That was the year it was: 2016

And so we reach the end of another year of Game Tumour. The festive season has come around again and it's time to step away from this blog.

2016 has been a quiet year for this blog - although some of the cynically minded would say that 2016 for Game Tumour ended months earlier. I guess Real Life got in the way for a bit there. Still, at least I can say I beat Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. And by playing Don Bradman's Cricket I've gained a new appreciation for the sport. Oh and Xcom. Xcom Enemy Unknown is an excellent game.
So in the end, a quiet year is not without successes.

However, maybe a quite year may pave the way for a more active year in 2017.
So, in that sense, Game Tumour is done for 2016 and I hope to speak to you all again in 2017

Expelled from the Academy

Been having a go at the Don Bradman's Cricket 2017 demo that turned up on Steam.

As it turns out, characters made in the 2014 Academy can be imported into the new one. The bad news is however that the characters at this stage are frozen as is. They can't be altered in any way - which is a shame that no one can be assigned to appropriate roles that are now available (ie Batsman, Bowler, Wicket Keeper, Opening Batsmen).
Still this is a demo so this problem should be sorted out...hopefully.

Still not sold on the character designs though. Compared to 2014, these new designs look lifeless and freaky - which is kind of the same problem i faced when making the transition from Rock Band 2 to Rock Band 3.

The Magnificent Seventeen

Following on from an earlier post where I was singing the praises of Don Bradman's Cricket 2014, it would therefore be somewhat inevitable that my attention would turn towards it's inevitable successor. It would seem a demo of Don Bradman's Cricket 2017 is available on Steam.
So may as well take a look....

So what the demo is offering is a WIP of the Academy.  This time however, there are a lot more options on offer. Any player wanting to build a new cricketer can choose their gender, team role (ie Bowler, Batsman, Wicket Keeper, Opening Batsman) and race. There is a lot more detail in assigning attributes for the player's defined roles. So generally, I've found, in comparison to Don Bradman's Cricket 2014, there's more options and more freedom with building players. Not sure i like the player likeness though. Looks too freaky to me...

With regards to the player lost it seems Red Ant are doing the same thing they did before: provide a list of generic names and invite players to replace them with genuine players. I must admit it's a bit odd seeing the list of generic names again, having grown so used to the shared players from the original Academy. Therefore, I will hold off making new players until the game's released and some familiar faces re-emerge. Apparently there will be some sort of backwards compatibility (just don't quote me on that). 
But somehow, this new list looks bigger than that in Don Bradman's Cricket 2014. It makes me wonder if Red Ant payed attention to the creations that wormed their way into the Academy the first time around - and whether they noticed my addition of some local (however not widely known) heroes.

.....probably not, but I can always dream.....

Run Out

Lately I've been playing Don Bradman's Cricket 2014. It's game I started playing some months ago and one that I've been returning to since.

This may seem like an odd choice seeing as I've had little to no interest in sport games over the years. I have played cricket games over the years but none have come across as something special. So why play this one? Firstly it's made by an Australian developer. Secondly, a lot of Don Bradman's Cricket 2014 hinges on the rather cunning way the developers worked around the licensing issues. This takes form of the the Don Bradman Academy where players wanting to include famous teams and current teams are encouraged to create them in the Academy and share them with other players. They even have soundbytes for famous names and nicknames!
As such, this cunning navigation was enough to secure my interest.

Based upon my own experience with Cricket games (ie the primitive One Day Cricket and Graham Gooch cricket on the C64) this incarnation is head and shoulders above them all. The controls are accessible and there's a decent training section. There's a lot of freedom in match customization and never once does the game seem overwhelming to a newcomer and/or someone unfamiliar with cricket. For the first time, for me at least, cricket comes across as being fun to play and never once a slog to get through. In fact, the fact that I keep coming back to this game is proof enough that this game is a bonafide success.

And as for the Academy I had some fun in building up the Tasmanian Best XI (which was announced earlier this year) and seeing them go against the other teams. And hey, where else could you have  Charles Eady getting Jack Hobbs out for four runs?