hand combination-does this sometimes cock up bowler's line
(difficult to say because the ICC boys are far to secretive about the game engine).
Batting
You should only be able to tell batsmen what to to at certain times-between overs
or when wickets fall. To suggest that the captain has a telepathic link to the batsmen
telling them how aggressive to be stretches credibility a bit.
One of the best things about ICC 2 was the inclusion of batsman characteristics
(what types of bowling they like)- more of this- do they play the hook shot, chase wide
balls, sometimes play unorthodox shots. Also Batsmen weaknesses- miss read spin etc.
Batting tactics could be far more sophisticated. Players should be able to set
percentages for what types of batting they want- accumulate singles, slog, straight bat
shots, flat bat shots, unorthodox. Tactics for running between wickets- whether or not
take risky singles or only run to certain fielders. There should be an aggressive version
of the tactic for protecting the strike, where one batsman tries to farm the strike
without slowing the run rate down.
Graphics
This is going to sound a bit radical, but I think they should be gotten rid of
altogether. They limit the number of things you can simulate because you have to make
graphics for them (i.e. players having different running speeds, over throws) they don't
give you any useful feedback, you stop watching them after the first couple of times you
play, they aren't very realistic, a champ man style text commentary lets you see the game
in your head which is far more realistic and exciting.
