"Not a game for those lacking patience"

Advantages: Nice commentary, okay graphics.
Disadvantages: Looooooonnnnnnnnnggggggggg, occasional bug, lack of options, huge loading times.
Everybody loves watching some kind old men having their balls whacked about with a large wooden object but not everyone loves cricket. And so with the obligatory testicle reference out of the way on with the opinion.

Cricket games always have been of a high standard for some reason, unlike football and rugby. I can remember playing Graham Gooch's World Class Cricket on the trusty Amiga many years ago and being astounded by the graphics and the depth of gameplay. International Cricket Captain is another fantastic example of a great cricket game but until now the gentleman's sport has been limited to PCs and Amigas but now that has all changed thanks to Brian Lara and Codemasters.

As you switch on the old grey box and slip the CD inside you are first greeted by a super little FMV showing off the graphics of the game and some lovely fours, sixes and defensive shots as well as plenty of tumbling wickets. So with the mood set you are then moved into the menu. You can dive straight into a quick start, set up a friendly, tinker with the options or maybe have a quick go in the nets. If like me you are as impatient as the hedgehogs that litter our countries roads then you'll go for the quick start. When you click on this the PlayStation will pick two teams, a venue and the weather for you and leave you with nothing to choose. Then you are taken into the loading screen. Oh dear. You'd best be pulling War and Peace off the shelf and sitting back for a while as these are loooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggg. When the first loading screen goes away you are greeted with a camera swooping and diving around a cricket ground. Then Mr Boycott and some other bloke start yakking about the pitch conditions and whether you should bat or field, should the toss go your way that is. An element of choice is included in the toss as you get to choose whether you would like heads or tails. Wow, you're so lucky. After these formalities are out of the way another loading screen is born, and this one's even longer. And when I say longer, I mean centuries longer. Civilisations will be born and fall while you wait. You will have children while you wait. New popes will be chosen while you wait. You will become senile while you wait.

When the waiting game has been played you are finally in the game proper. There are some nice graphics around all the grounds, which all seem suspiciously similar, and the players seem to resemble something human. The chances are you lost the toss and are being forced to wade through the monotony of bowling. The way it works is like this; a little circle appears on the screen and this indicates where it will bounce when you press different buttons the circle will narrow to a single point and your shot will be ready. Depending on what button you pressed a different bowl will be played. For instant if you are Shane Warne and you press X an off spin will be played but if you press O a leg spin will be played. You can choose to skip this formality but if you do the likelihood of it all will be that you end up as 45030384 for one at the end of the day. The bowling takes forever and if playing against the CPU it seems to only know defensive shots. This is the most frustrating part. Getting them out either takes 3 overs or 3 months, depending on how lucky you are. The fielding is diabolical. You only get a few fielding formations to choose from and normally you only have about 5 there. I want to be able to choose my field. I want to be able to have 6 players on the boundary and 4 players so close to the batsmen they are quite likely to have there jaws broken every time he swings.

When this drudgery is over the batting starts. The most unrealistic part of the entire game. Basically you will last about 12 overs during which time you will hit fours and sixes until you slice it or are caught. As with the bowling a different button produces a different shot. X = ground stroke, O = high shot, Square = defensive shot and Triangle = duck.

The commentary is probably the best aspect of the entire game with plenty of remarks, sometimes even vaguely funny, being included. They also seem accurate. None of your FIFA style guesses by the commentator as to what happened here. The two commentators exchange remarks with each other and if you leave it for a while they will start taking the p**s out of either each other or you.

The multi player is appallingly dull and if the other person doesn't own the game then about 4 or 5 days will be spent explaining the controls to him/her.

Overall if you have several years to spare then Brian Lara Cricket is well worth it but if you are one of the many ''casual gamers'' that grace the PlayStation scene you'd best stick to your FIFAs, your racing games and your Tomb Raiders.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/31/01, Updated 05/31/01