Cricket 2004 PS2 Review Framingham MA

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"A decent cricket game to get you through the season"

Cricket games have been a mixed bag over the past decade. We've had titles from both EA Sports and Codemasters each with different results and fans. Cricket 2004 is looking to be the definitive cricket title, and it just may be that. It still has problems but overall it is one of the better cricket games that are available.

HB Studios, the developers behind Rugby 2004 have created this game and they have left no stone unturned in terms of modes and teams. Cricket 2004 features a variety of modes such as Test Series, World Championship, World Series, ING Cup, Pura Cup and English County Cricket.

A test is played over five days and rather then having the innings just continue on, a clock is used and lunch etc does become part of the game. This allows you to play for a draw if you find yourself on the back foot in a match. One thing about test matches is there is no way to speed up the time and the clock seems to move ever so slowly, approximately five minutes per over. For the purists this may seem accurate but for those looking for a quick bash with some mates then the one day options of the game seem much more viable.

The World Championship game mode is basically the world cup, but without the licence. This mode also allows you to choose the host nations for the tournament which dictates which stadiums are used for the matches. The other options are somewhat offshoots of this game mode. A world series is a three team tournament, played off in a finals series at the conclusion of the round robin matches.

Cricket 2004 also features both the Australian and UK domestic competitions. In Australia the ING Cup, which is the domestic one day competition and the Pura Cup which is the domestic test series. On the UK side of things County cricket is featured with all the relevant teams. Whilst most players will only be interested in the International side of the game, having the domestic competitions has allowed the developers to create a level of depth not seen in a cricket game before and also expanded the options players have for teams. You can also go on foreign tours which include warm up matches against non international teams.

Cricket 2004 allows you to select the players for each team. In an interesting quirk Steve Waugh by default isn't selected for the Australian test side, perhaps future proofing the product?. Having players from the domestic series allows you to pick players from the state teams as well and if that still isn't enough, a player editor has also been included so you can add yourself into the game should you want to. One thing that must be mentioned is the memory space taken by this game. It requires 3850KB on your PS2 memory card to save the game, which is almost half a PS2 memory card.

The gameplay in Cricket 2004 is divided into two distinct areas; batting and bowling with batting being far more enjoyable. The reason why batting is far more enjoyable is because it takes time to learn how to control balls properly. Before your run up you have a small amount of time to place a dot on the pitch. Where the dot is positioned is where the ball will land. Trying to control this with the analogue stick is a lesson in frustration with the DPAD offering a far better alternative. Once the run up is started you also have to keep an eye on another meter which determines where the bowlers foot will land. Over step the mark and it will be called a no ball.

Batting also takes time to become accustomed to but is implemented in a far better way. The DPAD (or analogue stick) is used to determine the direction of the shot. The triangle button plays a shot on the back foot with the X button playing a front foot shot. Square and circle are used for running between the wickets. Fielding can be controlled automatically and fielders will make mistakes that cost runs.