Brian Lara International Cricket

Brain Lara cricket is one of the best cricket game that has been played all over the world. The graphics seems to be realistic and you don't feel playing game on a play station. The interface of the game has been made user friendly to offer convenience to the end users.

Overview

As with it's football counterpart, Cricket games are divided into roughly 2 divisions. The EA sport variety and the non EA sport variety. As good as the EA sports brand name is, it has often failed to live up to being the dominant gamer in many sports. In football the Fifa series has been playing second fiddle to Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer games. In cricket, EA sports has been in battle with Codemasters to establish itself as the leading name for cricket games. Comparing EA sports Cricket 2005 and Codemasters Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 (BLIC) you will find that EA Sports has once again produced the inferior game.

Graphics

BLIC also released as Ricky Ponting International Cricket 2005 in Australia and New Zealand is an easy to pick up cricket game unlike Cricket 2005 which takes a long time to master on even on 'easy' difficulty. Graphically Cricket 2005 wins hands down, there is simply no question of this. BLIC has not advanced to much in the realm of graphics, the players have a cartoonish feel to them and look physically peculiar to say the least. Having said that the cricket environment still looks pretty realistic and the movement of batsmen and bowlers is pretty accurate as well. The graphics have improved from the last version of BLIC but that's hardly a surprise since that game was released six years earlier than this version. I am of the opinion that a game doesn't have to be brilliantly graphically to constitute itself as a good game, nevertheless this is always helps with realism in particular for sporting game and is something that should be looked at in the future for Codemasters.

One disadvantage this game has over Cricket 2005 is the name licensing, while EA sports have captured the rights to use the real cricket names, BLIC fans must be content with using slightly modified versions of the real names. This is bearable but still rather annoying. The stadiums look fairly good and though I can only claim to have been to a couple of the stadiums, the ones I do know look reasonably authentic. The crowd, however, is forgettable, and I do believe there is only one set of umpires regardless of where, who and what you are playing.

Gameplay

The main appeal in the game is the gameplay and the balance between bat and ball. These are the fundamental requirement to create a successful cricket game. If scoring is ridiculously easy but bowling is really hard then it will becomes frustrating after a while and vice versa. The beauty of BLIC 2005 is that given a bit of time, both batting and bowling can be learnt well, but to master it is a different case.

The controls have been a major problem in cricket games of the past, but with BLIC, Codemasters has overhauled the "traditional" control scheme used by all of the EA cricket series, and created an easy to learn, intuitive control scheme that really does set BLIC apart from the EA series.

Batting

In BLIC, you have a button for the attacking shot along the ground, a defensive shot, and an aerial shot, giving entirely more control over shot selection as opposed to the one shot button used in EA's cricket series, and the L1 and R1 shoulders buttons are used for movement around the crease, making batting a simpler task. However, there is no button to advance down the track or leave the ball, which really does hurt the realism of batting in this game, as both are used frequently in an actual game of cricket. Batting like most cricket games comes down to timing and the correct choice of shot for the appropriate ball. This simply requires some practise to achieve.

Bowling

Bowling has also been overhauled, and it is now far less predictable for batsmen, meaning that there should no longer be insane totals on anything greater than the lowest difficulties, unless of course one of the players is a no-hoper, and leading to some very bowling dominated contests (something not seen in any cricket games to date). The run up is initiated with the X button, and a power meter appears, which fills up as the bowler approaches the crease. To achieve maximum speed (or turn for a spinner), the player must stop the meter on, or as close to the line as they can get, without the bar filling over the line, in which case the bowler oversteps and delivers a no ball, however it is worth noting that the fastest deliveries are the balls that are the slightest amount over the line, not so much as to be a no ball, but just on or over the line. Any of the 4 face buttons on the controller can be used to stop the meter, and each one produces a different type of ball depending on the type of bowler, for example for a right arm fast bowler to a right handed batsman, the X button will produce a standard, fast ball, the Square button will produce a leg cutter that will move away from the batsman off the pitch, the Circle button will produce an off cutter that will move into the batsman off the pitch and the Triangle button will produce a slower ball intended to produce a false stroke from a batsman expecting it to come faster.

A handy new control feature is the control of swing using the L1 and R1 buttons after the ball is released, meaning the batsman will no longer know what the ball is going to do until it happens, making bowling a much more enjoyable, and bearable task. Another cool control gimmick not seen before is the control of fielders, and while you do not actually move them around or field the ball, you do control the strength and accuracy of your throws, and the catching of your fielders with a meter that you must stop as close to the small white centre line as possible, and while it does get annoying to have to throw the ball in almost every delivery, Codemasters must be applauded for bringing something new into the genre.

