Cricket 2000

"Nice game, but so much more could have been done..."

Firstly, if you are reading this review, you should be in a cricketing country. If you aren't, I'll just sum up the rules on cricket in a few words. You have a bat. The bowler has a ball. He bowls (NOT throws) the ball, you hit it. Simple, ain't it? Of course, there's a lot more to cricket than that, but on to the review.
This game looked great from what I had seen of it before I bought it. I learnt a new lesson the day I installed it - never, absolutely never, trust previews directly from the video game company. So, without further delay...I give you the review.

Graphics - 7/10
The game looks good for a game made about 4 years ago. The uniforms and stadiums are nicely done, and in all, the look makes you feel that you're in the game.
However, the player faces are the same for any one team. What I mean is that the designers made a texture of the captain's face, and gave the entire team that texture. It isn't a major problem, but it gets annoying that the only way to distinguish one player from another is to look at their numbers. Also, the umpire's dreaded index finger is now his entire hand. I don't know why, and I won't ask.

Sound - 9/10
Excellent sound. The crowd noises are well done, and it really is a nice touch to hear them clapping in rythm to the bowler's run up. The bat and ball noises are nice too. It makes you feel that the ball really did come off the bat. What I liked most, however, was that each team has a different appealing sound - it's nice to hear the 'Howzat' change according to which teams are playing. Commentary is nicely done as well, with the commentators saying something every now and then. It's not perfect, though. They say practically the same thing every time you hit a four. Also, they sometimes say the wrong thing, like, ''Well, down the leg side, it should be a wide.'' when the ball went down the off side. Apart from that, the sound is spot on.

Controls - 10/10
This game has very simple, easy to use controls. You choose from either the keyboard, the mouse, or a gamepad. All of them are simple, yet effective.

Gameplay - 4/10
This game offers a slider for adjusting the difficulty. I personally find that there are just two levels of difficulty: extremely easy and frightenly hard. It doesn't matter, though. You can still dismiss an entire team for under 100 runs, regardless of the difficulty. Feilders are computer-controlled, which I don't like. They tend to go after the ball in a straight line, when it is better to run along the boundary, then meet the ball.
This game has bad collision detection. Very bad. If you slow down the replays, you can see the ball being deflected without being near the bat. It's very odd, but not noticeable otherwise. I still like to bat despite all this. In spite of all the flaws, it's still fun.
The only thing giving this a bad rating is that it seems that even the developers do not know the rules of the game. The Ball is not, I repeat, IS NOT supposed to bounce more than once on the playing surface! I have bowled balls that have bounced about 4 times before it reaches the batsmen. And yes, I take wickets with them. Um...balls that bounce more than once are supposed to be called no-balls. A simple thing such as this just brings the entire game down.

Playing options - 5/10
Firstly, you can't play test matches. Big minus, especially when you consider that many of the players' in-game stats have their highest test score listed. My guess is that they wanted to put test matches in, but didn't have the time.
The match options aren't bad. You can select a wide variety of stadiums, and whether you want a day match or a night match. Even the match length can be adjusted, from 5 overs to 75 overs.
Another big minus is that you can't edit the players. C'mon, EA UK, this is a sports game. People retire, new players come in. Why can't we edit at least the player names?

Replay value - 8/10
This is a sports game. Replay value is near infinite.

Overall - 8/10
This game is fun if you love cricket and have some time to spare. It delivers a fairly accurate representation of one-day cricket. I wouldn't actually recommend buying the game unless you rent it first, in case you don't like it. I like the game, but I just think that it could have been so much better if EA Sports UK had worked on it for a few more months.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/11/04