Cricket 2005 Digit Magazine review -5/10

bharat

Panel of Selectors
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Jun 20, 2001
Profile Flag
India
Here the review of Cricket 2005 from Digit magazine.
The review is funny and so true.
EDITED:Added to the Review Section.

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LET'S GET IT out of the way... this game is hard! Even in 'Easy' mode, you're bound to lose to the computer team a few thousand times
before you get a fluke victory-if at all! If anything, there's a little too much reality here when batting, and Sachin Tendulkar would struggle to reach double figures!

Graphics: Average
Let's start with the graphics, as all garners would
want to: two words,"nothing speciall" Sure, fans of EA's Cricket series will now commission mercenaries to fetch them my head on a platter. but the truth is the truth! Look at it from my point of view, I've just finished playing Half-Life 2 for the 9,826,283,745th time, and then I pop this game in and roll on the floor laughing uncontrollably at the pixellated look of the players!

Interface: Good
Next comes the menu interface: simple, easy to use,and with a decent amount of tweaking allowed in the settings. So far so good.
I'm impatient, so I decide to start a quick game
just to see what all the fuss is about. Ahh!A screen that shows me the controls.Huh?Where did it go?What was that second button for?Yes,the keyboard controller map is shown before the start of each game,butonly for about 0.0023485872534 seconds.So I had to read the mannual,just to see which buttons did what.Any game that makes me read a mannual isn't very user friendly in my humble opinion.

Controls: Good
Oh well,on with the game.It's Australia vs bangladesh,and I am Australia(obviously!).Gilchrist walks in with Hayden, the stadium is beautiful, and packed to the brim with screaming fans. Gilchrist takes his stance, some Bangladeshi bowler runs up, I keep [Shift] pressed (this is the "Six Hit" button) and press + [Down Arrow] + [Left Arrow]. The ball goes sailing over the long on boundary and into the second tier of fans amidst much cheering. "I love this game," I yell!
Five minutes later, Australia are all out for 9, and those three extra runs carne from leg byes or no balls! Every time I playa shot, it goes straight to a fielder. Every time I try a "Six Hit", I get caught!

AI: Ridiculous
I can never seem to find the gaps-well actually I do, but these fielders make Jonty Rhodes look like Lord Nelson running a marathon!
Yes, to say the fielding is a little too good is an understatement! Every single player can run faster than the wind, has the throwing arm of Hercules, and can break the world long jump record AND take a catch-all at the same time!

Practise: Good
I realise I have jumped into the fire and decide I need a little prectise.I head off for the nets.Bowling isn't really that hard,so I choose to practise my batting.
I learn that it's almost impossible to time a ball to perfection,and that you should never try a sweep shot to a bouncer!After an hour,I figure out how to time the ball.I think I'm ready!
Next I do what most Indians
would do: choose to be India, and playa match against Pakistan. I should have opted to be Pakistan!

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The Game: Average
Pakistan wins the toss and elects to bat-typical! Afridi tries to hit Zaheer Khan for a six, first ball up, and holes out in the deep-also expected. Then Inzamam smashes a six, and I start bowling length and short out-swingers to end the over. Ajit Agarkar gets smashed for a six as well, and then next ball dean bowls Inzi. It's the same throughout... bowl a loose delivery, or try anything new, and you're smashed for a six-even by tailenders! Every now and then, a bowler gets a "power-up", which lets him bowl a "special delivery," but nothing seems special about it!

Attention to Detail: Poor
I should also mention that EA has done a terrible job with the player's faces. No Indian player looks anything like the real deal. And will someone please send the folks at EA a picture of Sachin Tendulkar! The master blaster is depicted as a skinny, tall, darkskinned player with a moustache!

Commentary: Hilarious
The commentary from Richie Benaud is boring at best, with stupid comments about why players wear coloured dothes for day and night matches. Then I start to notice the bugs... he often mentions that India needs (0 pick up the run rate, but it is Pakistan that's batting!Then I bring Tendulkar on to bowl. hisfirst four balls are smashed for sixes, and Benaud says something like, "This is turning out to be a good over for India." While I contemplate on whether to laugh or cry, Pakistan are all out for 92.

Batting: Impossible
Now comes the dreaded time, batting.
At least Shoaib Akhtar looks like his real self, and his bowling is just as lethal. The score goes from 1 for 1, to 2 for 2, then 3 for three, and India are soon bowled out for 14. I knew I should have opted to be Pakistan!
Only once did a smile appear on my face during the torturous 10 overs of batting, and that was when "Dada" got out for a duck!

Overall: 5/10
Overall, this game loses out on three factors: it's too tough to play, the graphics (especially character depictions) are pathetic, and the AI (fielding) is too powerful to be enjoyable!
It does win in terms of replay-ability, and other options such as creating your own player, playing different tournaments, playing domestic cricket, training in the nets, etc.
If you have money to blow, are a sucker for punishment and love to have the stuffing beaten out of you in games... play DOOM 3 in Nightmare mode without cheats. EA Sports' Cricket 2005 is strictly for cricket fanatics in India, and since there are millions of them, this game might do pretty well. The rest are advised to check out the demo first.

