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Coming Soon > PlayStation Game Cheats > PlayStation Reviews > Staff Review | |
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| Playability: Not wanting to pour ridicule over the entire proceedings so early I must begin by putting out a warning that Cricket 2000 is not exactly a simulation of the sport. In fact it's completely the opposite. It's very, very, very (×10) Arcadey. I can see that EA Sports were attempting to make this sport more exciting to play as a video game, thus simplifying everything. Perhaps oversimplifying, but let's not put the cart before the horse. There are ample game modes to play in for both single and two players. The Quick Start game throws the player straight into a One-Day International Match with CPU selected teams and default settings active. Should you prefer to pick your own players from the national squad then a Friendly One-Day International is available. The main feature of the game involves battling it out through cricket's most prolific International tournament... the World Cup. There are group stages, super six and semis before the ultimate grand final. Should the World Cup take too long to play out then choose to skip the opening group stage and dive straight into the Super Six's. Options cater for three difficulty levels, 5 to 50 over's, a fast, turning, slow or random pitch and the choice of weather from sunshine to rain. Now call me ambiguous, but isn't cricket the sport where the players run for cover at the first sign of rain? On winning the toss you must decide whether to bat or bowl. Let's assume you decide that the conditions recommend bowling first. The length of game determines the number of overs each player can bowl. This is where tactics come into the proceedings as most teams only have three or four top bowlers, the rest not so good. You must bowl to the players strengths be it fast, medium, slow, leg break, off break etc. Also it is very important to check which fielding formation is suggested. Should you miss this vital info while first visiting the bowler screen you cannot go back there until the following over. This means that you will probably set your fielders to the incorrect formation and sacrifice a lot of runs. Once your bowler has been selected it's time to begin play. When your bowler is ready to begin his run up a circular marker appears on the pitch. This determines the region where the ball will bounce. Once positioned the spin/seam/pace meter appears on screen. It's shaped like a cricket ball with a small pea inside. The position of the small pea decides the spin and seam. Just before the bowler releases the ball a pace meter rises through the on screen icon and a press of the action button determines how fast the delivery will be. Once the ball is on its way there is little the bowling side can do. The computer controls all of the fielders and the only decision you are allowed is to which wicket the ball will be thrown towards. Catching, running, mishits, drops, slips... none of these are in your control. Batting is equally as simple. Once the bowler has set the region for bounce the batsman is allowed a few extra moments to adjust his line. Once his position is locked the d-pad determines the direction of the shot. Now it's time to decide on which of the two shots are to be played. No defensive strokes, no cuts, no sweeps, no swipes... only normal or power shot. Finally, as in golf games, a rising power meter must be stopped as near to the top as possible. The higher the meter bar, the further your shot will go. Right at the very top of the meter is a sweet spot for the perfect shot. All that is left to do is wait to see if your shot found a gap and then run like the wind. Sound simple? It is! The trouble is with so little to do the few niggles and annoyances really begin to stand out. Read on! Not only have EA redesigned the way cricket should be played on computer, they also seem to have bent the rules to suit the computer controlled team. When batting the lightening reaction of the CPU fielders will make running more than a single or two very difficult indeed. However when the human player is bowling the CPU fielders suddenly can't be bothered to chase the ball. CPU batsmen regularly take three runs. There's more. Stumping a CPU opponent is also impossible. As mentioned earlier even if the wicket keeper catches the ball when both batsmen are crossing. He freezes, then fumbles, nods off for a few seconds and then only attempts to strike the bails when the batsman has not only passed him but has possible had time to write down his memoirs. "HOWZAT!" he screams. "Not out!" squeaks a little Scottish voice. He's got to be joking. Yet sit back and watch in amazement as the CPU wicket keeper quickly gathers the ball, swipes off the bails and your batmsmen (even though a run wasn't taken) will always be standing just outside his crease. "HOWZAT!" he screams. "OUT!" says the umpire. "AAARRRGGHH!" says the player. Then there's the wides. One rule for CPU... another for human. Bowling a fast straight bowl between the batsmen legs and the wickets is not, in my book anyway, a wide. It is for the CPU side. It's as if a wide has been programmed in to happen occasionally rather than when it actually occurs. To level things up the CPU batsmen sometimes decide not to run... even when there's a chance of putting at least two on the card. Once you get to grips with the control system I doubt if you'll lose many wickets. Not legitimately, at least. Removing the CPU player from the game should solve a lot of these annoyances. Sadly, as a two player game it quickly becomes boring as there is simply not enough to do in the game. Game Options: This is a 1 disk game for 1-2 Players. It is compatible with the standard (digital) joypad and the analog stick controls of the dual shock joypad. Games can be saved via memory card (1-2 blocks per save). |
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