Review by Dale Wilks Name: Cricket 97 Publisher: Electronic Arts Format: CD Available: Out now Requires: O/S: DOS 6.0+ Processor: 486 DX2/66 (Pentium for Windows 95) RAM: 8Mb (16Mb for Windows 95) Graphics: SVGA CD-Rom: X2 Soundcard: All major cards supported Tested on: O/S: Windows 95 Processor: AMD K6-166 MMX RAM: 32Mb Graphics: 2Mb SVGA - Matrox Millenium CD-ROM: X8 Soundcard: Soundblaster AWE32 & Yamaha DB50XG Controls: Mouse, Keyboard

Cricket 97

I'm not a sporty person really. I'll watch the footie now and then if England are playing, and I've been known to watch a bit of motor racing or Wimbledon, but that's about it. Unlike some people, such as my Dad, who watches avidly. He's into cricket, y'see - test matches, one day internationals, county games, the lot. I can't see the fascination myself; to me, cricket is one of the (if not the) most un-entertaining examples of sport there is. It's so slow paced, isn't it? All that standing about and stuff.

There have been a few attempts to translate the game into computer form, with the results ranging from mediocre to downright awful. Quite why anyone would want to take on this perverse endeavour is beyond me, but there you go. Australian programming team Melbourne House have given it a go anyway.

First of all though, it's soapbox time. Now, you PC gamers know how it is. You get the latest drivers for your soundcard, the latest drivers for your graphics card, Windows 95 works properly, and everything is sweet. As long as you're careful, nothing can go wrong, can it? Wrong! Enter the monstrosity known as DirectX. 'Ah, but I don't have to install that', you smugly exclaim, 'my drivers are DirectX 3 compatible anyway, so I just answer 'No' when I'm asked if I want to install it'. Oh you poor, misguided fool. You see, some games don't ask whether you want to install DirectX or not; they rush in, see your un-Microsoft certified drivers, and reinstall DirectX ones over the top. You reboot your system, and it promptly falls apart, a gibbering heap of IRQs, DMAs and VBXs. OK, I shall say zis only once - DEVELOPERS! ASK FIRST BEFORE INSTALLING DIRECTX, OK? You wouldn't expect a lowly gamer to walk into your house uninvited and muddy your nice clean living-room carpet, would you? Eh? Flipping hell, this is the second game I reviewed this month that does this. Grrrr!

[Ed`s note. Since this review was published we have discovered from EA that the European version of Cricket 97 does actually ask you if you want to install DirectX, and does not load it automatically as mentioned above. Our original review copy was supplied to us direct from Melbourne House in Australia, and it is this version that caused us problems. EA assure us that they are well aware of the problems caused to gamers by the forced loading of DirectX, and this is why they have taken every possible step to make sure that all of their product installation routines provide the loading of DirectX drivers as an option only. Hurrah! - Nice one EA.]

Right, that's that out of the way. Apart from the aforementioned, the installation of Cricket 97 is easy, with the dulcet tones of Richie Benaud (he's a famous commentator-type bloke) talking you through. The transferral of files to your hard disk seems to take an absolute age though, even though there are some nice rendered (Australian of course!) cricket players to look at whilst it happens. Ho hum. After an introductory...ermmmm, intro sequence (complete with - Blimey! Exploding balls!!) the main menu present itself.

It's a game of two halves...umm, no, that's not right...

Before you hit the button to launch yourself headfirst into a world of creases, googlies and leg byes, you may want to modify a few of the options first. The game's difficulty level can be set, your control method, the type of rules used (English or Australian), and you can also set your own teams up. There is a list of players offered from which you can choose, but don't expect to see stars like Atherton or Hick - all the players have entirely fictitious names. Quite why this is I don't know, but if I were to guess I'd say that either EA couldn't afford the license (which I doubt), or that they didn't deem it important enough to spend money on. Hmmm, they got Ian Botham and Richie Benaud in to do the commentary, so why not go the whole hog and have the proper player names too?

Once you have fiddled with all the fiddly bits, it's time to stuff your box down your freshly-starched trousers and play. There are several types of game to choose from;

• Fast match - no messing about, straight onto the green. Field. Whatever.
• One day - One innings per team, with all the team management options.
• Test match - 2 innings each team, with unlimited overs.
• World challenge - Sees three teams competing in a 3 match preliminary One Day series. Confused? You will be.
• PC Linkup - Play with a friend over a modem or network, the winner being the one who stays awake the longest.

Once this is done, you are asked to select the number of players, the control method you will be using and the teams playing. Then there is a bit more from Richie Benaud, old duffer that he is, and depending on the type of game, Ian 'Beefy' Botham gives his views on the weather conditions.

On the oche. I mean rink. Thing.

Ah yes, cricketers play in their pyjamas nowadays, don't they? I'd forgotten that. Anyway, a coin is tossed to see who gets the choice of batting or fielding, and then you are presented with an above-and-behind view of the crease. You can change these views, but the others are useless, as one of them is so far out you can't see the ball to hit it, and the other (the StumpCam) is so close to the batter you can't see the position of the fielders around him! If you are batting, the eight joystick directions are used in conjunction with two fire buttons to give a wide range of shots, which must be correctly timed in order to hit the ball. The system works, but only just. Running between the wickets is a simple manoeuvre, with your players able to dive amusingly should you want them to. Which is most of the time. The fielding team has to choose the type of bowl, and whereabouts on the crease it is to be aimed. When the batsman hits it though, the fielders assume control and the idea is then to collect the ball as quickly as possible and lob it back to the wicket. I found this to be a real bind though, as by the time I had identified which fielder I was controlling the bloody ball had gone for four anyway!

Mud wrestling

When playing Cricket 97 in high resolution mode on a P120, it jerked and stuttered like a jerky, stuttery thing. I changed to the low-res mode and things were like, smooth man. A pity that all I could see was a blobby mess of moving pixels. Anyway, I upgraded my CPU, and all was well, so that's alright then. Everybody rush out and get a new processor! Apparently the movements of the players were motion captured, but to be honest I couldn't tell. The players' motions don't have the fluidity (or the number of frames) that I'd associate with motion capture, and when they get close they look blocky and pixellated. The sounds are passable, with Richies commentary during the game (why doesn't Ian Botham commentate too though?) and the resounding smack of leather on willow. It's a pity that the commentary often gets drowned out by the cheers of the crowd though. There's a 'rock' track playing on the menu screens, but it's hardly inspiring stuff.

Dirty balls

I reckon those people that will enjoy this are the ones that play a lot of the real thing anyway, and so aren't the most expectant of gamers. It's just too yawnsome for me though, and not for inspiring the most pleasant of dreams either. What it needs is a few strippers cavorting across the pitch or something.

There's no exploding balls in it either. Damn.

Dale Wilks for Game-Over!