| Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 |
| Posted on 3rd May 2007 by Tom Hully |
The so-and-so cricket series from Codemasters returns for another year, but upon playing this version it is oh so much better than the previous yearly offerings. Just as EA's Cricket 07 was released late last year to capitalise on the then-upcoming Ashes Series, Ricky Ponting International Cricket 2007 (or the Brian Lara version for us in the UK), is being unleashed right in the middle of another major tournament: the ICC Cricket World Cup that has just finished in the West Indies with plenty of eventful moments. The timing is apt, and not only because of the game's official World Cup licence. With its focus on easy playability and simple controls, International Cricket 2007 certainly feels more like the limited overs version of the sport--quick, exciting, and with a focus on big hits and high scores. The game's lack of comprehensive Test Match or Tour options as well as real player names only appearing in the World Cup mode may irk cricket fanatics, but others looking for a more accessible game to play with friends will certainly find plenty to enjoy.
Limited overs encounters form the crux of International Cricket 2007, and although you are given the option to play one-off Test Matches complete with the requisite two innings per side, most of the modes in the game revolve around the drama and excitement of the more frenetic experience of the one day variant of the game. The game's flagship mode is the actual ICC Cricket World Cup tournament itself, which features all of the qualifying countries’ teams available for your choosing (which are also arrayed in their real-world tournament groupings). As well as the main World Cup, the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy competition held in India also gets its own dedicated mode, and once again features the exact 8 teams that were involved. From here on in, the game types are up to you. For example, you can set up custom Test Matches, One Day Internationals, or Twenty20 games; but the bad news is that only 16 teams (the teams that took part in the ICC World Cup) are available for selection. There are no tour modes or domestic competitions, as this game is purely focused on capturing the atmosphere of international One Day tournaments and custom matches. Working in its favour, however, is the decent benefit that cricket really is a world-renowned sport (well, from the UK eastwards with the exception of the average Canada national team). So while only 16 teams are playable, the world's biggest and best cricketing nations are represented (as well as minnows such as Ireland, Bermuda and Canada). What will probably annoy fans more is the annoying tinkering of player names and likenesses by the developers, as the real players have only been included in the main mode of the game (so England’s legendary paceman Andrew Flintoff becomes A. Flintaeff when you view his profile when setting up a custom match for example).
Despite the fact that it has been 2 years since the last incarnation of Codies’ cricket offering hit the shelves, anyone with any knowledge of cricket will pick the game up pretty quickly. For those who are just getting in to the virtual version of the game however, the intuitive training modes that the game provides will certainly help. These cover the three aspects of the game; bowling, batting and fielding, although you can tackle them in any order.
Batting is performed by a simple combination of the left thumbstick for aiming your shots and either the A or B buttons depending on which type of shot you wish to play. However, this is governed by the effective confidence meters present on the left hand side of the screen: every batsman starts with 50% confidence, and this increases or decreases depending upon how successful you are at playing attacking or defensive shots (using the X button) or judging the type of delivery the bowler is aiming for. When the bowler starts his run up, you can move the facing batsman left or right across his crease using the shoulder (LB and RB) buttons, in order to get into position to play a shot in reference to the circular target marker on the pitch where the ball will bounce, or to simply cover your stumps as the batsmen are strangely preset to stand with their wicket completely exposed upon the start of each delivery. There are 3 overall shot types, defensive (X button) and two attacking shots (A for a groundstroke, or B for a slog shot which will launch the ball into the air and to the boundary baseball-style). To help with your aim with the more active shots, helpful radar is positioned on the lower right hand side of the screen, which shows the positions of the fielders on the opposing team with white dots, leaving you to just pick your preferred gap.
Bowling is also very quick to master, with the A, B, X and Y buttons corresponding to the 4 possible delivery options. For pace (or fast) bowlers, the four options are a stock delivery (A), a slower ball (the Y button) and either left or right swing with the X and B buttons respectively. How much swing you place on the ball can be intensified using the shoulder buttons, allowing you to create almost curveball-like deliveries with the higher quality bowlers. To add even more variety, two special deliveries can be utilised using the left and right triggers. These can only be used when a particular bowler’s confidence has reached 100%, and are very effective particularly when used against lower-position batsmen. Spin bowling is just as simple to master, with the X and B buttons now determining which direction the ball turns; and the special deliveries even more spectacular on some occasions than the pace bowler’s special skills. However, you do have to watch your step when you bowl, as a distance meter appears when your bowler reaches the peak of his run. Press the relevant button (such as A) when the meter reaches the bold white limit line, otherwise the meter will max out and that ball will be given as a no or foul ball with you overstepping your bowling marker. Targeting is also a pretty much point and click affair; simply move the reticule to the desired spot on the pitch and press the relevant delivery button.
On the other hand, this simplicity suddenly fades somewhat when you begin to field. There are three different options for any fielding player, either to throw to the bowlers’ end of the pitch or the wicketkeeper with the left or right triggers, or attempting a catch with the A button. That said, another timing meter appears when your player nears the ball, and the fact that this meter seems to have a mind of its own in some instances makes the art of fielding accurately an annoyingly difficult task to master.
Finally, the online modes of the game are just as detailed as in the single player: you get to pick between the 16 teams present in the game and join games with up to 4 teams competing in round-robin style tournaments. However, as with all sports games on Xbox Live there is the annoying tendancy of the diehard players having a case of last-chance saloon gaming when their team even slightly begins to lose: Pro Evolution Soccer 6 being a prime example of this.
In conclusion, the aforementioned simplicity of two of the three techniques involved in the game makes it a joy to pick up and play, the teams are nicely balanced, and the range of stadiums you can play in are very nicely detailed (with the glaring exception of the crowd, which seem to have caught the ugly FIFA bug of cardboard-thinness). The players themselves are also a joy to watch, with all the teams kits being as accurately modelled as possible and the range of movements displayed by both human and AI controlled players is varied and incredibly fluid. On the whole though, the experience of this game is pretty much perfect even for the part-time cricket fan. |
Single Player Score: 8/10
Multiplayer Score: 8/10
Overall Score: 8/10 |
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