8.10.2005

I first bought this game a couple of months back, having heard all the terrible reviews about the EA offering, and I have never looked back! Codemasters have taken what should be a tremendously boring subject for a computer game - cricket of all things - and turned it into something fun, addictive and very realistic that will have fans of the sport hooked for a long time.I suspect that some of the negative comments that have been posted here come more from frustration than anything. BLIC is really a game that requires genuine knowledge of how the game works, and especially as the levels progress it gets harder and harder. The bowling is particularly brilliant, allowing for genuine tactics and skill.The problem is of course that if you are unfamiliar with cricketing tactics then you will get hit for six more than likely. Some of the EA brigade have written reviews here condemning the lack of liscenced names. While this is very marginally irritating ingame, it is nothing that cannot be corrected by half an hour with the edit feature (the good thing about cricket is that there arent really that many players to edit!!) and certainly isnt worth sacrificing the rest of this game for.BLIC only has international sides, but has several competitions and challenges to keep you interested for quite a while, with unlocks and trophies along the way. The gameplay is a little non-lifelike, and that is my main concern. Run outs will only happen at the wicket-keeper's end, which isnt really a problem but would be more exciting if the programmers had found a way to work realistic run-outs in.The World Cup is an enjoyable challenge, with a trophy for the cabinet if you win. The only slight nag is that the licenced teams are hopelessly out of date. So if you still hold a faint dream of batting with Nasser Hussain in the World Cup final then this is your chance. Otherwise keep him off and put in Collingwood and your career player, once you've got him up to scratch (more on that later). Other players in the England side include Stewart and Caddick.The confidence feature ingame is a brilliant aspect, and one that becomes more and more apparant as you increase the level. Because it is far more difficult to time your shots when your batsman is low in confidence, or to get full speed and swing when your bowler is low, test level (the highest of four levels) really is the hardest because confidence plummets if you get hit on the head or hit for six. Interestingly you will also likely find that you get hit for six less on the higher levels, at least to start with, unless you are bowling with someone who doesnt know which end to aim at of course... The reason is that the batsman's confidence will be much lower at test level than at village level, so they will be less likely to try anything stupid straight off (and more likely to get out if they do).If I were to make a criticism, it would be regarding swing. Anyone who's watched Simon Hughes on Channel 4 will know that few bowlers can really swing the ball, fewer still can get it to go both ways, and even fewer can do the mystical "reverse swing". Now I know this is only a computer game, but it is a bit of a shame that when everything else is so precise and accurate, Codemasters have rather let this go out of the window. Yes some players can swing the ball more than others, but to a large extent any bowler can do it, and both ways at that, AND from the first ball! Its a pedanticism I know...The other thing that I would certainly change about this is the menu music. There is only one track, a sort of slightly down-beat equivalent of the menu music on Pro Evolution. And it keeps playing over and over. With this being mult-platform there is no option to add your own music, and that is a real shame.However you probably know by now that when a reviewer resorts to complaining about the menu music, he must be running short on things to moan about. For example as hard to believe as it is, the commentary is really quite interesting, being like real cricket commentary and going off into discussions about players and so forth (most noticeably about the great Brian Lara!); the career player feature is also excellent, wherein you create a player but are only allotted so many points for his basic skills. He earns more as he takes wickets or makes runs, or both if he is an all-rounder like little simark, my progidy.Then there's the World XI challenge, where you play the world XI as each successive team in the then One Day rankings, with the reward of unlocking the world XI to play the classic XI if you succeed. And the classic matches - a chance to play in some of the great matches, usually only for a key part such as avoiding the famous England collapse in the first Ashes test, or scoring Garfield Sobers' six sixes. And if like me you are quite young and still learning about the history of the game, there's a good chance you'll learn a lot from these, and the fascinating photographs that you unlock.If you were to assume that this was the cricketting equivellent of Pro Evolution Soccer, you wouldnt be far wrong. There is a game clearly made by football fans just to be a full-on footballing experience.Brian Lara International Cricket is just the same. Only with cricket.

