Which cricket game to buy!

[harishankar]

Hi,

Sorry if I posted in the wrong forum, but I couldn't find a general cricket games forum where we could compare games.

I currently have Cricket 2004 on PS2. I was thinking which Cricket game to buy next. I am torn between Cricket 2005 and BLC 2005.

I have read numerous reviews on the web and the general opinion seems to favour BLC 2005 although a few people have noted its limitations in the batting field. On the other hand Cricket 2005 seems to have a very high level of difficulty as far as batting goes, but it generally seems to have more variety.

So which game would you recommend and why?

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Hmm...not a good question to ask. Depends on what you like. browse the C2K5 and BLIC forums to see reviews, etc. and choose.
But from me - C2K4 for the PC anyday :cool:

 

[harishankar]

Thanks for the reply. Actually Cricket 2004 is a nice game on the PS2... I read so many of those reviews (also at amazon.co.uk), but I am unable to make up my mind. BLC seems to suffer from a lack of overall realism and tracking stats. But I've read so many bad reviews of 2005 that I'm worried about buying and then regretting the decision. Which would you recommend for a EA Sports Cricket 2004 gamer?

Also would you recommend the PS2 version or the PC version?

 

[Cowburn199]

Cricket 2005 on its own is terrible. But buy it for the PC and you can download a patch from a patch maker and put that into the game and suddenly..you have a good game!

 

[BigCrickNan]

Cricket 2005 has more realism but quite boring, BLIC is fun but not realistic. Buy C2004 for PC :cool:.

 

[Kev]

Why not stick with what you've got and wait for the next generation of the games to be released, unless you can get either BLIC or C2K5 dirt cheap you are going to be disapointed.

 

[Sureshot]

The way i see it:

BLIC- Arcadey good for having slogging sessions with mates, quite easy to get used too.

C2K5- For the more hardcore cricket fan who wants to mise away like Mike Atherton. The patches on here for C2K5 also help.

I've ordered C2K5 which might come tomorrow.

 

[Deleted member 9102]

Edit: Chris Gayle

 

[indiancricketer]

Stick to C2004 its much better c2005 is crap so boring....you will like it at first then it just get so boring...c2004 you can play for hours and its fun...Blic i haven't played it so cant tell you anything on that

 

[harishankar]

I've been thinking about it for a while and I think I have a decision.

I think I'll get BLIC. My philosophy is simple. When I want a serious cricket experience, I usually watch test matches on TV or maybe even get a Cricket manager game with more strategic elements and the thrill of putting your plans into action and watching them succeed. I still have International Cricket Captain 2000 and it's a great game! I had countless hours of fun and I never guessed that a management game could be such fun.

On the other hand, an action-oriented cricket game should be fun to play, shouldn't be too cumbersome or time-consuming and should have the element of atmosphere and thrill. From my experience of Shane Warne Cricket 99 (a.k.a BLC 99) I guess that was one of the best for recreating the thrill factor on live TV. It was one of the few cricket games that I actually felt thrilled when playing matches. The result was not predetermined by any means and ODI games actually felt like a real contest.

On the other hand, I think EA Cricket in general (and I've played 97, 2002, 2004 editions) tries to be too technically oriented by capturing all the elements of the game but missing out on the spirit of the game (let's forget Cricket 2000 or the disgraceful CWC 99. I played them and frankly they were genuine shockers). It tries to incorporate so many elements of Cricket while missing out on fun factors. I think that Cricket 97 was one of the few cricket games that I really enjoyed early on (before SWC 99). You miss out on the individuality of the game. By trying to reproduce the technicalities of cricket, EA sports forgets what makes cricket exciting in the first place: the thrilling bouncers, stumps flying all over the place, the cracking boundaries, the tense situations, the gruelling grinding battle of test cricket etc. Somewhere along the line, I miss the overall picture.

I think that EA is very good a micro-elements, but misses out on the bigger one. From what I have seen of Codemasters (through SWC 99) they are good at the overall picture although the micro aspects might be imperfect.

Cricket 2004 is a great game, but somehow I miss the atmosphere of Live Cricket. It feels too scripted at times and random at other times and the CPU seems very defensive in Test Cricket (I play in Medium difficulty) leaving almost every ball outside the off stump. The strategy element is also not too great and the custom field editor is awful (how can you place fielders exactly where you want and not in some preset locations)?

My only question is how closely does BLIC 2005 follow the spirit of the earlier version like Shane Warne/Brian Lara Cricket 99?

 

[James219]

The strategy element is also not too great and the custom field editor is awful (how can you place fielders exactly where you want and not in some preset locations)?

There would be a field editor patch that allows pin-point custom placings but it's only for PC version anyway.

 

[Sureshot]

Well my Gamepad came today and i've tested with the demo and it feels great, unfortunately the game has been backordered and i'll have to wait a week!!

 

[Cowburn199]

Well my Gamepad came today and i've tested with the demo and it feels great, unfortunately the game has been backordered and i'll have to wait a week!!

Unlucky
I have a gamepad. I bought it especially for Cricket 2005 but i also use it with a bunch of other games! Really handy

 

[alfa_beta]

I have played both Brian Lara 2005 and Cricket 2005 and have to say cricket 2005 is a much better game than Brian Lara. Brian Lara is simply too easy and unrealistic - you can smash bowlers like Akhtar, Lee, Harmison for 6 over 3rd man all the time! Batting is kid's stuff and AI never takes a single so you hardly get a competitive game of cricket with AI. However if you are playing against a human opponent, it will be fun.

Other major shortcomings of BL 2K5 are that there's not much of shot variety and batting is way easy. you just have 2 options - standard shots or lofted shots and there's no concept of front-foot, back-foot and advance-down-the-wicket shots. There's no 'Autoplay' feature and you have to bowl an entire innings before you get to bat - for me it was a major downer. Then you don't have domestic season and 20-20 cup... and so on.

But in that case so will cricket 2K5. These are the only areas in which Brian Lara is better than cricket 2K5...

1. Running between wickets - you don't get run out as many times on BL 2K5. But there's a flaw in the game as fielders only throw at keeper's end!!! There is no way for you to throw at the bowler's end.

2. Fielding - I found fielding in Brian Lara much better and fun. In fact it was fun bowling and fielding on BL 2K5. But I'm a batting guy and that's what I care about.

3. The main feature that's there in BL 2K5 but not in Cricket 2K5 is that you can play against yourself. I mean if you bat 1st with Team A, you ca save the match after your innings is over. When you load the game, you can choose which team you want to play with. Thus, you can select Team B and chase the score you put up while batting as Team A. This was the only reason I played Brian Lara 2K5 as long as I did. I wish EA had incorporated this feature in Cricket 2K5

But going by what folks have to say on this forum, Cricket 2004 is better than BL 2K5 or Cricket 2K5 and I am planning to go for Cricket 2004.

 

[Sureshot]

Unlucky
I have a gamepad. I bought it especially for Cricket 2005 but i also use it with a bunch of other games! Really handy

Cancelled my order with Gameplay (could've not been dispatched till next Wednesday and they are moving warehouses, i want it disruption free, i'm getting impatient ) for it, Play.com have it for same price and in stock so should get i Friday if i'm lucky.