- All the international teams and players..
- Full licenses from the ACB, ECB, NZ Cricket and the South African Cricket team.
- 22 accurately modeled stadia.
- Astonishingly high detail in the players' faces and bodies.
- Commentary by the legendary Richie Benaud , Jim Maxwell and Bill Lawry.
- Huge depth of gameplay including hidden teams and tournaments.
- Player Editor allows players to change the features of current team members.
Product Description
-------------------
In its transition from PSone to PS2, the detail in EA's Cricket
series' stadiums, players, player faces, ball physics, team AI,
pitch details, pitch physics and player options have all seen
major improvements. Ten international teams are featured,
complete with national stadia and completely up-to-date players.
You can choose how much control you want over your team (i.e.,
you can position each of your individual fielders as you please
or leave it up to the intelligent AI) and participate in team
management (changing players to appear as your local team, for
example), as well as experience great control when batting,
ing or fielding. Dynamic pitch and weather conditions will
change during the course of a game, thereby affecting the physics
of ball speed and bounce and general bias towards the fielding or
batting side--choosing to bat or not is now of the utmost
importance. TV replays, commentary by Richie Benaud and extensive
gameplay options (practice nets now feature alongside traditional
exhibition matches and tournaments) all ensure that this is the
most complete cricket simulation yet.
.co.uk Review
-------------
Cricket 2002 represents Electronics Arts' latest attempt to turn
every possible sport into a lucrative franchise. As you'd expect
there's a highly polished front end, with all the key
international teams and stadia to choose from and various
all-star squads to unlock as you progress though the game, and
unlike in previous versions, you can now play a Test match or
series rather than just one-day competitions.
Gameplay-wise, we've been here before. As in Brian Lara
Cricket/Cricket 2000, you pre-select your from a number of
options or set the length, line and speed of your delivery. You
can now micromanage your fielders or let the computer AI set the
(supposedly) best field for you. Variations in pitch and weather
conditions are meant to ensure a different experience whether you
use your spin or pace ers.
Unfortunately, you never feel that you're actually in control of
the proceedings. You can get your nent out with an absolute
shocker of a ball or, conversely, toil away for hours with your
best ers to no effect. You can line up an excellent just
to see the ball pop tamely into the hands of a fielder and, even
worse, be given out when the ball is nowhere near him. You can
also be judged LBW when the ball has pitched nowhere near you.
It's all very random, and not even extensive net sessions help;
it's much better to play against a human nent, which at least
makes the game a contest dependent on skill rather than luck.
Graphically, too, Cricket 2002 is wanting. Cricketers may or may
not be the most photogenic of sportsmen, but this bunch look like
they've shuffled in from the latest Resident Evil (
/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=video-games-uk&field-keywords=resident%20evil/${0}
) epic. Some of the player animation, particularly the fielding,
is jerky and incomplete and the crowd is disappointingly two
dimensional.
Given these caveats, can this game be recommended to cricket
fans? Actually, in the absence of an update to the seminal Brian
Lara Cricket, probably yes--if only because there are no other
options available. If you can get beyond the peculiar umpiring
and the disappointing graphics there's a playable arcade romp
here, particularly in the multiplayer mode. However, if you're
looking for an accurate simulation of this noble sport then
you'll be disappointed because, in this sense, it just isnt
cricket.--Michael Bartley
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Manufacturer's Description
--------------------------
For a game that can take up to 5 days to resolve in real life,
it's surprising just how playable Cricket 2002 is. The latest in
the long-running series from EA is the first for the PS2 and
boasts massive improvements in gameplay and presentation over its
PSone forerunners.
All 22 featured cricketing grounds have been faithfully
reproduced and stats, replays and character animations all look
great. If you're into your cricket you should find the gameplay
highly agreeable and realistic, with simple and intuitive
controls improving on the best features from previous cricket
games. Batting involves an unprecedented level of control and
even includes the ability to charge the er. Meanwhile, if its
your turn to , you can vary your tactics by changing spin,
seam and pace in your quest to defeat your nents.
While the sound is not quite as superb as the graphics (after
all, this is cricket), it does feature extensive commentary with
the legendary Aussie Richie Benaud behind the mic. The keen
cricketers among you will be hard pushed to find any better
virtual representation of your sport.
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