This preview has loads of detail and makes the game sound incredible... B)
Features - Cricket 2004 Hands On Impressions
Cricket 2004 Hands On Impressions
By BS (8 December 2003)
We check out the eagerly awaited Cricket 2004.
WE RECENTLY HAD THE opportunity to visit our local EA Sports representatives and put their upcoming Cricket 2004 through its paces. Being staunch Black Cap fans we promptly booted up the PS2 and choose to play a one day game against Pakistan. After choosing to play as the favourites, we were quickly dispatching Cairns to the boundary for an easy four!
Our first impression of the game was the look -- the graphics were a definite improvement over Cricket 2002. The player animations especially seem to be a lot smoother and the cricket grounds looked even more like the real thing. Incidentally there are 75 stadia in the game -- including seven from New Zealand (Eden Park, Basin Reserve, The Cake-tin, Jade Stadium, Carisbrook, Hamilton and Napier).
Batting first against a hapless New Zealand attack, we soon had the new "Settled Batsmen Indicator" filling up nicely. This indicates just what it says -- how settled a batsmen is. The higher the bar, the easier it is to hit power shots, and score runs in general. No longer can you hack away at the start of your innings -- well you can try, but chances are it won't come off.
Add in the new analogue batting control and you will soon be hitting the ball to all corners of the ground -- actually it might pay to wait till you have your eye in first! With the new analogue control you will have more control of your shot direction and strength.
One of the minor batting improvement is the batsmen's running between the wickets. While players still turn reasonably slowly when aborting an attempted run, its no longer slower than the Titanic avoiding icebergs.
Our initial impressions of the bowling are positive. The aiming the ball on the pitch is more difficult than in 2002, as the bowl indicator moves around while you try to position it in the rough area you wish to bowl. It is now impossible to bowl the same "old stuff' over and over. This should mean there will be more variation from CPU bowlers, but that is something we did not have time to test.
The ball "seams" to do more than the last game. It seams, bounces, swings and spins a little more prodigiously. We found swing bowling great fun and found spin bowling very difficult to get away while batting. The pace of the delivery is also more exaggerated. Slower deliveries are very slow, meaning timing your shots while batting is more important than ever.
One of the neat bowling additions is late movement. You can now add "after-touch" seam or swing once the ball has left the hand. We found it easier to fool our human opponents into false shots with good speed variation -- and when combined with some after-touch, the batsmen really had to be on their toes. The other standout addition to the bowling was the addition of a stamina attribute to the bowlers. And of course some bowlers can bowl longer than others.
One of the biggest advancements in Cricket 2004 has been expansion of the players stats and attributes. We counted 60-odd NZ players in the game (pretty much all of the first class players), and each player had very different attributes complete with their career stats. Each player now has:
- 13 attributes for batting e.g. favourite shot, concentration, weakness
(hidden), off-side rating, back-foot rating, spin bowler rating, etc.
- 15 attributes for bowling e.g. special delivery, accuracy, stamina, and
attributes for their type of bowling -- googly for spin bowlers etc.
- 2 for fielding -- arm strength and accuracy.
- 3 special skills such as: stroke maker, driver, slogger, demon hooker,
spin expert, Velcro hands, bullet arm, acrobat, Strike bowler, miser,
trickster, workhorse, etc.
These attributes add up to some very different players that perform very differently on the pitch. We did create one player who was a David Boon look-a-like, but it must be said he failed miserably in all the matches we played.
Speaking of matches, Cricket fans will be delighted at the number of tournaments that will be available. You will be able to play all the modes from the last game plus things like overseas tours. How about an Ashes tour of Australia, or an Ashes tour of England? You can also do tours of all the other test playing countries. These tours will include all the warm up games, test matches and one day series -- with a full tour itinerary that might include 10 or more matches.
Sound cool? Well factor into your series some extremely comprehensive statistics, player injuries and "player form" -- and you will start to appreciate just how much thought that has gone into this game.
The player form looks like a very interesting concept. All players in a series will start even, but as they play, their form changes -- for the better or worse. How does it affect the game? Well batsmen in form will probably find their "Settled Batsmen Indicator" will start with a boost, meaning they won't struggle at the beginning of the innings as much as someone out of form.
On top of series you can also play the domestic seasons and competitions for both England and Australia. Unfortunately we can't play the New Zealand domestic season, but lets be honest, that's not a very big oversight. All up there are 69 teams included in the game compared to Cricket 2002's 19 teams.
One of the eyebrow raising features we didn't get to test was the International Season. This game mode involves playing a four year international program, starting in 2003, and includes playing tests matches/series and one day tournaments. A very interesting concept and one we can't wait to try out.
The good news is we don't have to wait much longer -- Cricket 2004 is on track to release on December 18th in New Zealand for both the PC and Playstation 2. We believe this game has the potential to be the game cricketing fans have long dreamt about -- but can it live up to these high expectations? Check back for our review in a couple of weeks to find out for sure.
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