Recent reviews by Jake Azaz'el

Great Game. So much more immersive than other post apocalyptic *cough*Fallout*cough* games.

Best wrestling game in 2023 100% real no fake

If you have this, don't buy F1 2021 or F1 22. This is much better.

Look at my played hours and you will know what I have to say about this game.

Screw what the elitists say.
This is one of the best AC games ever.
In fact, its one of the best GAMES ever.
Period.

Go with Ra, Hidden Ones.

Better than AO Tennis 2

From what I have experienced so far (21 hours)

Huge improvement over Ashes Cricket. It has the atmosphere of DBC 14 in terms of environment and weather (which is brilliant) compared to the cartoon-ish atmosphere of Ashes Cricket. Weather conditions are portrayed a lot better now. The AI is hugely improved. Field changes according to the way you play your shots, and pitch/weather conditions actually play a role in the way the ball behaves. On hostile pitches, AI batsmen sometimes struggle to keep up with what the ball is doing, much like a real player would. Changing seam positions while bowling makes quite a big difference depending on the type of pitch you are playing on. New bowling actions, new batting styles, a complex (but easy to use) perk system to keep the player interested, and better rewards for stand out performances in career mode add to the positives of the whole experience. The best part of the game is the fact that almost everything can be customised. It is now almost like a cricket simulator sandbox where you can choose to adjust even the smallest of factors that you think might affect your gameplay in some way or the other. Weather? Check. Pitch Type? Check. Ball Speed? Check. Ball Bounce? Check. Bat Force? Check. Amount of Swing? Check. Ball Flight? Check. Your career player's face? Check.

Graphics have improved significantly, and the gameplay is a lot smoother compared to the old games. There are a few odd stutters and frame drops occasionally, but nothing really game breaking as far as I am concerned (and a lot fewer in number than what the previous titles used to exhibit). The visuals are brilliant. The new addition of a highlight reel lets you enjoy the best moments of a game after it has finished, or during the game itself, whatever floats your boat. A few new cutscenes have been added which contributes to the long list of positives that this game possesses.

Apart from this, a huge online community (called The Academy) full of all types of player created content from bats to actual real life players more than make up for its lack of licensing. All real teams can be dowloaded within minutes and added into the game for you to enjoy. Scenario mode is a new addition in the academy where you can create your own scenarios and share them or download other player created scenarios and try your luck.

There are a few small problems/♥♥♥♥♥♥♥/nitpicks that I have with it though, putting aside the usual itches, like incomplete team licenses, limited number of stadiums, etc (stuff that you can't really blame the developers for). Some bowling actions have incorrect release positions, and floodlights in user created stadiums do not light up at night even though the ground is actually lit up. There could be a few more things added to stadium creator (which more or less is the same as Ashes Cricket). Stadium creator is a part of the game where a lot of players spend a lot of their time, and I would love to see it get some more features in future updates. We still don't have fielding/bowling wristbands in the game. Can we have some more bowling actions, please? Legends like Lillee, Thomson, Akram, McGrath, Donald, Lee, Bond, Anderson, Steyn etc. deserve to be immortalised and their actions are the best way to do it. Same goes for batting styles (I would love to see the Chanderpaul stance).

Also, on the technical side, the ball seems to stutter a lot once it has left the bat and does the same during replays. Depth of field looks a little weird around the edges of objects, and overcast conditions still have object shadows. Speeds displayed for the fast bowlers are way too high and repetitive. It almost renders the 'bowling speed' stat of a player useless. I have noticed some players have problems with the ball not carrying all the way to the keeper even when they are playing as a fast bowler, with them having to bring the keeper and the slips up to a bowler bowling upwards of a hundred and fifty clicks (bit of a shame, really). Last but not the least, edges off fast bowlers fly off like absolute bats out of hell, over fielders and boundaries and everything in between.

Overall, the most complete and diverse cricket game ever made. Ever. I know some people are going to come out from whatever rock they're hiding under to claim that EA Cricket 07 is the best and that if EA ever made a cricket game again it would beat all other develpers and what not but hey, the last cricket game they made came out twelve years ago, which was itself a mediocre effort at best, only kept alive because of the modding community. This game is miles better than EA Cricket 07. It is miles better than the old Ashes titles. It is miles better than Big Ant's own list of older cricket games. AND it comes with regional pricing, which means that you don't have to go hungry anymore in order to play it!

Verdict: On my review for Ashes Cricket, I mentioned that it was advisable to buy it on a sale. This game however, absolutely and indubitably deserves to be bought at full price, no questions asked. A good 9/10 anyday. Cheers Big Ant, please give us the wristbands we deserve.

Best RTS game of all time. Hands down

I’m only about 10 hours in and I can already say it is quite a big step ahead from F1 2018. It runs a lot smoother, and looks a lot more realistic compared to the arcadey graphics of F1 2018. AI is better too. You can now actually have wheel to wheel battles now instead of just crashing into each other. Audio is improved, and I have noticed that they have added many small details in terms of sound, which were absent from the previous games. The new rivalry system which extends from the player's F2 career to F1 is a nice addition, and gives the game a sense of purpose compared to just playing the same season over and over again. I have read somewhere that there are driver transfers in between teams too but am yet to encounter such an occurence. Looking forward to playing this game a lot in the weeks to come. Cheers Codies.

I don't know what everyone is complaining about. This is the most complete cricket game available today with a load of customization options. The brilliant academy makes up for its lack of licensing. Highly recommended. Pick it up on a sale.