2.8.2005

I reviewed Brian Lara cricket for the PSOne on Amazon and, back then, found a great deal I liked in it. I've also played and reviewed EA Sports Cricket 2005 on Amazon and found virtually nothing I liked in it. The 2005 incarnation of Brian Lara, on the Xbox, is pretty much as good as you can expect any cricket game to be on a console. It works like every cricket simulation that's gone before...but it just does it right. The result is a winning combination of accurate simulation and downright playability.To bowl you decide where to start your run up from (normal or wide over the wicket, or around the wicket), select length and line, then your bowler starts his run up and you select the type of delivery from a menu (based on the type of bowler)and time your bowling gauge to set the ammount of pace (try too hard and you'll overstep the crease). Once the ball is in the air you use the triggers to apply swing or drift. It sounds like a lot of stages to the delivery, and I guess it is, but bowling is a very complex thing to reflect accurately in a game, and Codemasters have got it spot on in BL2005...it works very smoothly indeed and is both intuitive and realistic. Top marks.Batting works just like other games too: move left and right in your crease awaiting the delivery (no ability to move down the wicket which is a shame...EA Cricket 2005 lets you do that) and then select and time your shot based on line, length and movement. It's as simple as that. Both batsman and bowler have to play themselves in and their confidence fluctuates throughout the game - getting hit in the box, or playing and missing will reduce the batsman's mindset; getting tonked for six over midwicket will demoralise the bowler. Weather conditions, ball condition, pitch condition are all purported to affect the dynamics of the game and, in the case of Brian Lara 2005, I actually believe that they do.The animations of the various strokes, the delivery action, the run ups and the incidental things (fielders stretching, batters being hit by the ball) etc. are all really smoothly and beautifully recreated. The hook shot is just magnificently motion-captured, the last-second evasive action to a bouncer really captures the hostility of the real thing. The crowds and grounds are really nicely done too - with really effective blurring effect on the camerawork when the background goes out of focus. It really is very good indeed. As is the commentary. Aggers' and Boycott's commentary was one of the most outstanding features of the old PSOne game, and Codemasters have not taken a backward step in 2005 on the Xbox. There is great commentary from David Gower and Jonathan Agnew, with summaries by Tony Cozier and Ian Bishop. There are so many great things about this commentary: firstly, it sounds totally natural. It sounds like they're all ad libbing in a real game, not reading from a script. There is not too much of it - in EA Cricket 2005 Richie Benaud has verbal dairrhoea but, as all TV commentators should know, you need to say much, much less on TV than on radio. The Brian Lara commentators do this...but what they do say is invariably uncannily relevant to the play on the field, and it flows so naturally...at no time do you ever detect that it's being spliced together from a variety of clips. The one glaring shortcoming is that the commentators use very generic language, due to the lack of official licensing.EA Sports have coughed up for the licensing of their Cricket 2005, and presumably locked out Codemasters. So you don't get 'real' players in the game, nor do you get real venues or real cricket organising boards. Commentators are forced to say, "A good delivery from the fast bowler", instead of "A good delivery from Harmison", or "the pitch looks a belter here in north London" instead of saying "Lord's". It's a very small issue, and doesn't spoil the game in any way, but it's just a little obvious at times. Similarly, you don't get the proper named players in the squads with realistic facial mapping like EA can boast. Instead you get, say, a blonde haired fast bowling all-rounder called something like 'Andrew Flantiff'; again, this is no big deal...there is a resemblance, the players play in the real life style of their soundalikes and you can just go in and edit all the player names anyway when you first fire up the game.One nice little attention to detail though is the use of equipment brands. You can create your own player, and choose the make and model of bat - they're all there...Fearnley, Gray Nichols etc. You also get to choose the ball manufacturer...Kookaburra, Dukes...which is a lovely touch. Another great touch is the use of Hawkeye which gives you all the superb ball trajectories, wagon wheels etc. The result is a very, very 'televisual' experience. The saving, loading, player creation, team editing screens are all clear and intuitive - a massive improvement over the virtually unusuable and *UNSAVABLE* EA Cricket 2005.Overall I can't fault Brian Lara 2005, Codemaster have created an exceptionally accessible and crisply presented game.

25.7.2005

Firstly i have to say well done to Codemasters on deciding to release another Brian Lara game. Where can i start, Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 is a great all round game, the gameplay is great, the graphics are awesome and the commentary is first class.Just like the battle between Fifa and Pro Evo in the Football genre it appears that codemasters have started a war with EA over their 'Cricket' series its EA's officiality (e.g. kits, player names) Vs. Codemaster's superb gameplay.I bought cricket 2005 last year and thought it was ok, apart from the poor graphics and boring commentary. Brian Lara beats it hands down. For a start here is a team of 5 commentators including Aggers, Ian Bishop,

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,

3.8.2005

I was looking forward to getting this since having owned the ps1 version and old megadrive version, and loved those. "In the air....and 6!" Loved the sound of that when I had slogged one out the stadium. Anyways, I bought this, and at first found it a bit tricky especially with the bowling, it seemed no matter what i couldnt get a single wicket, but then again i was playing the aussies in a ashes test, and its perhaps not a wise choice to play them first, but thats who i bet anyone who gets this game will wanna play first!So i opted for bangladesh, and took em apart!As soon as i got used to the bowling the game became so fun and addictive. Thats how clever the game is,

23.7.2005

Well after the awful EA Sports cricket 2005 surely this must have been better...and HELL YES it is!!The control system for both batting and bowling is so easy to pick up yet so indepth about what you can do with your stroke play and making the ball swing.The career mode is great as you can instantly put yourself in the middle of the pressure situation of a test series as you start with low stats and have to work to build them up.The other modes are also fantastic with challenges, world cup, world 11 etc.So why only 4 stars....Well something about it i can't understand. The game says it features full players names such as Flintoff and in World cup mode it does, along with Stewart,

