With the 2006 Ashes series underway, EA SportsTM Cricket 07 is likely to be a very tempting purchase for the legions of Cricket fans who roam around like Zombies while trying to maintain a new nightlife style. As Brian Lara is staying in the Pavilion until next year, it would have been great if EA had delivered a well-timed BBQ size, but unfortunately that’s not the matter.
The novelty of this year is the Century Stick, which, as you may have found out, is responsible for all the strokes of your batsmen during the crease. The right analog stick should simply be pushed in the direction in which you want to play the ball – as if you were playing the shot yourself. If you see a piece through extra cover, you hit the stick in that direction, and assuming the ball is there to be played and you adjust the shot correctly, you will hit a boundary or make a few runs. The harder the difficulty, the harder it is to take time shots, and tail-enders can do little more than hit the ball.
By default, all there is to hit is possible with a movement along the crease until the ball is delivered, and the L1 and R1 keys (on the PS2 Pad) trigger a Lofted shot and a run on the wicket respectively. More control can be added on the left analog stick, but it’s really only for players who understand more than the basics of the sport. This stick can be used to control the foot as you play your shot, be it the front or back foot, depending on the height of the delivery.
Although it is not a perfect system, it feels quite intuitive and can be suitable for both beginners and experienced cricketers. The problem is that the game never feels like real Cricket, no matter the difficulty level. Play on a simple setting and it is far too easy to throw balls into space for simple boundaries, with the captain of the opposing team simply reacting to each shot and closing the gap, leaving another hole elsewhere in the field. However, play on a harder attitude, and the game becomes a real Grind: the boundaries dry up and fielders almost always close the small strokes that are usually obtained in real Cricket.
Bowling is nothing more than choosing a type of delivery (depending on the bowler), aiming at the height of the ball, and then stopping a meter as high as possible before going on and causing a no-ball. You can throw in some special supplies from time to time, and you get some control over swing or Spin on a ball, but it’s not really enough to make you think you’re doing something that requires more than an ounce of skill. What’s worse is how I often lost doors that seemed unlikely. The ball disfigure more than the starship Enterprise, suddenly appears in the hands of a fielder, and sometimes the ball removes the bonds after not found the stumps by a few centimeters. Not good at all.
To be honest with EA, there are plenty of game modes available, with fully licensed English events such as the Liverpool Victoria County Championship, Natwest Pro40, the C&G Trophy and the Twenty20 Cup. There are also many Australian events and international tournaments, as well as the Big One: the Ashes. EA certainly knows how to ride the wave of excitement around the 2006 Ashes series, and the option to play the 2005 or 2006 series can be found in the main menu. They even included a number of Ashes challenges, but all this is considered unnecessary, because the basic Gameplay is not so fun.
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