Cricket 2002 - Is the hype really worth it?

[indiansnz]

I had a crack at cricket 2002 yesterday and it looks a improved BLC to me. I write below my personal opinion about four aspects of Cricket2002, batting, bowling, fielding and AI:

Batting :

1. The shots offered are as same as blc, the only change being you can play all these shots off the back foot as well as the front foot. The shots are good to look at and are very effective as against BLC. The captures are brilliant as well as the shot range.

2. The logic behind different scoring runs on different pitches pretty much remain the same as BLC, the ball pace tends to slow more with the change in field conditions.

3. Running between the wicket is quite good given that the PIP (picture in picture) doesnt just show a white dot for batsmen but the batsmen themselves.

4. You can charge down the wicket and play all of the shots whether be it cover drive, on driver et al. This shot is quite good and is very handy to play in the first few overs.

5. Every batsman has the number on his kit which makes it easy to recognise them. The captures are simply brilliant too.

Sorry to have stopped it for now. Rest will follow shortly, I got to head somewhere now.

 

[Baggy1971]

is it out then on ps2?

 

[SCHUMY]

hi indiansnz
did u play it in a PS2 or did u use it with an PS2 Emulator and a PC, i am eager to know it, and where r u from r u from INDIA..........is the game out in INDIA, i will be so happy to know that, Plz answer me, ..........

 

[Ste (old)]

indiansnz's profile says New Zealand.

Its out in Australia on PS2 so its proberbly out in NZ too.

It comes out in the UK on 22/01/2002

 

[indiansnz]

I am from New Zealand and I played it on PS2. I only wrote about some good things with the batting, I havent really wrote about the AI. I will continue from where I left.

As I posted before, the batting is quite good but is very much like SWC. The only difference being you could play off the back foot all the shots that can be played on the front foot as well as charging down the wicket which is quite cool.

While I batted I noticed the following things :

1. The AI is yet again a disappointment, I started with a game against arch rivals OZs, Mcgrath inspite of going for 30+ runs in the first 5 overs without success was bowled for 9 overs at a stretch. Bret Lee inspite of grabbing 2 wickets for couple of runs short of 20 was bowled only for 5 overs. This game was played on a hard pitch with humid conditions ideally assisting batting. The fielding changes were not very noticable either. The PC bowls a lot of short balls and is easy to smack them for boundries each time. I played this game straight away on a hard level. The only advantage being that the ball marker can be hidden making it a lot more tough to bat. The swing and spin were not much noticable as well. The pitch condition looks like its changes quite dramatically come evening. This aspect of it is good. Overall batting is enjoyable but for the bowling changes that the PC doesnt make early in the inning.

2. PC is a shocker of a bat. I bowled only 24 overs on a good batting track to get the OZ all out. They scored 143 runs and Steve Waugh top scored with 58(69). The runrate at which it scored is very realistic though. Given that I was playing a cricket game after a long time on playstation or ps2 my effort was quite disgusting. I was spraying all around and ended up giving away 40+ runs in wides and no balls. The bowling is fairly good given you can cut, swing, spin and change the speed of the delivery. Unfortunately the PC doesnt bat so smartly to force a good total. I was terribly disappointed at its batting skill. As it was late cutting quite often I had a short third man in place for Vettori and you should see to believe that it accounted for three run outs. The PC kept tapping the ball to the short third man fielder and in an effort to sneak in a run was running itself out. Also a full length delivery from Vettori outside the off was prized with two wickets off two balls for identical shots to the same fielder at mid off. If it could get wickets this way in a ODI god help the pc player in tests. I havent had time to play out a test yet. I shortly will and let you all know how it went.

The fielding is crispy but the fielders always are good at throwing at stumps or to the keeper. They never seem to falter at all. I was run out thrice trying to steal a single from the square leg fielder. It seemed like his hit missed the stumps but out of blue the umpire ruled me out all the three times. The fielders throw on the run and underarm as well. Graphics are very good and the game very fast. The commentry from Richie is pretty good but the other guy is miserable. While there were two spinners bowling in tandem for a long spell each, the commentrator kept saying the captain should introduce the spinners at the start of each over. He was a bore and keeps repeating more than often, this can be very irritating. The statistics are a plus and have pretty much every detail on every player you need. The field editor is quite good too, it allows you to create your own custom fields.

In all batting and bowling are pretty much upto anyones expectations but AI is shocking. What rating would I give the game? Well, a 6 out of 10.

 

[jonah]

Looks like we'll be sticking with BLC then for the forseeable future.......
As I said in another thread, this doesn't surprise me with EA Sports. Great graphics but poor gameplay for the 'serious' player, who want a realistic game ??? .



Edited By jonah on Dec. 19 2001 at 10:26

 

[sangamm]

YEs jonah and all this time we kept on dreaming for buyin a ps2 for cricket 2002 now i will go for XBOX.....

 

[Aussie1st]

indiansnz
For the oz team is Colin Miller or Andrew Sydmons a all round in bowling eg can You bowl spin than pace because in real life those 2 can bowl those 2 things thats the main thing i would like to know.
Bu another one in SWC if u r run out and its hard for the umpire so they go to the 3rd umpire and the Red or Green light comes out does that happen in Cricket 2002 or do the umpire just give u out?

 

[indiansnz]

The bowling is pretty much like BLC. I am quite sure Andy Symonds is a swing bowler and does not have the attirbute of a spinner. This simply means that a player can only be a swing bowler or a spinner or a fast bowler.

The third umpire is not called too very often, but when called you will be treated with some good captures. The reply is awesome as well as the sound in the game.

 

[Aussie1st]

oh ok thanks for the info indiansnz
Hope this game comes out on PC so i can get it

 

[Saptarshi]

How is the audience AND what are captures file in Cr2000. Also what are the files that are used for kits and stuff. Is the file format .tim as that of BLC or .rot. Please tell me so that we can bring things to BLC.