To all
want-to-be cricket team managers.........
I was always against the game of cricket for the PC. Its just isn’t
right. Cricket requires precise timing and very keen observation. Games
like Brian Lara Cricket, EA Sports Cricket series might provide some fun
for the gamers but it never can capture the game’s true passion. The fun
in charging the bowler down the wicket when he bowls a bad ball or the
other way when a bowler decide to ball a wideish delivery when he sees the
batsman giving him the charge, can never be captured in a game until maybe
someday when we play it in virtual reality. But this really divergent game
of cricket has changed my mind.
The
first cricket game I played in the comfort of my living room was Brian
Lara Cricket 95 for the Sega Mega Drive 2 and after that played Brian Lara
Cricket 96 and many others followed them on the PC, basically the EA
Sports Cricket series. But the bug plagued games never appealed to me. But
ICC Cricket Captain 2000 is not at all like the traditional games of
cricket for the video games systems. The game has the Real Time Strategy
genre flowing within its mainstreams. In this game you assume the role of
the captain of the team of your choice, either international or county,
and lead them to ODI and Test matches during a whole season of Cricketing
fixture.
The only problem is that it doesn’t do justice to its name. It’s more like taking the job of the manager of the team. In fact you are the one and only man running the whole team. You decide which player to play in a certain match by looking at their fitness and form. You get the option to choose from a huge pool of players. The players have their stats from different form of the game- the first-class matches, general One-dayers, ODI and Test matches. You see the player’s performances in the domestic leagues and the international scene and add new players to the national side. Its not like that you can just play your best players and get away with winning every match. There are injury problems and there is always the question of fitness and form. You need to send your players to the trainers, or the physiotherapists after every match so that they are ready for the next match in the schedule. These are pre match preparations.
During
the match you are responsible for each and every decisions and actions of
your players. While batting you decide when your player will play
defensive and when to break the shackles a
nd
go after the bowling. You need to see the conditions of the day of play
and also the pitch and keep them under consideration while making your
decisions. For example, in an ODI match, on a batting pitch, you decide to
bat first, and then send in your pinch-hitters and notch up as many runs
in the first 15 overs. Then play moderately and score more runs during the
slog overs, or when you are sent in to bat in a bad pitch you play
defensively from the start and try to build a moderate total. When your
opponents come out to bat they will have the same trouble, not if more, to
score the runs. During bowling use full advantage of the pitch and use
your bowlers accordingly. The overs are all computer-generated; it’s
only the decisions that you have to make.
The game
supports a maximum of 800x600 resolution. The graphics is nothing special,
but anyway you don’t need it cause you aren’t playing, it’s the
decisions that counts. You can just cruise through the overs seeing
ball-to-ball analysis of the game. Or you can choose the highlights option
to show the things that you want to see, like the wickets, 4’s and 6’s
and also the chances put down by the fielders. Its like watching cricket
on TV, barring the match-fixing shit. The sounds are crisp and enjoyable.
The controls are basically using the mouse and are really easy. The game
supports single player game, 1-on-1 and also features multiplayer support.
That’s about the game’s features. The only thing bad about the game is
the save feature. You can’t save without exiting a game and that means
you can’t exit without saving a game. Therefore if you want to undo an
unwanted action you will have to hard-boot out of the game and restart
from a previous save point. This can be annoying at times.
All in all the game is a good investment for any cricket lover. If you are a RTS fan its even better. So go ahead and get the game. Captaining can be fun and at the same time it's a great responsibility
