26.9.2005

The first step when it comes to buying a cricket computer game is basically to choose between Brian Lara 2005 and EA Cricket 2005. I chose the first option on the strength of recommendations and I'm glad that I did because I don't think many cricket games will come much better than this.Firstly the strengths of the game. It is very easy to get used to the controls and you can master both batting and bowling in almost no time at all. This helps you to get into the game really quickly and start perfecting your special deliveries! There is a huge amount of variation you can use during bowling - changes of speed, swing, bouncers, yorkers etc.The graphics are very good and you can't go around trying to hit every ball for six because you really will get out even on the easiest level. This makes you play some proper, realistic cricket. Also, just like the real game, the ball won't be going far unless you time it just right which can take a bit of practise. The hawkeye analysis is a superb feature; the makers have transferred all the aspects of it to this game and it really adds to the depth. Fielders are not superhuman obstacles that you cannot get the ball past - they will give up the chase for example if they can't stop a ball near the boundary. There are plenty of different combinations in which you can set your fielders - there are loads of preset attacking and defensive fields - or you can even do a custom field setting. Aside from just test matches and one-day internationals, you can play a World Cup or Champions Trophy and there are even "classic matches" from history where you take up the role of a team trying to achieve a certain goal from a specific match in history. You will either match what actually happened or set the record straight and change the history books!However there are a few negatives to the game. The most obvious (and probably most annoying) is to do with the players' names. Since this is not an officially licensed product (EA hold the official rights) you will find that in normal games all of the players' names from every country will be slightly different e.g. Flantiff (Flintoff), Hermason (Harmison), Thrip (Thorpe) and so on. If you can live with this then that's fine but if you do want to change it, it will be quite a time-consuming process. Only in the World Cup and Champions Trophy tournaments will the names be correct right from the start. Most of the time they're not. Also, a few little things. I have played countless times on the game now and not once have I had a stumping. The computer batsmen are quite predictable with their shot selection and the rate at which they bat (during a One Day International). The computer players never take risky singles and as a result you will very rarely run them out. Oh and the tail-end batsmen for the computer really can't bat, I mean really. You will often find you can knock over the last five for ducks quite easily.All in all a terrific game which I would definitely recommend to everyone, especially those who haven't played a cricket game before. Hours of enjoyment guaranteed and plenty of things to do, meaning that you won't have done everything in five minutes.Must have.

23.7.2005

After the dissapointment of EA's Cricket 2005 I approached this game with some scepticism. It is after all a long time since anyone published a really good cricket game. Although this is an early review and I still need to play this game more, my early impressions are good.The control system is much simpler than EA's with three buttons for batting: normal shot, aggressive lofted shot and defensive shot which make the game much simpler to pick up and play. However, timing is vital and there is a timing meter to help. At first I found myself playing my shots too early but after half an hour found that I was beginning to time the ball properly.Bowling is also simple to execute but could take along time to master and the experience of being in the field is enhanced by the addition of a catching and throwing meter. Although your fielders move to the ball automatically you have responsibilty to catch and throw the ball back in. This could have been fiddly but it isn't and all adds to the feel that you are genuinely in control of your team.The great thing about this game is that like all good sports sims the controls feel intuitive, you're always active, no more sitting and waiting while the computer does all of the fielding for you!The options available are extensive; World Cup, Champions Trophy, Test and ODI series and an extended test tour where you play all of the other teams in the world home and away over a number of years. It does suffer from the fact that there are no first class competitions here like on EA's game but that is more than compensated for by the gameply. After all what's the point of having lots of competitions if they all play badly?The attention to detail is also good, for example, play the World Cup and it's the 2003 version with all of the players and kits of that tournament, follow it with the 2004 Champions Trophy and all of the players and kits are updated. You can randomise the tournaments but you can't change the players which some may see as a disadvantage.If you play a test series however the lack of a licence means that in Pro Evolution Soccer style you get to play with the likes of A. Flantiff and so on, however the names are easily edited and as the commentators avoid directly naming players it's not a problem, unlike in EA's version where changing a plyers name always seems to result in the commentator calling him Sriram!Another plus point is the commentary, there's a huge team of commentators on this including Jonathan Agnew and David Gower. EA should listen to this and try and work out where they are going wrong.The player animation is also very good and an improvement on EA's effort. Although on the downside the stadiums and crowds don't look so great and some of the player likenesses are poor. These are the only niggling little things that stopped me giving this game five stars instead of four. Like the choice between FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer you can choose between a little extra graphical polish with EA or better, more intuiutive gameplay with Codemasters game. Personally I will always take the latter and if you want a genuinely good cricket game you'll do the same and Buy Lara.