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Cricket 2005
Publisher EA Sports, Price Rs 999
Web site www.eaplay.com
System requirements Windows 98/SE/Me/2000/XP, 700 MHz CPU, DirectX 9.0 compatible card, 256 MB RAM, IE6
Distributor Gayatri Impex






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Coopa

School Cricketer
Joined
Jul 12, 2005
Online Cricket Games Owned
The funny thing is I agree with him on most points, yet I still love the game. Patches have made this game good, and when more faces (a face pack?) are made I'll be extra happy.

I wait in ernest for the fielding, the bowling line and length etc to be sorted out.
 

The_gas

Chairman of Selectors
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Mar 13, 2004
Location
Norwich
Online Cricket Games Owned
Lol pretty funny. This is someone who doesnt know much about cricket, and doesnt enjoy the simulation of cricket. My advice to this review'er is to go and play BLIC.
 

JANER

Club Cricketer
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Dec 24, 2003
Location
Dublin IRELAND
Online Cricket Games Owned
I think it's a very sub standard written review, I have seen members here post far better reviews (not EA fan boys I may add)
I just thought he wrote the review like someone with my education.....(I left school at 15!)
 

bharat

Panel of Selectors
Joined
Jun 20, 2001
Profile Flag
India
What ever u say.I totally agree with the reviewer.
All magazine reviews so far have been from the Aussie or UK point of view.

This is totally in the Indian point of view.
You guys would say the graphics & player face details are great because English & Aussie players look great.

But it would be very disappointing for every cricket loving Indian to see his team's players looking crap.

This is heartbreaking:
I should also mention that EA has done a terrible job with the player's faces. No Indian player looks anything like the real deal. And will someone please send the folks at EA a picture of Sachin Tendulkar! The master blaster is depicted as a skinny, tall, darkskinned player with a moustache!
Cricket 2004 had a perfect looking Sachin.

One thing they could do to exploit the legal loophole is:
They can put exact faces,names for all players & put a clause "The charecters & their names in this game are completely fictional,resemblance to anyone dead or alive is completely co-incidence."
 

bharat

Panel of Selectors
Joined
Jun 20, 2001
Profile Flag
India
Think of a cricket lover who's playing a cricket game for the first time or a person who's playing it after Cricket 97-Everything will look complex.I don't play FIFA games much.Got FIFA 2005,set it to the easiest mode & u can atleast score 2 goals.
My friend who came to my house got all out for 11 playing as Austalia against Pakistan.

I have no difficulty in playing the game.But still the super fielders make it annoying to bat.
 

ZexyZahid

Chairman of Selectors
Joined
May 12, 2005
Online Cricket Games Owned
This is the first time I read an Indian review and this was quite funny. Thanks for sharing.

But I don't agree on that batting is hard. Personally I had problems myself with batting, but after an hour in the practice nets I came back very good. Only thing was is needed is practice.

But the disappointing thing of the game is that most of the runs will come of long on or long off. Getting runs of mid off or mid on is very difficult, especially if there is a lot of fielders in the circle.
 

ksduded

Club Cricketer
Joined
Aug 3, 2005
Online Cricket Games Owned
the reviewer is dead on with the fielders... I mean patches for batting and bowling has been released. To tell you the truth i didn't find any problems with the batting. The problem lies in the fielding... have to make the fielders slow, so that it becomes playable.... simulation is one thing and enjoyment is another. Having the highest score of 55 runs by playing over a week does increase the rate of frustation....
 

J.Coney

School Cricketer
Joined
Nov 7, 2004
Online Cricket Games Owned
i only had the game for a weekend, all up only around 10-15 hours of play. and i played only on hard mode the whole time my highest team score in an odi was 188 all out. with hayden top scoring on 59. there is no difficulty you just got to play the player in. as soon as i read the reviewer say the first shot he played was a 6 hit. i knew he was in it for a smash and bash game, its not his cup of tea.
 

.::Stevo::.

International Coach
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Jul 14, 2005
Location
Melbourne
Online Cricket Games Owned
The_gas said:
Lol pretty funny. This is someone who doesnt know much about cricket, and doesnt enjoy the simulation of cricket. My advice to this review'er is to go and play BLIC.
Just except his review and get over you sexual love for Csk5....sheesh
 

Andrew G

Club Cricketer
Joined
Mar 9, 2005
Location
Sydney
Online Cricket Games Owned
Good review, not great but it does hit on some points of truth.

For me, the annoying things are the fielding and the bowling.
I find the graphics good (atleast it better than Cricket '04).
Another thing is, when you make a custom player, the shading
on the new players face is to dark.

I'd give Cricket 2005 = 6/10. The low score is becuase there's
to many bugs, you'd think it's a Codemasters game by the
level of quality EA had chose to release it at. The only good
thing about the bugs is that there are atleast less then what
Cricket 2004 had.


Andrew...
 
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bharat

Panel of Selectors
Joined
Jun 20, 2001
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India
Chip India has rated the game 3/10
Shall I post that review too or would the Admins find it offensive?:p
 

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