Review: EA Cricket 07 game

Cricket used to be an impossible game to make work on a computer. Now, with increasingly high-powered graphics cards, and new methods of control, it's one of the best sports simulations available – if you're a cricket fan.

If you are, the choice is between EA Cricket and the Brian Lara franchise. The latest instalment of EA's version, Cricket 07, picks up where the last edition left off. The big changes are improved graphics and sound effects.

The main draw for this edition is the chance to play the current (or previous) Ashes series and do better than the real team. We found previous PC editions of EA Cricket too difficult to get to grips with, compared with the pick-up-and-play ability of the Playstation 2 version.

That problem has been remedied in the new version. Batting and bowling are easier and the new camera angle, which faces the bowler on his run-up, definitely draws the player in.

You can play any international team as well as a selection of Australian and English domestic sides. Once the team and match selections are made, take the toss and if you win, decide whether to bat or bowl.

Batting, always the more fun, is a case of choosing a shot with the arrow keys and applying the correct key-presses at the right time. Timing is crucial and it's easy to get out with a slight slip of the fingers. That chance decreases with play, of course.

Bowling can be less fun as it's too easy to get stuck in a rut without a wicket. However it's not difficult to pick up catches and bowl out even the best batsmen. There is an improved selection of balls available, so you can choose to bowl a straight ball followed by a crafty in-swinger.

For those unfamiliar with cricket's arcane terminology, much of it is explained in the excellent manual and quick-reference card included with the game.

It's designed to work with a dual-stick joypad, but we were happy using the keyboard. One caveat is that a decent specification will be required to get the most out of it and to have the game playing at full speed.

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