EA Sports Cricket 2002 (PS2)

• Platform:   PlayStation2
• Media: Video Game

Gameplay-wise, we've been here before. As in Brian Lara Cricket/Cricket 2000, you pre-select your shot 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 bowlers.

Unfortunately, you never feel that you're actually in control of the proceedings. You can get your opponent out with an absolute shocker of a ball or, conversely, toil away for hours with your best bowlers to no effect. You can line up an excellent shot 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 opponent, 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 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 isn’t cricket.--Michael Bartley

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, bowling 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.

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• PC & Video Games > Games > Sports > Cricket