CRICKET 2000
EA Sports has been the uncrowned king of the sports game developers for quite a some time now. They have undoubtedly produced some quality games like, the FIFA series, Superbike series, NFL and NHL series and not to mention NBA Live franchise. The last three of the aforementioned series never actually found much fan in Bangladesh, where one doesn’t see these sports played in real time and action. But one game that the Bangladeshi people adore is CRICKET. Yes, this game should be our national sports, not something like Kabaddi. However, EA Sports and Creative Assembly brings forward Cricket 2000 and lets see what it really has to offer.
Cricket 2000 is the sequel to Cricket 99, duh. Well it’s a huge improvement over the original and lets just say we should thank EA for that. The previous issue, Cricket 99, was a game that was shipped way before it was finished. The flaws being led by the glowing absence of left-handers who in real life sums up around 40%-45% of the whole international roster. Funny isn’t it. There were more shortcomings in Cricket 99 but lets not look into the past anymore, it’s the present that we should discuss.
The
game formats are pretty simple. Only problem is it’s only about ODI and
the World Cup 99. There is no Test Cricket, which is certainly something
that the gamers will look down on. The ODI format is pretty well set
though, featuring all the 12 countries that participated in the 1999 WC in
England. That means Bangladesh, Kenya and minnows Scotland are there to
battle it out against the regular 9 teams giants, in the different modes
of play. There are the friendly matches where two teams go one on one.
There is the World Cup mode. Choose a team and go win the prized Cup. Then
there is even a Super Six tournament. There are two groups, 3 on each and
the top two teams battle it out in the final. The multiplayer option is
restricted within the single keyboard-sharing play. Its better if you have
a gaming peripheral. The game of Cricket is a lengthy one and this sim
won’t let you forget that. Each match is pretty lengthy and thus the
friendly matches will be more preferred. There are options for skipping
overs and balls, as well as batting. The computer plays out the mentioned
overs and you can select highlights like fall of wickets, and 4s and 6s to
be shown. Personally I love to use this option and skip the bowling part
of the game and move on to batting as fast as I can. The absence of Test
Cricket may be a problem. There is a ball by ball game commentary
delivered by Richie Benaud and David Gower. It’s inconsistently
interesting with the tilt on the boring side. The game replays add a great
deal to the game’s plusses. The replays can be viewed from virtually any
angle and can be zoomed in and out to any degree; only problem being there
is no sound during replays.
The controls are pretty good, with a cone-based system for batting and the conventional bull’s-eye system for bowling. There aren’t much of buttons to learn about and it can be mastered pretty easily. The Physics feature is pretty good and the weather effects are clearly noticeable. The condition of the pitch really is vital for bringing out the best on a given day. There is a cool training mode to get those moves right.
The
game AI is as dumb as a doorknob. Its not been worked upon after WC99. The
developers should make a note of this while working on the next game of
this series. The game is really imbalanced thanks to the pathetic AI.
Minnows like Bangladesh can very easily shrug off the Australian team. I
ended the game without any problem from any of the tougher teams playing
as Bangladesh. There should have been atleast one competitive match. To
add to this there are clipping problems which allows players to pass
through their teammate’s or other player’s body. Looks like a horror
flick…
The game is a good one sparing the flaws mentioned. The game features support for resolution up to 1920x1600, so enjoy the graphics if your monitor supports up to that much. Buy the game if you are a great fan of Cricket. If you are just trying it out, wait around till the next issue. I am a cricket-enthusiast at heart and the game though didn’t promise a lot didn’t disappoint me that much.
