Cricket games are few and far between on the PC. And with good reason too….. After all, there’s just a small audience for such games. That has led to the release of sub-standard, budget friendly cricket games, which have flooded the market and have made this community give up hope that we’ll ever get a cricket game that’s actually playable. There have been some decent titles, though. For instance, EA Sport’s Cricket 97 Ashes Tour Edition remains, in my opinion, one of the best PC cricket games till date. Codemasters hit the jackpot with their Brian Lara Cricket 99, which sold like hot cakes, especially in Asia and Europe. EA followed up their series with the release of Cricket World Cup 99, which was an unqualified disaster. Cricket 2000 and 2002 did little to make up for this lost image. Cricket 2004 was supposed to be a return-to-glory effort, but was again marred by annoying bugs that failed to impress the hardcore cricket fan. Cricket 2005’s launch, contrary to the others, was rather quiet until the actual release date. Let’s see what this release has to offer…….. The first thing that I noticed on starting the game was that EA had finally done away with the crappy intro video they generally used for their Cricket releases. The interface looks and works the same way as of Cricket 04. The interface could use up a bit smoothing-up, however – the console relationship shared by this game clearly shows in the interface!! The game offers plenty of gameplay modes, including Test Series, Overseas Tours, World Championships, Knockout Tournaments, One Dayers, and the all new Domestic Tournaments. There’s also a Quick Game mode, that lets you jump straight into the action, with the computer selecting 2 teams randomly. And with EA, you can bet that all the fully licensed squads, both domestic and international, are available to you….. The game begins the toss (or the lack of it – all you get is a message box telling you who won the toss). The actual gameplay seems quite similar to that of Cricket 2004 at first. However, as you get more into the game, you’ll begin noticing the subtle tweaks made to improve the same. For instance, while batting, you’ve got the same array of shots at your disposal, but now you can actually use them effectively, unlike previous games, in which scoring mainly relied upon the user finding a trademark shot for all kinds of deliveries. That is not the case here. The control system is same, and the batting portion of the game remains pretty much the same (except for smoother handling and shot selection). The bowling has undergone a major overhaul, though. The bowling in the previous games was so painstakingly slow that most players opted for the Autoplay option when their side had to bowl. This time around, EA has adopted a system which can best be described as an effective cross of the bowling systems used in Cricket 97 and 2004. You first select the kind of delivery to be bowled (according to the bowler, of course), and then position the now much more stable marker. The bowler has a run-up meter, which decides his pace and over-stepping, and a stamina meter, which determines his…….. Duh……. Stamina!!! Graphically, the game has again undergone plenty of changes. For instance, the game now incorporates real-life resemblance of all players (or so EA claims – all Indian players looked the same to me!! Except for Sachin Tendulkar, of course, who was sporting a rather weird looking moustache…….. wonder where he got that!!). This works in some cases. However, plenty of players have been poorly replicated in the game. Australia’s Jason Gillespie is an excellent example, for instance……… everything’s there – the beard, the moustache, the hairstyle…….. but for some dumb reason he has this unbelievably smug look on his face……… I nearly died laughing!!! But to EA’s credit, it’s a much better overall effort than their previous cricket games. The animations and motion captures have also been updated and improved, and it shows. Player animations are really well done, for a change. The run-up for bowlers, which had been held as a big joke in the previous installments, has been greatly rectified. So have the player movements, their dives, throws…. everything. The faces of the players are quite expressionless, except for a once in a while flash of teeth, but their body language is quite impressive, with the players celebrating on the fall of a wicket, encouraging each other, jumping up and down on near misses and so on. Graphically, EA has taken a big step forward in this game, although it isn’t quite there yet. Sadly enough, this is where the good stuff ends. The game continues the series’ tradition of being riddled with bugs. For instance, the AI fielding is absolutely pathetic. Players keep getting in each other’s way, laze around while the ball passes under their nose, throw the ball in one direction while it somehow ends up with the keeper……. I had plenty of cases in which the fielders actually ran away