Smack your balls up
Now comparisons with EA’s effort are pretty much unavoidable as they are the only real competition that Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 has. And first impressions, for presentation and polish would see EA just nudging ahead. In contrast to EA, the BL feels more like a game and less like an interactive sports show. This is no bad thing though, as presentation is very much a matter of personal choice… you might like all the slidey menus and spinney, shiny stuff EA jazz their sports games up with. For me, as long as the front end is easy to navigate and easy for me to set up the game how I want, I’m not fussed how it looks, but EA do have the more polished, jazzy screens.
That said, all the polish in the world won’t help when it comes to the game itself and here is where the effort from the Codemasters' and Swordfish Studios has obviously gone. In short, Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 just plays a better game of cricket than EA Cricket 2005. Nearly all of the problems I encountered in Cricket 2005 are either much reduced or just non-existent in Brian Lara. It’s almost as if you’re playing an update to Cricket 2005. Comparing the two, everything is easier in Brian Lara and the game mechanic is far more forgiving, even on the harder difficulty settings
