Brian Lara International Cricket 2005

Brian Lara International Cricket 2005

Ameya Dalvi, Oct 08, 2005 1000 hrs IST

Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 is easily the best cricket game of all time.

The best overall cricket game ever, Excellent game-play, Good graphics and sound, Low system requirements, Hawkeye, Various game modes, Impressive net practice.

No Network/Internet play support, Huge installation size, No Geoffrey Boycott.

Expert Rating :

Expert Review

The highly hyped EA Sports' Cricket 2005 turned out to be a major disappointment for Cricket fans. Other than the visual elements, there was hardly anything going for it. The controls were too tedious and the game-play lacked the enjoyment factor. In that review, I mentioned how EA and Codemasters differed in their core focus when developing cricket games and why Brian Lara Cricket 99 continues to be a more enjoyable game than all the EA versions. However, one couldn't help noticing the dated graphics in that game and a new version of the same was long overdue. And here we are with just that. Can Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 surpass the game-play standards set by its own predecessor and match EA games in the graphical attributes? Let's find out.

The Package
The game arrived in a neat plastic case that housed the serial number, a quick start guide, a comprehensive game manual and SIX CDs... OMG! That has to be the largest Sports game ever in terms of installation size. Six CDs is a lot for any game and for one belonging to the Sports genre, it is way over the top. Swapping CDs was a pain but the installation went smoothly. I hope there is a DVD version available. There were no cribs about the presence of any CD emulation software; something I encountered when installing EA Cricket 2005. The total installation size measured just under 4.3 GB. So make sure you have that much space on the partition where you wish to install this game. After that, just pop in CD1 and enjoy.

First Impression
As soon as you start the game, after the intro, you are presented with an option to select various game modes ranging from exhibition matches to ICC official tournaments like the World Cup and Champion's Trophy, along with World Series, Country tours, Custom leagues and even Double Wicket tournament. There isn't a separate 20-20 tournament but you can simply select a 20-over match in any of the one day competitions and you have a 20-20 match. You can select from a wide array of players or create your own player from scratch. Not only can you assign him his skill level and the team but also a look of your choice from the several options presented to you. Before you proceed to the match, you can hone your skill in the nets. You can bat or bowl and choose the batsman you want to bowl to or the bowler you want to face. If that's not enough, while batting, you can also choose the zones where you want the bowler to pitch the ball. Net practice was a nice learning experience.

In the actual matches, there are several levels of difficulty you can choose from. I would advice you to start at the lowest difficulty mode (Village) and gradually move up the ladder. As you go higher on the toughness scale, the timing, line and length assume paramount importance. It is literally like a shift from gully cricket to club and eventually international cricket. Test Mode is really difficult even after days of practice, it seriously tests your skills as a batsman, bowler and also as a fielder.