27.7.2005

This is definatly the greatest cricket game on all consoles so far and maybe ever, it could even be one of the best sports games so far. I'm not the greatest of cricket fans, i don't even have a proper bat worth over £5.00, i don't particularly enjoy watching it but i think it's ok. However when i bought this game i thought wow! From the moment i went into the nets and started to defend my stumps i was amazed. In the first hour i thought i was doing fairly well until suddenly the bowler chucked in a cheeky full toss that uprooted my off stump. You see this game is easy enough to be enjoyable and to be able to hit a few boundaries but not so simple that you can slog 36 an over.I went into my first game full of confindence as i was England playing the useless Dutch.

29.9.2005

Brian Lara International cricket 2005, the long awaited sequel to the best selling ps1 version, and this dosn't dissapoint. The batting is the best seen and the range of shots is brilliant they are cleverly recreated in every depatment and look fantastic. The batting is real pick up and play stuff and very easy to get the hang of. The bowling is very good aswell, the swing bowling is cleverly controlled with the shoulder buttons and the range of deliveries you can bowl is frightening !. slower balls, bouncers, yorkers, reverse swing, it's all here, and also the bowling actions of players are unigue such as Fidel Edwards slinging action, Flintoffs short run up or Vaughans high arm action.

26.7.2005

Brian Lara International Cricket is the first codemasters installment of the PSone game, coming out just in time for the ashes. It is also in response to EA ploughing out their Cricket 2005 game. Brian Lara is the far superior game in terms of game play and batting and bowling intuativeness. According to the magazine reviews Brian Lara averages out at about 85% and Cricket 2005 gets just over 50%.The game itself is very codemastersy - meaning chunky graphics, clever, thoughtout gameplay and no official licences. Like with the Pro Evo Soccer series, names of players are close to the originals, and easily edited with the editor function in the game.The most important feature in cricket based computer games,

27.7.2005

First impressions of this game were pretty favourable, and it is most definitely an enjoyable game (hence the 4 stars). But, as i guess is inevitable with cricket games that require such complexity for a simple game, it is deeply flawed:- Far too easy to slog 6's all over the park. This means as soon as you get reasonably good at this game you can score at ridiculous rates- Bowling out tailenders is far too easy. One ball on target and you get your wicket.- They dont have the real names. This is easy enough to change with the data editor but its still a bit of a drag- It is too easy to restrict the score of opponents to a run an over or below by placing fielders all around the wicket. For example,

14.9.2005

The last Brian Lara game I had was on my Amiga. I thought I would buy a cricket game to compliment my excessive use of Pro Evo 4. I really enjoyed working my way up from Slog Mode to County and I look forward to playing it on Test.I agree the lack of licenses is annoying but EA is a big bully in the games playground and holds all the licenses exclusively to alot of games with smaller companies like Konami and Codemasters unable to gain official names etc. I think the classic match scenerios are a good laugh and I have just started my own Ashes series to see what I can do against the Convicts!All in all,

10.8.2005

The last Cricket game i owned was Brian Lara cricket for the PS1, so i knew this game was going to be much better and it is. It is by far the best cricket game on the PS2. It is great fun with lots of different modes to keep the interest there for longer than most games.However there are still bad points to it:- when playing in certain modes the players names are not correct (patterson instead of pieterson) however their details are right-when in world cup mode the players you play with include past players like hussain and stewart, and can someone please tell me since when irani has been an England player.-in test mode (the hardest mode)

