Brian Lara International Cricket Review

Good Points
Best cricket game available gameplay wise
Range of difficulty levels makes it accessible to all.
Challenges make you improve your game.

Bad Points
Lack of Licensing,
Graphics could improve slightly

General Comments
Overview





As with it's football counterpart, Cricket games are divided into roughly 2 divisions. The EA sport variety and the non EA sport variety. As good as the EA sports brand name is, it has often failed to live up to being the dominant gamer in many sports. In football the Fifa series has been playing second fiddle to Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer games. In cricket, EA sports has been in battle with Codemasters to establish itself as the leading name for cricket games. Comparing EA sports Cricket 2005 and Codemasters Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 (BLIC) you will find that EA Sports has once again produced the inferior game.





Graphics



BLIC also released as Ricky Ponting International Cricket 2005 in Australia and New Zealand is an easy to pick up cricket game unlike Cricket 2005 which takes a long time to master on even on 'easy' difficulty. Graphically Cricket 2005 wins hands down, there is simply no question of this. BLIC has not advanced to much in the realm of graphics, the players have a cartoonish feel to them and look physically peculiar to say the least. Having said that the cricket environment still looks pretty realistic and the movement of batsmen and bowlers is pretty accurate as well. The graphics have improved from the last version of BLIC but that's hardly a surprise since that game was released six years earlier than this version. I am of the opinion that a game doesn't have to be brilliantly graphically to constitute itself as a good game, nevertheless this is always helps with realism in particular for sporting game and is something that should be looked at in the future for Codemasters.



One disadvantage this game has over Cricket 2005 is the name licensing, while EA sports have captured the rights to use the real cricket names, BLIC fans must be content with using slightly modified versions of the real names. This is bearable but still rather annoying. The stadiums look fairly good and though I can only claim to have been to a couple of the stadiums, the ones I do know look reasonably authentic. The crowd, however, is forgettable, and I do believe there is only one set of umpires regardless of where, who and what you are playing.





Gameplay





The main appeal in the game is the gameplay and the balance between bat and ball. These are the fundamental requirement to create a successful cricket game. If scoring is ridiculously easy but bowling is really hard then it will becomes frustrating after a while and vice versa. The beauty of BLIC 2005 is that given a bit of time, both batting and bowling can be learnt well, but to master it is a different case.



The controls have been a major problem in cricket games of the past, but with BLIC, Codemasters has overhauled the "traditional" control scheme used by all of the EA cricket series, and created an easy to learn, intuitive control scheme that really does set BLIC apart from the EA series.





Batting





In BLIC, you have a button for the attacking shot along the ground, a defensive shot, and an aerial shot, giving entirely more control over shot selection as opposed to the one shot button used in EA's cricket series, and the L1 and R1 shoulders buttons are used for movement around the crease, making batting a simpler task. However, there is no button to advance down the track or leave the ball, which really does hurt the realism of batting in this game, as both are used frequently in an actual game of cricket. Batting like most cricket games comes down to timing and the correct choice of shot for the appropriate ball. This simply requires some practise to achieve.





Bowling





Bowling has also been overhauled, and it is now far less predictable for batsmen, meaning that there should no longer be insane totals on anything greater than the lowest difficulties, unless of course one of the players is a no-hoper, and leading to some very bowling dominated contests (something not seen in any cricket games to date). The run up is initiated with the X button, and a power meter appears, which fills up as the bowler approaches the crease. To achieve maximum speed (or turn for a spinner), the player must stop the meter on, or as close to the line as they can get, without the bar filling over the line, in which case the bowler oversteps and delivers a no ball, however it is worth noting that the fastest deliveries are the balls that are the slightest amount over the line, not so much as to be a no ball, but just on or over the line. Any of the 4 face buttons on the controller can be used to stop the meter, and each one produces a different type of ball depending on the type of bowler, for example for a right arm fast bowler to a right handed batsman, the X button will produce a standard, fast ball, the Square button will produce a leg cutter that will move away from the batsman off the pitch, the Circle button will produce an off cutter that will move into the batsman off the pitch and the Triangle button will produce a slower ball intended to produce a false stroke from a batsman expecting it to come faster.



