Brian Lara International Cricket review

Cricket is a sport that seems to be hard to reproduce adequetly in videogame form, there have been numerous attempts but only once has this really been nailed. The name of the game? Well it's the original Brian Lara Cricket. So this new version of the game, which has taken such a long time to finally appear in this generation, has an awful lot to live up to and an awful lot riding on it.

I recently reviewed Cricket 2005 by EA and found it really lacking. Yes the bowling was well handled, but even that wasn't right, with the umpire's head obscuring half the wicket so you couldn't see your aiming market. The battling was appalling, while in theory it offered a good shot selection, actually trying to get a score in double figures was like pulling teeth.

Full toss

Thankfully, and for those of you with a short attention span, I can reveal that Brian Lara International Cricket is a really good game. Nor perfect, but as good a game of cricket as you'll be able to play on your PlayStation 2/Xbox/PC. It starts well, banishing the memory of EA's terribly clunky menu system in Cricket 2005, here we have bright colourful menus with excellent design.

But who cares about menus, let's get into the meal itself. There's a vast array of options, with a choice of quick limited-over games to the full-blown tests. Codemasters should be commended on including Double Wicket, a game that's enjoyed by a lot of junior players. It's a fast, high scoring game, one where two batsmen stay in for a whole short innings and lose points for being caught out.

The options don't just stop there, you've got length of match settings, weather settings, choice of ball, wicket condition and the option to set realistic fielding restrictions. It really is a comprehensive game. There are several difficulty levels, ranging from the hardcore to slog mode, which is great fun if you just want to see how many sixes you can hit.

Bowled over

The real meat and potatoes of the game is how it plays on the field. And it plays very well. What struck me right away though is how similar the control method for bowling is between this game and EA's latest offering. It's as though they were twins or something, though clearly the Brian Lara game got the looks and the brains.

You'll press X to start your run-up, move the aiming marker, then press a different button to choose a bowling type before a power meter crosses the no-ball line. Here the games begin to differ as ball movement is added once the ball has left the bowlers hands with the shoulder buttons adding swing left or right depending on the type bowled.

The fielding is largely automatic but does feature a rather neat touch, as a fielder is about to throw the ball back to the wicket, a power bar appears and if you stop it in the centre the return will be much flatter and faster. Fielding is well handled in the game, with a very neat and simple screen to edit fielding positions on the fly. The only downside is that fielders always return the ball to the wicket keeper's end. Another anomaly is that the CPU player will rarely take singles, making for some odd moments when there's plenty of time for them to run but they don't do so.

At bat

The batting controls are surprisingly simple compared to the EA offering. In Cricket 2005 you could choose between front foot, back foot, defensive and attacking shots. Here we have regular, defensive and attacking shots in Brian Lara International Cricket. So it seems we have less choice, less control?

Not really. Although in theory the EA game offered more, the batting is seriously broken and too difficult to be of any use at all. In Brian Lara you have a game that gives plenty of choice on how to make your shots and where to place them. The timing seems more natural and you can start think about shot placement, strategy and fielder positions rather than worrying if leather is ever going to hit willow (but that's enough of my Buffy fantasies). However there is a problem in that it's not possible to play a sweeper shot, one of the elementary shots against a spinner. Ridiculous this has been left out.

Both the batsman and bowler have confidence metres. Successful hits or bowls will increase it enable extra moves, more specialist bowling actions for example. The batsman also has a timing metre which will display the information from the last shot so you can work on improving your stroke throughout the game.

Pavilion end

The presentation is rather splendid, with some great commentary from a large, well-known team of cricket broadcasting pros. The graphics are mostly very good, looking crisp, details and colourful compared to the blurry mess of the EA game. The player models look and move well, though the faces are terrible, they look like something from the last generation where most sports game models seemed zombified.

But don't let that put you off, most of the time you'll be looking at a very good looking game with great presentation. There's good use of camera angles to ensure the wicket isn't obscured while bowling and in the field, and picture-in-picture is used when making runs.

Codemasters has licensed the Hawkeye system for the game, so we get to see those trademark effects from the TV. When caught leg before wicket there's a replay of the projected ball's path, after an over you get to see the path of each ball. It's all very neat and adds to a game that's confident about the way it looks and feels.

Close of play

So what we have a good looking, easy to pick up and play cricket game with a lot of depth for those of you willing to try the higher skill levels. It does get quite hard but there are options there for the beginning and it is one of the best sports titles released recently.

It's not entirely perfect; the lack of sweeper shots and the CPU's reluctance to run are the major glitches. And the lack of many licensed players does mean it doesn't quite feel like the full deal. But offered the choice between real players and a rubbish game, or this one with its soundalike names - I know I'd take Brian Lara International Cricket. You will see real names if you play the ICC Trophy or the 2003 World Cup, but not in the rest of the game.

The AI is occasionally suspect, but most of the time you'll find yourself enjoying playing BLIC. I can easily recommend the game, especially for some multiplayer fun. But try before you buy if you are just going to play single player.