from the ball and started encircling it, while I comfortably bagged a couple of extra runs!!! The umpiring standard, as usual, is terrible. Umpires keep on getting confused between byes and leg byes, keep on giving wides for no reason (even when the ball hits the pad or bat) and seldom give correct LBW decisions (I suppose this is what they call Reality TV!!!). The running between the wickets, although a slight improvement over the previous game, still needs to be worked upon….. players just aren’t responsive enough to the controls!!! The game might’ve received a graphical overhaul (EA Sports claims that it has used the same technology used in its other graphically advanced games), but it still has a long way to go. All the players look slightly plump……… yeah, even Glenn McGrath........ and the umpires are nothing less than two blown-up cartoon figures!! Sounds harsh, but that’s the way it is. As stated before, plenty of players’ faces come nowhere near their real-life counterparts. During gameplay, you’ll notice how many players on the field just seem to “glide” across the grass……. This might’ve looked impressive in Harry Potter, but here, it’s nothing short of hilarious!! The animations, though pretty decent overall, do get jerky sometimes, especially in collision detection (picture the keeper breaking down the stumps without even touching them…….!!) The sound department is average at best. Menu music is total crap, although all of it is licensed stuff. Sound effects and pretty good, as they should be in a cricket game…… nothing really beats the authentic sound of leather on willow!! The commentary is downright dismal. Ritchie Benaud and Jim Maxwell handle the commentary in the game, and it does not live up to their high standards at all. The commentators keep getting confused with the toss, the scores, the umpiring decisions, the player names…… you name it!!! The additional “colour commentary” isn’t too thrilling either. Overall, the poor execution of this department has led to its downfall. Something that could’ve made gameplay quite enjoyable (look at the FIFA series) has been blatantly ignored. The game maintains records of all the games you play (provided you complete them), and has a Hall of Fame to showcase your achievements in various tourneys. Statistically, this game outclasses all previous games, by providing the most in-depth statistical recording system ever. All player and team stats are intensively tabulated for each tournament, and a player’s form actually affects his performance. A confidence meter is provided for each batsman, and this time around, it actually reflects his performance, shot selection etc. However, this section is also riddled with a few bugs. For instance, the game keeps mixing up stats of different players on the same team. The run rate calculation still remains flawed (wonder when they’re going to correct that!! It’s like the easiest bit of coding on earth!!!). These bugs may be minor, but are quite noticeable in the overall gameplay. A neat addition to this installment of the series is the Create-A-Player mode. This mode is probably THE most detailed of its kind I’ve ever seen. You can customize your player’s appearance to the last detail. What’s even better is that you can include you custom players in the existing squads, and manage their stats in a similar manner. This lends some amount of replayablity to the game, and maintains the player’s interest. All said and done, this is by far the best cricket game on the PC (as of now). It’s nowhere near perfection, though, and EA still has a long way to go in this series. The game still sports annoying bugs, some new, some making a comeback. The overall gameplay and animations have been spruced up, and that’s an encouraging sign. The game does get repetitive for the casual gamer, but for the hardcore cricket fan, there’s no better option right now. What remains to be seen is how this game competes with Codemasters’ upcoming release – Brian Lara international cricket 2005. Highs:- • Improved gameplay. • Better Graphics and motion captures. • Create-A-Player mode rocks! • Varied game modes. Lows:- • Models need improvement • Jerky animations • Buggy. You haven’t seen bugs if you haven’t played this game!! • Commentary sucks big time. • Gets somewhat repetitive Final Verdict:- This is the best Cricket sim out there, but the franchise still has a long way to go. Recommended for hardcore cricket fans only.
When playing Cricket 2005, one can see most of the reasons why there will never be a cricket game even mildy comparable to the actual game: The game has too many fine details that refuse to go unnoticed, but are too nume... Read Full Review
I was waiting eagerly for this game and like all other true cricket fans i was very disappointed by the gameplay. I am surpirsed majority of people here give it a 8/10. What are they rating the game on? The UI is except... Read Full Review
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