A handy new control feature is the control of swing using the L1 and R1 buttons after the ball is released, meaning the batsman will no longer know what the ball is going to do until it happens, making bowling a much more enjoyable, and bearable task. Another cool control gimmick not seen before is the control of fielders, and while you do not actually move them around or field the ball, you do control the strength and accuracy of your throws, and the catching of your fielders with a meter that you must stop as close to the small white centre line as possible, and while it does get annoying to have to throw the ball in almost every delivery, Codemasters must be applauded for bringing something new into the genre.



The gameplay is without doubt the best available anywhere, with the difficulties enabling the game to play like an arcade slogfest, great for quick, fun games with mates, to serious test match like scenarios, with barely seconds to react to quick bowlers and viciously turning pitches, making batting a nightmare. My biggest gripe with the actual gameplay of BLIC is the fact that even on the fastest bowlers in the world, even at 160+kph on a good length, if the player hardest, difficulty the worst tail enders can still crack giant sixes off the just uses the circle button. This makes the BLIC feel overly like that of an arcade game for the hardcore cricket fans, but on the flip side also creates a wider audience for the game. Another minor problem is the fact that your fielders can only throw in the ball to the keepers end, and the run outs are always assisted, which can be frustrating as often there would be a certain run out if you could throw to the bowlers end. There is a limited create a player mode in BLIC, in which your character starts as a very average player, but as you score runs, take wickets and make catches/run outs, you score points to improve your batting, bowling and fielding respectively, however it takes barely any time to reach the maximum stats at which point your player becomes like a cricketing mastermind (although it seems even the best created fast bowlers are only capable of bowling at a fast medium pace)





Sound





As far as cricket games go, sound normally refers to either noises on the field/crowd or that provided by the commentary team . Brian Lara International Cricket brings together the voices of cricket, including David Gower, Tony Greig, Jonathan Agnew, Ian Bishop, and Bill Lawry, to form the biggest commentary team ever featured in any cricket game. The commentary on most part is accurate and largely beneficial to the game. Cricket 2005 players will no doubt be aware of the commentary glitches prevalent in that game and the fact it takes away focus from the actual game. BLIC suffers none of these problems. The other sound is accurate enough, you don't quite get the feel of a lively Twenty20 game as such but nevertheless it is pretty accurate.





Tournaments





As for the different variations in the game, most cricket fans will tell you that one-day and Twenty20 stuff isn't the real game. They'll tell you that the only way to determine a good cricketer is over a five-day test match. Now this presents a dilemma for cricket games as it is inconceivable that even the most avid of fans will be prepared to play up 2 five days of a match in the normal sense. Therefore inevitable corners have been cut and there is a greater emphasis on the shorter form of the game. This is understandable as not many will have the patience nor the will power to play a full on test series of 5/6 test matches. ICC Cricket World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy are the two main one day tournaments that can be played and both are licensed by the ICC (International Cricket Council). There is also the option of playing Test match tours at home and away. This is mainly for the enthusiastic cricket fan as one tour can take a long time to play.









Multiplayer feature isn't too bad. You principally have two options. You can play together with a partner as the same team, where in batting one person controls one batsman, the other player the other batman. When it comes to bowling is just an over at a time, i.e. each player bowls an alternative over each. The other option is the classical one, in which you and a partner compete against each other, it's exactly how you would imagine, not much to it. The only thing I would say is that for this type of game to be competitive it is required that each player be equivalently of the same experience else there will be many a one sided match. That goes without saying really for any sporting (or even most fighting games)





Conclusion





Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 is quite comfortably the best cricket game available is likely to be so until the 2007 version is released. Only if Cricket 2007 (which is scheduled for release in Nov 2006) is markedly improved by EA Sports will BLIC face any competition as the best cricket game available. It does lack in licensing and is not as good graphics wise but the core of the game, i.e. that of batting, bowling and fielding are head and shoulders above that of it competitor, the EA Sports series. For a realistic, fun and entertaining cricket game then look no further than Brian Lara International Cricket.