Rain stops play
So, Brian Lara Cricket 07 gets the thumbs up for gameplay, with my only gripe being that it is difficult to master the art of catching and throwing accurately. It can be frustrating watching your wicket keeper fumble a simple catch, but that’s where the skill element comes in.
Right, onto the bad bits! Well, they're not that bad actually, but the presentation is fairly basic. Whereas EA’s Cricket 07 has the presentation of an interactive sport’s show on the pitch, Brian Lara 07 is much more like its uglier sister. The menu system is functional, but lacks the options that you might expect, whereas the character creation mode is extremely basic when you compare it other sport’s titles out there. Player models and animations are based on the real life counterparts and do kind of look the part, but they’re certainly not of next-gen quality. In fact, the whole game oozes last gen. I recently reviewed Cricket 07 on the PS2 and the graphics aren’t really any better than that, they’re not bad, but they’re nothing spectacular either.
Click for larger imageOne thing that really bugged me was that fact that you are made to manually save your profile every time you unlock something. Why doesn’t it do it automatically? It’s so annoying and surely must be an oversight. EA got the presentation spot on in Cricket 0, but Brian Lara Cricket 07 feels lazy in that department.
Which one is the better cricket game though? Blend the best parts of both Cricket 07 with Brian Lara 07 and you’d have an all round great cricket title, but if we’re talking about gameplay then Brian Lara Cricket 07 is the better game without a doubt. Bowling is actually good fun, batting is enjoyable and even the new reflex-testing slip catch system means that you feel involved in every aspect of the game on the pitch.
If you own an Xbox 360 and love cricket, then Brian Lara Cricket 07 is a must buy, but even if you don’t (and I don’t like cricket) it’s still a very addictive and accessible sport’s title.
Pros
Satisfying batting experience
Bowling is great too!
Arcade paced gameplay is a winner
Online play
Cons
Fielding is difficult to master
Last gen presentation and graphics.
A great pick up and play sport's title that is far more accessible and fast paced than many cricket titles.
HEXUS Awards
Brian Lara Cricket 07 - Xbox 360
