Brian Lara Cricket Value Series

I always thought that BLC on the Sega Megadrive was a remarkable game. I frequently used to go over to my friend's house to play it (although he wasn't all to thrilled about this!). Then came along this beautiful gem of a game on the Playstation. I have had this game for three to four happy years now and I never get bored of it. Yes it is frustrating that many players have now retired and many are now out of the international scene but in all honesty, I don't care.

I usually tried the other available cricket games around but none of them made the grade. I confirmed this when I played Cricket 2000. Expexting a game with standards as high as their FIFA series, this just made me appreciate BLC. Where BLC has its beautiful simplicoty in its gameplay, Cricket 2000 was at first complicated and hard to get to grips to. Also, in Cricket 2000, only one animation was designated for one direction; what I mean is that when you press the direction you wan to hit the ball, it will only go in one place in that direction, whereas BLC had many more animations. Although Cricket 2000 had very good graphics, the options available wer atrocious. This is where BLC excels to the highest point. Its options still outdo every game including the most recent game, Cricket 2002. I rate BLC higher than both these games.

To me, this game was the epitomy of what the Playstation was capable of. A game with good graphics, a large database and many, many options.

Only a few things meant that this game wasn't the polished article. One thing that annoys me greatly was the fact that you could not charge down the wicket (despite the fact that when if you generated a game, occasionaly it would say stumped on the scorecard). Also, the dubious LBW decisions. If hit miles away from the stups, thew umpire would still judge you out. However, these flaws still occur on Cricket 2002. Of course, there is the infamous freezing of the batsman. I shall not go into great lengths about this. All I'm going to say is yes this is frustrating.

Despite these flaws, this is still the best cricket game around, beating the likes of Cricket 2002. Please note that I am not including the International Cricket Captain gaming series as these are not in the same kind of category. (But they as well are worth a look!)

There is so much to recommend in this game, especially for the small price tag. The graphics are average - they look blocky compared to today's standards - but the animation is very smooth and lifelike - the camera direction during play is good, the peripheral actions are good (fielders will stretch themselves, bowlers mark run ups, batsmen check the field placements), and the sliding stops, the batting strokes and the deliveries are all very convincing and authentic.

The gameplay is very simple and intuitive - and very much based on Alan Border's cricket - which is no bad thing. Bowlers select from a range of appropriate deliveries (slower ball, flipper, googly, flighted, off- and leg-spin, inswinger, outswinger), this causes a circle to appear on the pitch which can be manoeuvred around until you've got it where you want it for length and line - only, the circle differs in size according to the ability of the bowler (better bowlers have more control and so have a smaller circle) and the ball can pitch anywhere within the diameter of the circle. The batsman must then adjust his feet (for line only - he can't come down the pitch which is a shame) and decide what shot to play depending upon the pitch of the delivery and what he thinks the ball will do after pitching (you assume a finger spinner landing it a foot outside off stump will spin it into you). Then, when the ball is released, you select your stroke from a decent range on offer, from sweeps to drives to hooks - and decide whether to play safe along the ground or go for the risky big one with a 'six-hit' (another small gripe here if I'm being pedantic - all players can play every shot in the book - it might be more realistic to restrict the repertoir of lower order batters). It all works very well and is extremely playable - which is crucial for a game as long and rhythmical as cricket. A small gripe here would be that the timing of your stroke seems immaterial - you just basically hit the button as soon as the bowler releases the ball. It would have been nice to be able to play the ball late, once you've seen 'what it's doing'. Timing - and deciding whether to leave a ball 'in the corridor' late is a big part of batting which has been overlooked. But this might slow the game down so it's only a small gripe.

If you hit the ball then you have to wait until it beats the field before electing to run - and you hear a satisfying "Wait!" call from the batsman. If there are runs on offer you hit the 'X' to run and the 'O' to call the batsmen back. Another gripe here is that the ball is very, very, very hard to see which makes calling your batsman through for a run fraught with danger. This means you either miss out on easy runs for being cautious or get run out a lot. And if you're cautious then you generally lose against the PSOne player since s/he is much better at seeing the ball and judging the runs than you are! Playing with the white ball makes it slightly easier but still, running is tricky, and calling your batsmen back from an aborted run is useless unless you're very quick on the 'O' button.

Another strength is the commentary, this is the best and most natural I've heard on any game. Jonathan Agnew's play by play is great - it is relevant, and actually fits in with what's happening out on the field - you don't get the feeling it's just randomly spliced together. Geoff Boycott's expert summaries and pitch reports are equally superb - both commentators' delivery is very natural - it really sounds authentic and ad-libbed rather than read from a script - top marks! The best thing is that if you pause the game and go off for a cup of tea Boycs and Aggers start to chat amongst themselves about cricket...if you're a TMS fan, this is music to the ears for they can go on at some length.

The options for the game are good - coloured or white kit, full test series or short limited overs, play on any international test ground, World Cups etc. Plus 2 players can play on the same team and bowl in harness or partner each other at the crease, or of course they can play against each other.

The entire game is very slick indeed and sets a standard for others to follow balancing playability, authenticity, versatility and good looks brilliantly, with the all important attention to detail. I hate to end on a gripe, but all the plus points above are undermined totally by a bug in the game. Other reviewers have alluded to the fact that every so often the batsman will freeze and not offer a shot until several seconds after the ball has gone by. This is OK so long as the ball isn't aimed at your stumps, but if it is then you're comprehensively bowled! This is absolutely infuriating and frustrating. The only work around is to save the game every over or so (it happens often enough to warrant having to do this) and to resume from the saved position if you get cheated in this way. Shame that the play-testers didn't iron out this very major flaw since it ruins all the hard work.

The graphics are excellent, the commentary is fantastic, and the cricket is very smooth with a lot of options for the cricket fan.