The gameplay is without doubt the best available anywhere, with the difficulties enabling the game to play like an arcade slogfest, great for quick, fun games with mates, to serious test match like scenarios, with barely seconds to react to quick bowlers and viciously turning pitches, making batting a nightmare. My biggest gripe with the actual gameplay of BLIC is the fact that even on the fastest bowlers in the world, even at 160+kph on a good length, if the player hardest, difficulty the worst tail enders can still crack giant sixes off the just uses the circle button. This makes the BLIC feel overly like that of an arcade game for the hardcore cricket fans, but on the flip side also creates a wider audience for the game. Another minor problem is the fact that your fielders can only throw in the ball to the keepers end, and the run outs are always assisted, which can be frustrating as often there would be a certain run out if you could throw to the bowlers end. There is a limited create a player mode in BLIC, in which your character starts as a very average player, but as you score runs, take wickets and make catches/run outs, you score points to improve your batting, bowling and fielding respectively, however it takes barely any time to reach the maximum stats at which point your player becomes like a cricketing mastermind (although it seems even the best created fast bowlers are only capable of bowling at a fast medium pace)

Sound

As far as cricket games go, sound normally refers to either noises on the field/crowd or that provided by the commentary team . Brian Lara International Cricket brings together the voices of cricket, including David Gower, Tony Greig, Jonathan Agnew, Ian Bishop, and Bill Lawry, to form the biggest commentary team ever featured in any cricket game. The commentary on most part is accurate and largely beneficial to the game. Cricket 2005 players will no doubt be aware of the commentary glitches prevalent in that game and the fact it takes away focus from the actual game. BLIC suffers none of these problems. The other sound is accurate enough, you don't quite get the feel of a lively Twenty20 game as such but nevertheless it is pretty accurate.

Tournaments

As for the different variations in the game, most cricket fans will tell you that one-day and Twenty20 stuff isn't the real game. They'll tell you that the only way to determine a good cricketer is over a five-day test match. Now this presents a dilemma for cricket games as it is inconceivable that even the most avid of fans will be prepared to play up 2 five days of a match in the normal sense. Therefore inevitable corners have been cut and there is a greater emphasis on the shorter form of the game. This is understandable as not many will have the patience nor the will power to play a full on test series of 5/6 test matches. ICC Cricket World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy are the two main one day tournaments that can be played and both are licensed by the ICC (International Cricket Council). There is also the option of playing Test match tours at home and away. This is mainly for the enthusiastic cricket fan as one tour can take a long time to play.

Multiplayer feature isn't too bad. You principally have two options. You can play together with a partner as the same team, where in batting one person controls one batsman, the other player the other batman. When it comes to bowling is just an over at a time, i.e. each player bowls an alternative over each. The other option is the classical one, in which you and a partner compete against each other, it's exactly how you would imagine, not much to it. The only thing I would say is that for this type of game to be competitive it is required that each player be equivalently of the same experience else there will be many a one sided match. That goes without saying really for any sporting (or even most fighting games)

Conclusion

Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 is quite comfortably the best cricket game available is likely to be so until the 2007 version is released. Only if Cricket 2007 (which is scheduled for release in Nov 2006) is markedly improved by EA Sports will BLIC face any competition as the best cricket game available. It does lack in licensing and is not as good graphics wise but the core of the game, i.e. that of batting, bowling and fielding are head and shoulders above that of it competitor, the EA Sports series. For a realistic, fun and entertaining cricket game then look no further than Brian Lara International Cricket.

Introduction - My compare-view (Because I compare Brian Lara International Cricket with EA Cricket as I review!) is based on the single-player and multi-player games that I've played in COUNTY difficulty on XBOX. I have made comparisons with EA very often, and this is inevitable. I'm not a EA fanboy, and I prefer PES over FIFA, and I'm not a Codie's fanboy either, and I didn't like Club Football. I'm just a fanboy of good games rather than that of any developer. I'm in my late twenties, and I've been a hardcore cricket fan for the last 15-20 years (this declaration has become very important in this context). I was playing casual cricket until a few years back. I spend around 5-10 hours a week playing games.

Presentation - 7/10 : The presentation was very good, and nothing much to complain about, but sometimes the menus were not that user-friendly, especially when you wanted to swap to players in a squad where it took more time than you would expect. Certainly EA's presentation was more attractive, colourful and eye-catching than BLIC, but as we all know, the presentation does not hold major weight when judging a game.