1.6.2006

This is the remake of Brian Lara Cricket from the old Playstation. It has a lot of new features, the best being the create a player, which is excellent, although it would be better if you could see your career stats, eg how many centuries you've hit. The graphics are very good as well, the players and stadiums are very realistic. And for once on a sports game the commentary is good, provided by Geoffry Boycott, Ian Bishop, Tony Greig, Bill Lawry and David Agnew. The game looks great as well, it is given a real television coverage feel with the intoduction of the fantastic hawk eye and shots of the action.The gameplay is fairly good. Batting is easy to pick up, and a variety of shots can be played,

13.9.2005

I feel this game is the best cricket game on the market at the moment. In my opinion it is a lot better then Cricket 2005 which I found slow and poor. Brian lara has good graphics, nice sound effects and smooth gameplay. I didn't really like playing test matches in computer games before but in this game I really enjoy them and have played more tests then ever before. This game is fun to play and games are quick when played. The commentators used in the game are great even though they all say the same lines, but 5 commentators used is great for any game. This game is good but it is missing a lot. For a start there are no create your own tournaments e.g. create world cup,

28.7.2005

Having been a huge fan of the first Brian Lara on the ps1, i waited eagerly for the long awaited ps2 version. It is fantastic, albeit a little easy (even on the hardest mode), but it is a game taht is so easy to get to grips with. Batting is all about timing(little luck needed) and bowling is easy, although again, luck and persistance the key. Tons of options, such as create player, all the modes of test/one-day cricket here, and the speed of changing between each ball is what is needed. Many games can take so long because of loading times etc, this game doesnt. Although i may be a little biased being a sports fan with giving 5 stars, but compared to the rubbish cricket 2005 rented a few weeks back,

6.1.2006

This game is only worth getting if your going to play with a friend because bowling against the computer is monotonous and very dull. Once you get to grips with the game and start playing 2 player on test mode (hardest and fastest) and put similar fielding positions then this game really comes alive. The bowling and batting is extremely fun and i dont think anyone who enjoys criket will be disapointed. There is so much you can do when bowling and you can fool the batsman just as in real criket (try bowling fast with Shoab Akhtar and then throw in a slow ball using triangle button). Bating is also highly enjoyable and reaching landmarks is very satisfying.

1.8.2005

I went into my local Game to buy a new cricket game for my PS2, unsure whether to buy Brian Lara International Cricket (BLIC) or Cricket 2005. I had bought Brian Lara Cricket (the original on PS1) and Cricket 2002 in the past so I asked the opinion of one of the staff. He then asked me a seemingly irrelevant question, do I play football games? I answered yes, Pro Evolution Soccer (obviously). He then directed me towards BLIC, saying the controls were easier. However at the time I wasn't aware that only a few players had their real names, but after half an hour, this was easily fixed. I have not played Cricket 2005 yet, but if you are looking to purchase a cricket game on PS2,

21.7.2005

I'd been anticicpating this game for a good month and especially after playing the terrible EA Cricket 2005. For starters you can actually bat on this game and timing monitor is on the screen so you can see where you may have gone wrong. Very easy to pick up, although there is no back/front foot shot selection as the computer does it automatically for you.Bowling is really good, whereas on EA cricket bowling is a chore here bowling can be fun as you can really beat the batsman. I found that the special deliveries were also better. Fielding is a little annoyign as you now get involved on throws and catching.

29.7.2005

If you are unsure whether or not to buy this game, do so because it is without doub t the best cricket game on the market at the moment.Its a very easy game to play and get to grips with although it is sometimes a bit easy to hit people for six. The bowling measure's up well to with the actions of people like Flintoff and Warne spot on.The major plus for me is the challenge section where u can play classic matches and unlock pictures and profiles. Although it would have been nice to have more of these i.e no ashes of 1981 in there! But this is a great feature and will keep you playing long after you complete the tournament section.The downside's are the lack of teams and tournaments.

Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 (PS2) - Reviews

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