PlanetCricket
Bot
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2010
Today marks five years since EA Sports and HB Studios released their most recent Cricket title, EA Sports Cricket 07 on PS2 and PC. Ironically for a game that still has the most visited and active forum section on PlanetCricket, Cricket 07?s release was very much overshadowed at the time by the forthcoming release of Brian Lara International Cricket 2007, bitterness among the cricket gaming public about the small improvements over EA?s 2005 and 2004 releases, and a view that the patched versions of those games were still the way to go. Five years on and you?d have thought Cricket 07 was a masterpiece.
Such was the disappointment about Cricket 07?s minor improvements, forum administrator barmyarmy even refused the offer of a free review copy of the game (three times no less) and to this day doesn?t own a copy. The extent of the disappointment was evident as a flood of bug reports began to come in for the game, including bugs that were reported for Cricket 2005 and not fixed, like bowlers bowling over their allotted overs in one day matches; as well as major issues with LBWs, fielding, edges and more. Despite the introduction of Mark Nicholas to the commentary line up alongside stalwart Richie Benaud, complaints about repetitive, inaccurate and missing commentary continued.
Over time however, users started scratching the surface of the game with patching. Thanks to the game being such a small improvement to Cricket 2005, much of the game?s mods were able to be easily transfered to the new game, with only things like overlays, rosters and gameplay patches being unable to copy across, the game started off with a wide range of options for those who stuck with the game. The modified exe by AbBh released in early 2007 solved significant issues with the game out of the box, allowing improvements to gameplay and opening up new editing options for users. Over time, breakthroughs and a lot of effort has seen nearly everything modified. Wholescale replacements of stadiums, modifications to player, face and equipment 3D models, adding pitchads to all sides of the field and allowing the use of 256 different bats in the game all were significant breakthroughs allowing the game to be changed in ways never before considered.
On the other side, BLIC 2007 came and went, in many ways going backwards compared to the 2005 version and still no match for the legendary BLC 99. For two years after that, no major Cricket titles were released, before a buggy and difficult to edit Ashes Cricket 2009 marked the last major PC release. Two years after that and Cricket 07 is still the king of cricket video games, a position that seems extremely undeserved based on the initial issues with the game. However, years of mega patches, such as Black Magic?s IPL patch in 2008 that implemented major tournament replacements alongside wholescale graphical updates and follow-ups including many major patches by Ahad and Addy?s A? Studios, that did everything from the IPL to a World Cup update. The 150 and then 256 bat packs by Zaxotes complemented nearly all these patches, and to be self-indulgent, nearly all included overlays by me, with recent major breakthroughs there allowing a return to similar quality to what was possible on Cricket 2005. And this paragraph just scratches the surface of some of the years of hard work that has gone into the game by dozens of highly skilled patchers.
I certainly can?t do a list justice without leaving out many quality contributors, but to try you?ve have to say the aforementioned Addy, Ahad, Zaxotes, Black Magic and AbBh; as well as others like Friend863?s work on mega patches and stadiums, Biggy?s work on wonderful rosters, Charu?s ongoing huge efforts with faces ? as well as those who have left modding, like Punk Sk8r!?s kits, Tutsi?s AI patches and Burma?s Finest?s bats ? which were previously the standard bearers for quality mods. These and many other members have provided years of downloads and breakthroughs to the community, and deserve all the credit for keeping a cricket game alive and still played by thousands around the world thanks to the updates and improvements they?ve made.
I suppose above all else, the modding community has shown over the years an ability to make something wonderful out of a game panned near universally on release. Five years is a long time, especially for a game to still be played to the degree that this is. It is probably fair to say that Cricket 07 is slowly in decline, but a lack of quality games on PC to move on to, means Cricket 07 will likely be in service a little while yet. Hopefully it isn?t 2016 before a decent game comes along to replace it.
In short, Cricket 07: Never gonna give you up.
Article by Matt Whitehorn - Read More...
Such was the disappointment about Cricket 07?s minor improvements, forum administrator barmyarmy even refused the offer of a free review copy of the game (three times no less) and to this day doesn?t own a copy. The extent of the disappointment was evident as a flood of bug reports began to come in for the game, including bugs that were reported for Cricket 2005 and not fixed, like bowlers bowling over their allotted overs in one day matches; as well as major issues with LBWs, fielding, edges and more. Despite the introduction of Mark Nicholas to the commentary line up alongside stalwart Richie Benaud, complaints about repetitive, inaccurate and missing commentary continued.
Over time however, users started scratching the surface of the game with patching. Thanks to the game being such a small improvement to Cricket 2005, much of the game?s mods were able to be easily transfered to the new game, with only things like overlays, rosters and gameplay patches being unable to copy across, the game started off with a wide range of options for those who stuck with the game. The modified exe by AbBh released in early 2007 solved significant issues with the game out of the box, allowing improvements to gameplay and opening up new editing options for users. Over time, breakthroughs and a lot of effort has seen nearly everything modified. Wholescale replacements of stadiums, modifications to player, face and equipment 3D models, adding pitchads to all sides of the field and allowing the use of 256 different bats in the game all were significant breakthroughs allowing the game to be changed in ways never before considered.
On the other side, BLIC 2007 came and went, in many ways going backwards compared to the 2005 version and still no match for the legendary BLC 99. For two years after that, no major Cricket titles were released, before a buggy and difficult to edit Ashes Cricket 2009 marked the last major PC release. Two years after that and Cricket 07 is still the king of cricket video games, a position that seems extremely undeserved based on the initial issues with the game. However, years of mega patches, such as Black Magic?s IPL patch in 2008 that implemented major tournament replacements alongside wholescale graphical updates and follow-ups including many major patches by Ahad and Addy?s A? Studios, that did everything from the IPL to a World Cup update. The 150 and then 256 bat packs by Zaxotes complemented nearly all these patches, and to be self-indulgent, nearly all included overlays by me, with recent major breakthroughs there allowing a return to similar quality to what was possible on Cricket 2005. And this paragraph just scratches the surface of some of the years of hard work that has gone into the game by dozens of highly skilled patchers.
I certainly can?t do a list justice without leaving out many quality contributors, but to try you?ve have to say the aforementioned Addy, Ahad, Zaxotes, Black Magic and AbBh; as well as others like Friend863?s work on mega patches and stadiums, Biggy?s work on wonderful rosters, Charu?s ongoing huge efforts with faces ? as well as those who have left modding, like Punk Sk8r!?s kits, Tutsi?s AI patches and Burma?s Finest?s bats ? which were previously the standard bearers for quality mods. These and many other members have provided years of downloads and breakthroughs to the community, and deserve all the credit for keeping a cricket game alive and still played by thousands around the world thanks to the updates and improvements they?ve made.
I suppose above all else, the modding community has shown over the years an ability to make something wonderful out of a game panned near universally on release. Five years is a long time, especially for a game to still be played to the degree that this is. It is probably fair to say that Cricket 07 is slowly in decline, but a lack of quality games on PC to move on to, means Cricket 07 will likely be in service a little while yet. Hopefully it isn?t 2016 before a decent game comes along to replace it.
In short, Cricket 07: Never gonna give you up.
Article by Matt Whitehorn - Read More...
Last edited by a moderator:
. Looks like I need a change 
,The Great Work Of Modders Here Has Kept This Game Alive Till Date,Hope They Keep Doing So In The Future