Gameplay - 8/10 : All in all, gameplay gets 8/10 for the gripping ODI feeling that BLIC gives, and the complete control over the game that you can feel. Let me comment on the gameplay in a detailed manner.

Batting - 7/10 : Batting is fun in BLIC. With the range of shots available and a relatively easy timing for the shots, batting is real fun. There is no front/backfoot option, but I did not miss that at all. In EA, all shots that we play are premeditated shots because we know the line and length of the ball a few seconds before you play the shot, and you can't move the pitching marker once it has been set. In BLIC, the bowler can always move the marker even after setting it, and interestingly, even until the shot is played. This is very interesting because, I cannot afford to have one premeditated shot for a ball as the opponent can move the marker at any time. I need to think of a few possibilities, and I need to have some more shots ready to play if the ball is moved. For me, this is more like real cricket.

One more good thing is, in grounds like MCG, I ran 4 runs which I don't think is possible in EA (you get 2 or four, even 3 is rare in EA). If your opponent sets the right field, and bowls the right line and length, batting is not as easy as many people here think. I do miss the sweep shot, but I'm happy that I'm not sweeping Shoaib Akhtar for a six. At least the advance shot should have been included. And finally, the tailenders bat like tailenders. I love the way they swing and miss. This fact makes us protect the wicket of one good batsman, if you want some good score on the board. Maybe EA does not make this distinction in the batting capabilities, and you can score a 50 or 100 even with Glen McGrath.

Probably in RPIC, they should include sweep shot and advance shot, and make the timing a little more difficult, then you would go crazy with BLIC batting.

Bowling - 9/10 : With no autoplay option, I was more or less forced to bowl, and I was pleasantly surprised. Initially, it took time for me to understand the controls, and once got hang of it, man, it was more fun than batting. As I mentioned before, the option of moving the ball marker at any point before the shot really gives a lot of strength to the bowlers. As we all know, the bowling speed is a big disappointment, and this should be fixed at least in RPIC. Though it is painful to see Brett Lee bowling at 70kph, it did not affect my game big time. I still went ahead and enjoyed the game with this limitation, and got adjusted to the timing. It is possible to bowl at the same spot throughout the over. This needs to be fixed, as not all bowlers can do that, and it is certainly not possible to bowl with that discipline when you're being belted around. The umpire was a little lenient with the wides. I saw some deliveries which are clearly wide as per ODI standards let off by the umpire.

Fielding - 9/10 : The change of the fielding set-up is very very user-friendly. In EA, to have a custom field you would need to go to the menu, and it is very frustrating to set a custom field of your choice. BLIC custom field set up is very quick and easy. The drag and drop of fieldsmen in the field setup screen is a nice idea. And I was impressed by that little notification saying "fielding restrictions have been lifted". That's very useful info to have in the middle of the match.

The 'mandatory' manual fielding is joy as well. This puts things under our complete control, and we take the blame for not running out or spilling catches. Might also be good to have a button press which should make the fielder closer to the ball, and run faster. Sometimes, I've noticed indifferent styles of running by the outfielders. There are no desperate dives to save a boundary. The catching animations could have been better. Many non-slip catches are taken below knee-level. Also, I find that the catching by the bowler, keeper, and the slip cordon, is not controlled by the user. This has been excluded, maybe because the reflex time is less, and you need to respond instantly after you bowl. Maybe even this can be brought under our control i.e. matrix style, once the ball is nicked, the travel to the keeper is slower than normal for the user to time the catch. Third umpire decisions are not a real thrill, or as suspenseful in BLIC as in the real game.

Artificial Intelligence (?) - 3/10 : The major let down of BLIC is not the sweep shot, advance shot, or the bowling speed. It is the incompetent and poor AI. Having scored 94 runs in 10 overs as India, I don't expect the AI to complete 10 overs with 30 runs for 5 wickets as Austalia. That's what happened, and AI didn't even give a fight. I would been somewhat okay with 30 allout, but to stay at 30-5 after 10 overs with Symonds and Clarke at the crease, is not really good. When the AI is so poor you can't take pride in winning matches against AI. And if you don't take pride in winning, you may not play. The incompetency of AI also includes the easy singles bug, where AI denies a single when easily available. Add to this AI not taking an easy single, and this way its score is less by 30 - 40 runs in a 50-over match, which can be very crucial. In EA, the AI is much better, it will make you sweat for your victory. With a better AI, this would make a great game, and this would really widen the gap between BLIC and EA.

