Having played about a dozen cricket games in the past few years and having basically got every single one out there I think I should be able to give a good review, so here it goes, I'll split it up into three sections, things I like, things I don't, and Ratings
There are more things I don't like, but that doesn't really mean I think it's a bad game.
THINGS I LIKE:
- Bowling actually is quite good and is the best I've seen in a cricket game for a while, I actually want to bowl rather than autoplay around it, which is rare for me.
- Whilst it is not hard to hit a ball for six in this game, you have a far greater chance of getting out by going for the powerful (not attacking) shot, in EA Sports if you got the hand of it you could let it go for six every time and the CPU would not be intellegent enough to notice where your bowling.
- Presentation is great. A good range of statistics are around and the graphs and TV Style coverage is better than EA Sports, and they are normally very hard to beat.
- The frontend looks polished, and the game is fun to play, although saying that it seems to feel more of an arcade game, which I feel compliments my collection of CK2004, however it's not really a similation, and is a different type of game to the EA Sports effort, but that can be a good thing.
- Commentary. It's excellent the majority of the time, is a real breath of fresh air rather than the same old recycled stuff thats found in the EA Sports series of cricket games.
THINGS I DON'T LIKE:
- CPU Fielders are too perfect. They always throw back very quickly and never misfield, they pull of some amazing catches and do not seem to drop anything, I haven't seen a single dropped catch in 15 games.
- Wides. Yep, there s a serious problem with them. If the CPU bowls what is easily a wide in One Day Cricket, most of the time they are not given despite being obviously wide. If you do the same things, they are given as wides. A little unfair.
- Third Umpire is called into the action far too many times than he should. sometimes you are in by an absloute mile, behind the stumps when the bails are off yet they still call for the third umpire. When the third umpire signal is made, just after, before you see ANY replays at all, you hear the commentators saying he is out if the player was out, yet they have seen no replays, so how do they know this?
- Pace of the innings is flawed. three times now Ive had teams needing about 10 runs of the last over. In two of the games they made no attempt to hit boundries, even when I gave them balls that should be easy to hit. Laughably in one game they played defensive shots for the whole over losing them the game.
- Commentary. Is great most of the time. But when you just avoid a run out, a lot of the time you hear the line "That just missed the edge of his bat" when it was nowhere near and sometimes a well hit shot.
- Loading screens after every over, every new batsmen in, and every bowler change. Please get rid of these, they are massively distracting and annoying, I just want to play cricket.
RATINGS
Graphics
Much better than I thought they would be. Faces not so great as Cricket 2005 but there is nothing wrong with the graphics themselves.
7/10 (EA: 9/10)
Sound
Commentary is very good, but occasionally flawed. I would say improved on that of Cricket 2005, however it is irritating when commentary seems to get cut off at times.
8/10 (EA:6/10)
Lifespan
With only international teams and therefore a limited number of competitions as well as real player names this does not nearly offer as much long term wise as Cricket 2005.
6.5/10 (EA: 8/10)
Bowling
Put it quite simply, this is the first time I've enjoyed bowling in a cricket game for a long while, it doesn't feel laborious anymore. Totally the opposite in EA Sports.
8/10 (EA: 5/10)
Batting
Seems solid enough, not such a wide selection of shots as Cricket 2005 but not quite as easy to score runs. Dead heat.
8/10 (EA: 8/10)
Verdict:
Already having Cricket 2004, I found this game a refreshing change from the EA Sports series. Whilst it offers something different to such games, it is still far from perfect. However in my opinion this game will compliment cricket 2004 well and will give you another option when wanting to play a game of cricket on your PC.
71%
My Advice? If you have Cricket 2004, buy this game, it's only ?17.99 from Play, and would be a better spend than ?27 on Cricket 2005 which whilst is no doubt much better than cricket 2004, it is similar in many ways to the older version of the EA title and I'd be happier paying ?10 less for an entirley new game than a new version of an existing one.
Don't have Cricket 2004? Then If you want a proper cricket simulation, go for Cricket 2005, if you want something where you can have a bit more fun, and a more arcade feel, Brian Lara Cricket is best for you, although much more limited, neither game is poor, but if I had to go for one, and had never played C2004 I'd go for C2005.
Brian Lara Cricket has the potentional to be the better game, if the problems with wides, pacing, the nature of the fielders along with the loading screens were fixed I'd go for it every time.
