This is my review of EA Cricket 97 Ashes Tour Edition. After reading this myself, I thought
'Err, I'm not gonna make it as a review-writer-guy when I grow up' but you get that.
In 1996 EA Cricket 96 was released. It was a great game but was flawed in many aspects.
At the beginning of 1997, EA Cricket 97 was released. This was a vast improvement but
there were still some things that weren't quite up to standard. Then, in late 1997, EA
Cricket 97 Ashes Tour Edition was released. This fixed many of the bugs that were in the
normal version and in short is a great game.
To begin with, it is quite a nice looker. It starts with an animation that has quite an
unexpected (and funny) twist at the end, and then goes to the menu screen. From there
you can start a One dayer, Test match, World Challenge (3 teams playing 2 games each, then
the final) and multiplayer.
Once you've chosen your game type you choose your team. Unfortunately, only Australia
and England have the real players (and New Zealand for the NZ edition) and they seem to be
a mix of the test and one day sides. Fortunately, I'm compiling a list of custom teams
involving the real playing sides on this website which you can add to your game.
Once you've had the toss you go into the game.
The stadium is quite large which is good and it's 3d, but there's not enough camera angles
to really utilise it's 3dness. But, graphics aren't what make a good game, the game play is.
When batting, a small arrow points to where the bowler is aiming to bowl it and for a short
time the kind of ball is shown (eg. straight, inswinger etc). Once the ball is bowled
there is 18 (yes 18) shots you can use. This is great. There are shots such
as the pull shot, cover drive, reverse sweep, square cut etc etc. You need to pick the
right shot for the right ball or you will pay the price. The price you usually pay is a
dot ball but more than once I have picked the wrong shot and been bowled around my legs or
top-edged it to a fieldsman.
How well you hit it depends on a number of things. Different batsmen have different levels
of aggressiveness, strength, batting skill, and focus. The last one is great. The focus
level determines how long the batsman takes to 'get his eye in'. You will notice that at
the beginning of an innings the batsman will play and miss quite often, especially when
doing some of the more elaborate shots. Then when he's been in a few overs you will notice
that you'll be able to hit the ball more often and hence make more runs. Why is this good
I hear you asking? It makes it more realistic. When a wicket falls, the run rate goes down,
and the new batsman has to be more conservative. But even when a batsman has been in for
a while you can't just hit sixes off every ball and the run rate is quite realistic, around
five an over. This is good because when you do hit a six, it's like 'Wow, cool! A six!'.
While you're batting Richie Benaud is the commentator. The commentry is a bit so-so. While
there are good things such as comments on the run rate, reading the score out etc, he is too
repetitive. He says things not to do with the game, such as 'People often ask me what
players do to when they're waiting. In days gone past, they probably played cards. Now you
will find that they are playing all the latest EA sport games' (or something to that effect).
This isn't entirely terrible, but he says it SOOO many times in an innings it really does
become an annoyance.
Once your innings comes to an end and Richie has summarised the innings, it's your turn to
bowl. If you've played Cricket 96 much, you will know how stupid the computer was. I once
posted a score of 894 then bowled the opposition out for 13. You won't be doing this in
EA Cricket 97 ATE. Once the computer batsmen have their eye in, they're likely to smash you
around the park a bit and post some decent individual innings. They really are quite hard
to dismiss, except for the run-outs. For some reason, the computer batsmen don't slide their
bats when running between their wickets. The ball is heading for the stumps and they just
dwadle on in, not worrying about getting out. Because of this, and the fact that I want a
challenge, I no longer run the computer out at all.
Apart from that, the computer batsmen really are good and it can be quite a challenge to
restrict them which makes fielding quite fun. When they are smashing you around the park,
Richie will sometimes recommend a field change. Unfortunately, you cannot put fielders in
the outfield. The furthest out you can put them is about half of the distance from the
pitch to the boundry. This really is very silly and they should release a patch to fix it,
along with making the batsmen slide their bats. If any of you Cricket 97 developers are
reading this, FIX THIS PROBLEM WITH A PATCH!!!
To sum up, despite the few flaws this game has, it really is a great game. If your looking
for a cricket game to play on your PC, this is the only one you'd get. If you enjoy cricket,
you will probably love this game like I do, and I recommend that you get it.