Multiplayer - 9.5/10 : Easily the best feature of the game. All those who are not happy with the AI of BLIC, should definitely try the multiplayer game in BLIC. The multiplayer experience was wholesome and fantastic. I played a 30-over match with my friend yesterday, where he was playing as India and was bowled out for 128. When I chased, I collapsed initially and recovered, but fell short by 3 runs.

This match had all the ingredients of an ideal ODI. It had clean bowlers, run outs, very good catches, and drops etc... Even the run rate was very realistic, around 5.00 to 5.25, which is more like international cricket. We were really creative with our field setup and bowling changes. It felt like we were playing a real match.

The drawback in multiplayer is the bowler being able to bowl at the same spot throughout the over. AI will bowl at random spots, but we can't resist humans from exploiting this. We do have a gentleman's agreement of bowling a maximum of 2 yorkers per over when field restrictions are on, and a maximum of 3 per over otherwise. In co-op, the concept of one player doing the bowling, and the other taking charge if the fielding is very refreshing and very interesting. As someone mentioned, in co-op play, the striker makes a call and makes both the batsmen run. In EA, co-op allows the striker and non-striker to run independently of the other, which is more like real cricket.

My friends and I are still so badly addicted with the multiplayer game. And amazingly, each match turns out to be a thriller. No cricket game has ever brought these thrills and spills of the cricket game so well.

One caveat - Don't play in TEST difficulty in multiplayer games. My human opponent couldn't play the Akhtar deliveries I was bowling (I couldn't play his Lee deliveries either). If you play in TEST difficulty, it will soon become a pointless match with unrealistic scores. PLAY IN COUNTY difficulty in multiplayer games, and I'm sure it would be a cracker of a game.

Audio - 5/10 : The audio in BLIC is so-so. Good commentary team. In the absence of the player licenses, they are not able to say the players' names in the commentary, which is very unfortunate. To fill this gap, they comment on various things about cricket which sometimes overlaps the occurrences on the field. Crowd reactions are very good. The in-game sound effects of ball hitting bat and stumps are also fine. I don't know whether many people noticed this In EA Cricket, but when a player fields a ball or receives a throw, the audio you hear is that of the ball shattering the stumps. No such goof-up in BLIC.

In-game presentations - 6/10 : The graphics and player animations are excellent. I would say much better animated than EA. The game can be slowed a little (only a little), to appreciate the Codie's hard work and intelligent strokeplay. That is, when AI square cut a ball, and even before I could see the shot to my satisfaction, and realise whether it was well timed or ill-timed, the next screen is the third person view of the fielder trying to catch the ball. Sometimes, I've held catches without knowing whether I caught with the mid-on fielder or mid-off fielder.

The 'LOADING' screen before every over is not much of a problem, but could have been avoided. You get to see the scoreboard every time you lose a wicket. And also whenever a bowler starts his over, the bowling figures of that bowler are displayed. I liked these small things which are very nice to have. But generally, I like the speed of the game. It is now possible to play a 50-over match and complete it in good time.

The lack of player license is not really an issue but for the commentary. Because there is an 'edit player names' option where you can edit all the names, or if you have a PC version, you can upload the names. Each squad has 16 players and that's it. Some squads are not updated, and hence, either you need to rename some unwanted player with the player name you want, provided they have the same kind of profile (Right Arm Fast etc). The other option is to create a player and include him in the squad. EA's squad list is incredibly comprehensive and exhaustive.

The day/night matches in BLIC are a welcome feature, as EA does not have day/night matches. The variable weather feature is also something that is missing in EA. With variable weather, conditions during the match keep changing, you need to be good captain to take advantage of this. You can also save at the beginning of each over. This save option was such a relief after EA missed out on this in the Xbox version. Hawkeye is a BLIC special, but does not add any special value to the game. It is nice have though. EA has much better post-game stats and graphs.

How it compares with EA - 70:30 - On the whole, if you want a wholesome and entertaining cricketing experience, BLIC wins hands down. BLIC is not the best simulation of cricket, but this comes closer to real cricket than EA Cricket. EA Cricket is good, but you may not really enjoy it due to the slowness, limitations, and bugs. Whereas in BLIC you would certainly enjoy all departments of the game, and you may be bored with the AI opponent, but never with the human opponent.

Final Conclusion 8/10 : Very good first attempt by Swordfish, and a good comeback by Codemasters. Before the release of BLIC, I had rated EA Cricket 8/10, but now with BLIC in the picture, EA should be downgraded to 6/10. You certainly would not regret buying this game. The best cricket game in all respects has not arrived yet, but when it arrives it would surely be from Codemasters and not from EA.