27.7.2005

Although I didn't buy EA cricket 2005, the Amazon reviews suggested it was pretty rubbish. Following the reviewers advice, I waited a bit longer and bought Brian Lara 05 which I'm pleased to say is excellent. Bowling is easy to do but challenging to master, and even after practising, there is still a realistic variation in bowling quality.Batting is straightforward to handle - X = Block, B = Slog, A = drive, the tricky bit is choosing the right shot and then timing it well. Realistically, blocks are easy to play, and slogs are risky and should only be attempted on poor deliveries.Fielding is easy, but fielding should be easy, and although it is possible to drop catches it is unlikely.My only criticms are that the umpires often give REALLY bad calls,

26.7.2005

This game is far better than cricket 2005, for several reasons:1) The graphics are much clearer, and look more simpler, but offer a better gaming experience.2) The controls - rather than using the same button for a shot & then to run, there are individual buttons - leading to less unintentional run-outs.3) Gameplay - the gameplay is far better; better bowling options, and a much fairer contest between bat & ball.4) Far less glitches/errors than in cricket 2005 ( I have found none as of yet in brian lara cricket 2005)5) Better field editing options.6) Better Extras - such as the inclusion of "Hawk Eye".It is worth pointing out, that allthough the game has real sponsors/bat names,

26.7.2005

After the bitter disapointment of EA's Cricket 2005 my hopes were high for Code Masters Brian Lara game and thankfully the initial impressions are good.Graphics are functional, almost too cartoonish but do the job well, whereas the commentary is Test Class compared to EA's slog in the local park.Gameplay, thankfully, is well done with reasonable AI from the CPU and the match options are varied enough to ensure longevity.Although County matches are excluded the addition of Classic matches is a really excellent idea brought forward from earlier Brian Lara games.The only dodgy umpiring decision is that it's hard to run quick 2's and 3's due to the slightly over enthusiastic fielders and sometimes

19.8.2005

The wait is finally over for the resurfacing of the best cricket game ever. It was nearly 10 years ago since the original of this game appeared, and this has been hotly anticipated, not least by me! Here is my summary of this new game:GOOD POINTS:============+ Most realistic cricket game EVER+ Easy to pick up and play straight away+ All the real names & kits appear in ICC competitions+ Highly addictive once you get into it+ Commentary from David Gower, Tony Greig, Iain Bishop & John Agnew+ Animations are accurate+ Controls are simple and easy to use+ The animated duck!BAD POINTS:===========- Graphics aren't the best- AI at times can be frustrating (including stupid dropped catches)- You have

28.7.2005

I have bought brian lara and hired EA Cricket, brian lara has some bad points the graphics are almost the same as the 95 version for the ps1, so no time was spent on that at all, all the player names are incorrect ( this does not bother some people e.g pro evo v fifa) but the fact that all the players are out of date as well, nasser husain still plays for england along with caddick, and others on other teams, for a game thats ment to be 2005 its more like 1998. On the plus side the batting is much better than in EA cricket and the bowling is harder but better once you get the hang of it. You can customise a player or team so i supose you could bring the game up to date but why should you,

4.2.2012

It's painfully obvious that the people that made this game don't play cricket which is disappointing. The field settings are all wrong, whenever a batsman gets near a 50,100 etc then their confidence plummets even if they've moosed sixes to get there, you can't sweep, the keeper tends to hit the wickets even when the batsmans walking in but is then reluctant to stump! Bowling is good on Test levels because you can work the batsman over but on other settings it can be boring. If you make a career player who is a fast bowler then he will not be able to go over 70mph when Harmison and Lee are bowling at 95+.Apart from these issues I thoroughly enjoyed the game.

26.8.2006

This is far and above the best cricket game ever,yes there are some bad points,id like 2 watch my six fly over the boundary and not just see the umpire signal it and the names,but who cares when u can edit them....i see people moaning about the bowling a little advice if u dont no your cricket inside out and have 2 read a manual 2 play DONT BOTHER.the bowling is awsome and the computer wont hit u 4 any sixes if u no how 2 bowl believe me.its a cricket game 4 people who know there cricket

14.8.2005

"If you ever want the most authentic, realistic criket experience ever buy this game. It is jam packed with authenticity from you having to get the precise spin on the ball to the you having to catch the ball, the graphics on this game are out of this world, but there not they make the stadiums like so realistic the billboard's are even matching!!, if you want to get the best criket experience ever known to mankind get this game"

8.9.2009

great game the best cricket game ever by miles very fun and enjoyable to play and great to watch they made the players well and there bowling/batting styles good plus it has great graphics great game i would recommend it

Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 (Xbox) - Reviews

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