Rating: 7/10 (7.5/10 if issues worked out)
There are more things I don't like, but that doesn't really mean I think it's a bad game.
THINGS I LIKE:
- Bowling actually is quite good and is the best I've seen in a cricket game for a while, I actually want to bowl rather than autoplay around it, which is rare for me.
- Whilst it is not hard to hit a ball for six in this game, you have a far greater chance of getting out by going for the powerful (not attacking) shot, in EA Sports if you got the hand of it you could let it go for six every time and the CPU would not be intellegent enough to notice where your bowling.
- Presentation is great. A good range of statistics are around and the graphs and TV Style coverage is better than EA Sports, and they are normally very hard to beat.
- The frontend looks polished, and the game is fun to play, although saying that it seems to feel more of an arcade game, which I feel compliments my collection of CK2004, however it's not really a similation, and is a different type of game to the EA Sports effort, but that can be a good thing.
- Commentary. It's excellent the majority of the time, is a real breath of fresh air rather than the same old recycled stuff thats found in the EA Sports series of cricket games.
THINGS I DON'T LIKE:
- CPU Fielders are too perfect. They always throw back very quickly and never misfield, they pull of some amazing catches and do not seem to drop anything, I haven't seen a single dropped catch in 15 games.
- Wides. Yep, there s a serious problem with them. If the CPU bowls what is easily a wide in One Day Cricket, most of the time they are not given despite being obviously wide. If you do the same things, they are given as wides. A little unfair.
- Third Umpire is called into the action far too many times than he should. sometimes you are in by an absloute mile, behind the stumps when the bails are off yet they still call for the third umpire. When the third umpire signal is made, just after, before you see ANY replays at all, you hear the commentators saying he is out if the player was out, yet they have seen no replays, so how do they know this?
- Pace of the innings is flawed. three times now Ive had teams needing about 10 runs of the last over. In two of the games they made no attempt to hit boundries, even when I gave them balls that should be easy to hit. Laughably in one game they played defensive shots for the whole over losing them the game.
- Commentary. Is great most of the time. But when you just avoid a run out, a lot of the time you hear the line "That just missed the edge of his bat" when it was nowhere near and sometimes a well hit shot.
- Loading screens after every over, every new batsmen in, and every bowler change. Please get rid of these, they are massively distracting and annoying, I just want to play cricket.
RATINGS
Graphics
Much better than I thought they would be. Faces not so great as Cricket 2005 but there is nothing wrong with the graphics themselves.
7/10 (EA: 9/10)
Sound
Commentary is very good, but occasionally flawed. I would say improved on that of Cricket 2005, however it is irritating when commentary seems to get cut off at times.
8/10 (EA:6/10)
Lifespan
With only international teams and therefore a limited number of competitions as well as real player names this does not nearly offer as much long term wise as Cricket 2005.
6.5/10 (EA: 8/10)
Bowling
Put it quite simply, this is the first time I've enjoyed bowling in a cricket game for a long while, it doesn't feel laborious anymore. Totally the opposite in EA Sports.
8/10 (EA: 5/10)
Batting
Seems solid enough, not such a wide selection of shots as Cricket 2005 but not quite as easy to score runs. Dead heat.
8/10 (EA: 8/10)
Verdict:
Already having Cricket 2004, I found this game a refreshing change from the EA Sports series. Whilst it offers something different to such games, it is still far from perfect. However in my opinion this game will compliment cricket 2004 well and will give you another option when wanting to play a game of cricket on your PC.
71%
My Advice? If you have Cricket 2004, buy this game, it's only ?17.99 from Play, and would be a better spend than ?27 on Cricket 2005 which whilst is no doubt much better than cricket 2004, it is similar in many ways to the older version of the EA title and I'd be happier paying ?10 less for an entirley new game than a new version of an existing one.
Don't have Cricket 2004? Then If you want a proper cricket simulation, go for Cricket 2005, if you want something where you can have a bit more fun, and a more arcade feel, Brian Lara Cricket is best for you, although much more limited, neither game is poor, but if I had to go for one, and had never played C2004 I'd go for C2005.
Brian Lara Cricket has the potentional to be the better game, if the problems with wides, pacing, the nature of the fielders along with the loading screens were fixed I'd go for it every time.
Rating: 7/10 (7.5/10 if issues worked out)
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