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Chat, discuss & argue on Cricket - http://willow.ezforum.org/

I only found out Brain Lara International Cricket was due for release a couple of weeks ago, and, being a big fan of the first, I decided it would be wrong for me not to get it by default. There was the debate however as to whether or not I should get this or cricket 2005. I'm not a huge fan of EA (preferring Pro Evo over FIFA) so I opted for this remake of the classic title. I started by doing a few overs in the nets (nice option to get used to the game) but soon found me wanting to test out the real thing. There are 4 levels of difficulty in this game, Slog Mode, Village, County and Test, increasing in difficulty respectively (although I have not tried slog mode, but you can pretty much guess what it's about). I decided to go with village (easy) difficulty for starters and immediately very much enjoyed the game; Batting was straightforward, Bowling fairly enjoyable, but this is when I noticed certain flaws in the game. When bowling, the CPU batsmen seemed to find it very easy to play DRIVE shots which would somehow go flying towards fine leg or 3rd man... for six?! Increasing the difficulty does seem to rectify this but then the batting becomes much more difficult, with practice you can get used to it (like any game) but there really isn't any middle ground. I've probably played around 20 hours or so on this game, by myself and multiplayer (much more enjoyable) and am still yet to actually RUN OUT the computer which leads me on to the new fielding engine. It's very basic... basically, for every ball which goes to a fielder (with the exception of bowler, WK and slips) you have to use the bar which comes up and press [A] at the right time to get a better delivery back to the wicket keeper... and only the wicket keeper! There is no option to throw the ball directly at the stumps or to the bowlers end, even if the run out is much more likely to come from that position! This is something which I'm sure could have been remedied very easily but was unfortunately overlooked.

There is a lot of variety with the bowling, every ball you could wish to play is available for selection and the inclusion of hawk eye is a fantastic touch (to find out why that Aussies legs you just smashed didn't walk!). The introduction of bowler and batsmen morales is a very good idea and allows for other interesting gaming additions. The main one being that when a bowler's confidence (morale) is full, he can then perform a special kind of ball which can put the batsmen under a lot of pressure e.g. the Yorker or bouncer for fast/medium paced bowlers and the special googly, doosra etc. for the spinners. I finished my first test match which I played with a mate yesterday and it offered a lot of entertainment, trying to build good batting partnerships and taking unlikely wickets against the likes of Lara! Every now and then, however, if the batsman misses one of the bowlers shots, the game will cut to a kind of FMV (I guess) to show a bit of banter between both batsmen and bowler which is obviously quite common in today's game. But, and it's a big but, it's completely unentertaining and quite honestly pointless! Neither of them actually says anything and it's always the same every time, it has no influence on the game at all and just wastes time. It's unfortunately another of those things in the game which obviously wasn't really thought through. Also, there are only 2 (I think) real player names actually in the game, there is the option to change player names so I have personally updated all the England player names (couldn't be doing with Mr.Flintoff being named Flantiff!) but I didn't find this to be much of a flaw and codemasters can't be blamed, there are few companies that would be able to challenge EA in an auction to buy all the official licenses! While playing through a test match, every now and then during humid or cloudy weather the light will be offered to the batsmen and there can often be weather delays, there is a great sun glare when playing in the evening and the bowlers are offered a new ball after a certain number of overs. Its touches like these that make playing the game an enjoyable experience.

With the inclusion of more statistics and touching on the points I've made above, this game could have been as well remembered as the original. But I'll probably just be playing it for the summer, trying to re-enact the ashes... in a version where England win... I think I might have to switch to slog mode!

Firstly I must say that Codemasters got the release date just right (start of the Ashes Series) for Brian Lara International Cricket. Just when people like me are crying out for a decent cricket game since Brian Lara on the Mega Drive. This game hasn't evolved much since the Sega console version apart from a few additions. The chance to create up to 3 career players, editing their type of bowling, batting, fielding position, kit bag and even whether they wear sun block, nice touch. After each game, depending on the amount of runs, wicket and catches you make you are allocated points to improve your player, nice touch again. Although I would have like more career stats e.g. innings, average run/bowl stats, 50s, 100s, they could have learned a lot from a game on the original playstation called Cricket Manager.

Like all the cricket games I started batting and after a couple of over I wanted to slog everything for six but I'm getting over that now!

Overall this is a good game, I haven't played EA but in general I'm not keen on their flash presentation/no game play ethic!

I almost forgot, Your able to save the game between overs which handy.