Review
Cricket 07 Review (PS2)
It’s December, which means it’s cricket season, and for those days when you’re not dedicatedly and steadfastly perched in front of the TV, EA Sports has put together Cricket 07.
They say that it’s a funny old game. Of course, they were actually talking about football, but they could have just as easily been talking about cricket. Or, more to the point, they could have been talking about Cricket 07, because it’s an extremely funny old game. But that’s pretty much where the problems begin, since it’s not actually intended to be a joke.
It’s difficult to know exactly who Cricket 07 is meant to appeal to; there’s plenty of options for trading and setting up teams for those who take their sport seriously, as well as the option to create your own player. This falls a little flat though – oddly, there’s options for adjusting the tip of your player’s nose, but only one pair of sunglasses. The actual gameplay, particularly the much vaunted “Century Stick” control, feels much too simplistic, however.
Essentially, the Century Stick allows you to flick the right analogue stick in the direction you want to hit the ball, whilst controlling your batsman’s footing with the left stick. It sounds like a good idea on paper, but is let down in practice, with the ball only actually travelling in eight straight diagonal lines which takes a little of the fun out of it, to say the very least. The batsman’s ability to bat effectively is controlled by their confidence, which grows depending their efforts in an innings, meaning that it takes some time before you’ll be hitting 4s and 6s – something that makes the game feel a little too based on stats and numbers, and less on actual player ability.
Players can bowl different kinds of balls, which are chosen before the run up – these then need to be directed correctly using the left analogue stick. To make things more challenging, the target continues to move right up until the ball is released by the bowler. Unfortunately, given the standard of analogue control on the PS2, this is an infinitely more difficult task then it should be, and bowling quickly becomes a chore; especially when playing a test, in which it’s hard to even feel compelled to finish a match.
This isn’t helped by the game’s dated and bland graphics, which make the grounds featured (which, incidentally, are only “modelled” on the real grounds, and aren’t licensed replications) look inexplicably smaller than they actually are. Players also suffer, with jerky movement and an irritating reliance on repetitive animation. Even worse than that is the game’s commentary, which sees former English player Mark Nicholas and Richie Benaud saying the exact same phrases over and over again – especially in the more conservatively batted test matches, during which you’ll generally hear Benaud talking about the ball going “straight to the fielder” at least once every three balls, if not more.
One of the most disturbing elements is the fact that bowlers in one day matches can bowl more than 10 overs, which completely disregards the rules of the game. This wouldn’t be so bad if it hadn’t already been noted in other games in the series. It’s hard to take a game seriously when it can’t even get the rules correct. More so, if you’re serious about your cricket, you’ll be upset to note that the only licensed teams are the ones from England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand – other than that, you’ll have to put up with fake names.
In the end, despite the additions of Twenty20 cricket, and the current Ashes tour, the game feels excruciatingly limited and monotonous – you’ll be dreading the times spent bowling, and the batting segments really aren’t any better. It’s a struggle to find anything redeeming in Cricket 07. It’s not serious enough to appeal to true fans of the game, but it’s far too tediously dry for casual fans looking to get in a few games while the test is at lunch. The only thing for it is to hope that Super International Cricket is on the Wii’s Virtual Console by this time next year…
Top Game Moment: Realising that you no longer have to bowl is undoubtedly the highlight of any experience playing Cricket 07.
They say that it’s a funny old game. Of course, they were actually talking about football, but they could have just as easily been talking about cricket. Or, more to the point, they could have been talking about Cricket 07, because it’s an extremely funny old game. But that’s pretty much where the problems begin, since it’s not actually intended to be a joke.
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| A somewhat awkward way to hold the bat, for sure | Looks like they had to ship in the cardboard crowd to boost numbers |
It’s difficult to know exactly who Cricket 07 is meant to appeal to; there’s plenty of options for trading and setting up teams for those who take their sport seriously, as well as the option to create your own player. This falls a little flat though – oddly, there’s options for adjusting the tip of your player’s nose, but only one pair of sunglasses. The actual gameplay, particularly the much vaunted “Century Stick” control, feels much too simplistic, however.
Essentially, the Century Stick allows you to flick the right analogue stick in the direction you want to hit the ball, whilst controlling your batsman’s footing with the left stick. It sounds like a good idea on paper, but is let down in practice, with the ball only actually travelling in eight straight diagonal lines which takes a little of the fun out of it, to say the very least. The batsman’s ability to bat effectively is controlled by their confidence, which grows depending their efforts in an innings, meaning that it takes some time before you’ll be hitting 4s and 6s – something that makes the game feel a little too based on stats and numbers, and less on actual player ability.
Players can bowl different kinds of balls, which are chosen before the run up – these then need to be directed correctly using the left analogue stick. To make things more challenging, the target continues to move right up until the ball is released by the bowler. Unfortunately, given the standard of analogue control on the PS2, this is an infinitely more difficult task then it should be, and bowling quickly becomes a chore; especially when playing a test, in which it’s hard to even feel compelled to finish a match.
This isn’t helped by the game’s dated and bland graphics, which make the grounds featured (which, incidentally, are only “modelled” on the real grounds, and aren’t licensed replications) look inexplicably smaller than they actually are. Players also suffer, with jerky movement and an irritating reliance on repetitive animation. Even worse than that is the game’s commentary, which sees former English player Mark Nicholas and Richie Benaud saying the exact same phrases over and over again – especially in the more conservatively batted test matches, during which you’ll generally hear Benaud talking about the ball going “straight to the fielder” at least once every three balls, if not more.
One of the most disturbing elements is the fact that bowlers in one day matches can bowl more than 10 overs, which completely disregards the rules of the game. This wouldn’t be so bad if it hadn’t already been noted in other games in the series. It’s hard to take a game seriously when it can’t even get the rules correct. More so, if you’re serious about your cricket, you’ll be upset to note that the only licensed teams are the ones from England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand – other than that, you’ll have to put up with fake names.
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| Making it look easy… | And proving that it’s not |
In the end, despite the additions of Twenty20 cricket, and the current Ashes tour, the game feels excruciatingly limited and monotonous – you’ll be dreading the times spent bowling, and the batting segments really aren’t any better. It’s a struggle to find anything redeeming in Cricket 07. It’s not serious enough to appeal to true fans of the game, but it’s far too tediously dry for casual fans looking to get in a few games while the test is at lunch. The only thing for it is to hope that Super International Cricket is on the Wii’s Virtual Console by this time next year…
Top Game Moment: Realising that you no longer have to bowl is undoubtedly the highlight of any experience playing Cricket 07.
Videos
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Cricket 07 Trailer
00:45 | 3,810 views | 3 comments
