Those interested in having a game of Cricket may be better of buying an actual Cricket bat.
User Rating: 4 | Cricket 2004 PS2
Important note: This review is based off the PC version, but is posted here due to it not being present in the GS database. Apologies in advance. Cricket on computers and consoles has a very underwelming history. Very few games have been able to capture the true spirit of Cricket, and those that have, like Audiogenic's Cricket series and Super International Cricket for the SNES, have got away with it by being cute and arcadey. Sadly, while other sports were basking and thriving in the new worlds of 3D, Cricket seems to have gotten the rough end of it all. Alas, EA Sports Australia's Cricket 2004 is just another bump in the road to "getting it right". With over four years experience with the series now, it makes no sense that EA Sports Australia should release such a goudy package. The graphics have not improved one iota, the sound is very unprofessional, and the gameplay has been ruined beyond belief. It beggar's belief that something bearing the EA Sports brand could be this bad, frankly. All this is actually a shame, because under all these deficiencies lie some very important improvements. The stump physics have finally been fixed up, the third umpire now actually looks properly at replays to check for run-outs and stumpings, and LBW has been fixed as well. The game also features a great assortment of teams from around the world, both International and Domestic, and offers a wide range of gameplay options. This, alas, is the end of the positive section of the review. All the teams, modes, and presentation tweaks in the world won't save you if you get the gameplay wrong, and Cricket 2004 gets it so wrong it's not funny. Working off a timing system when batting, you have to work your batsman into position, remember what keys play what shot, then make the appropriate button push. If you get it wrong, which you invariably do, it often always results in a dismissal. The less said about the bowling / fielding side of things, the better. At the very least fielding can be set to automatic, so it's a case of set 'em and forget 'em, but they don't always appear where you want them to be, and they don't appear to be in any hurry to get rid of the ball once they have it. Sometimes, the controls don't even work for you. You can be left looking like an idiot trying to avoid a yorker and getting out because you hit the wrong button at the wrong time. The game sometimes doesn't even acknowledge your command, again leading to some frustrating dismissals. Bowling is a horrible broken mess, too. The game uses the "classic" circle on the groud method to determine where the ball will land before the time runs out, but alas they've got the circle that suffers from hyperactivity, so you'll find that the circle will jump around uncontrollably, most often at the most inconvenient time, and usually land you in a spot where you'll get called for a wide. And what's more - there's nothing you can do about it. Once the circle stops and the bowler starts, it's Sydney or the bush. Assuming that you got the line and length right, you then tell the game what kind of delivery you'd like to bowl, and then the bowler starts his run up. Then a "power meter" appears and you must press the same button you used to start the delivery (you remember which button you pushed, right?) before the meter reaches the line, otherwise the ball will be called a no-ball, and you must bowl the ball again. Overs of 30 balls or more are not out of the picture due to all the wides and no-balls caused by this terrible system. If you have any hair left after this experience, you're a lucky person. The computer AI is completely unbalanced, too. Even playing on the lowest difficulty against the lowest ranked team will see you get spanked all over the park, then have your team bowled out cheaply, not because of accurate bowling, but because of the game's inherent gameplay problems. Graphicly speaking, the game is inoffensive enough, but in 2004 it's just not good enough to have the cardboard cut out crowds and the cake tin stadiums. Accurately modeled and varied they are, but they look like they came out of a children's cut out book. The players themselves look terrible, and no attempt has been made to accurately model any of the real world players on the roster. Four years since their first go and they still can't get Andy Symmonds right. Sonically, you couldn't get two better commentators than Richie Benaut and Jim Maxwell, but they're made to sound like gibbering idiots here. No attempt to create any rapport between the two figures has been made, and everything sounds blocky and sampled. Other than that, the sounds are OK, but you can tell that a lot of shortcuts have been taken in the production. While the other games in the EA Sports range have grown up and moved on, the Cricket series remained perminately glued to 1999 like a security blanket.Those interested in having a game of Cricket may be better of buying an actual Cricket bat. Or better still, buy the game AND the bat, then smash the game disc with the bat. Then gather your friends and have a real game of Cricket. You'll be better for it.
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