Hi All
The demo for Brian Lara International Cricket was released on Thursday 8th of March on Xbox Marketplace for all PAL versions. Yes PAL versions so NTSC versions will not be getting the demo. I am really excited about this game as I loved the previous versions and I am a cricket lover.
Since this is a demo there is not much I can see on presentation at the moment. Once you launch the demo you get the usual screens with all the copyrights and sponsorships and then you get the main screen, after that its starts to load up the game. All you get upon load up are three screens showing you the Xbox 360 controller setup. The first two screens are the most important. They are regarding batting and bowling. But they move on too fast for you to check what all the buttons do. Luckily I have played the previous version so I knew basically the button layout. Once the game has loaded up you can press start to launch the game. The demo is a 3 over game between England and Australia. You are always England. Once the match starts you get a nice overview of the stadium. I felt the ground was too green but maybe it was only the one stadium. Then the players walk out. The graphic were good, not great but definitely and improvement but for me it’s all about the game play. The batters are ready and Strauss and Bell at the crease ready for the first delivery. The Australians select Glen McGrath for their first over. Please note the players don’t look exactly like their real self’s but they are good enough for you to make and educated guest on whom they are. Right McGrath starts his run up and you can tell that the animation (or majority of it) is exactly the same as the previous version and he delivers a ball that I despatch pretty easily. After the over is gone I see that the demo must be on easy setting because I have just taken 26 off it. But what pleased me is that McGrath was constantly bowling an average of mid 80’s mph like in real life. He did bowl a slower ball that was about 70 mph. This clarifies that they have fixed the issue with bowlers bowling one ball at 100mph and then deliver a slower ball at 40mph. The next bowler is Andrew Symonds, so I decide to check out the two new shot types, the low sweep shot (LB button) and the attacking sweep shot (RB button). These buttons work like any other, just press your direction and hit the button at the correct timing. Another great addition to batting is that now the batter can come down the wicket to smack the ball out the stadium by holdinh the RT button with any other shot button. This can only be achieved when the batsmen’s confidence meter is at 100%. Ok I found batting too easy but since it is a demo I expect they have put it on a really simple level so people can have some fun with it.
Right, now for the bowling. Before I start my first deliver I checked out the new fielding options. In the previous version you had to go to the in game menu and flick through all the different fielding positions, but now you can do it all in game with a touch of a few buttons. By pressing the RB or LB buttons you have the option to set your field to attacking, defensive or custom. Once you have selected what type of field set you want you can press the right or left trigger to scroll through all the different variations. From the first over I realise that this must be set at an easy level or it’s a very obvious bug because a Flintoff 90mph does not look that fast but it seems more like a fast looping arm ball and the animation does not look any faster than say a 70 mph delivery. But I always loved the bowling in the previous Brian Lara. It’s the only cricket game I have played that I actually don’t mind bowling first. Ok after a few overs I see that there are a few new tweaks from the previous versions. First of all I have noticed that you have the ability to throw the ball to either end. The bowlers end or the keepers end. The RT is for the bowlers end and the LT is for keepers end. You also have to time the throw as a timing meters appears when your fielder is about to approach the ball. Getting it perfect will result in a fast direct throw but by mistiming it will lead to a bad throw which may result in the fielder not gathering it in time and wasting valuable seconds. I found this a bit tricky at start but after a few goes I got the hang of it. It kinds reminds me of the active reload system in Gears of War. In all I think it keeps you on the edge and not waiting for the AI to throw it back. Also I saw that if the fielder picks the ball up near the crease if you hit back a perfect throw he hits the stumps. Another big inclusion is catching. Even though in the previous version you had to hit a timing bar when catching in the outfield which still remains the same, but now that timing bar has been including for the slip catches also. This was a bit tricky at start as you don’t expect it, but now I have semi mastered it I find it a great inclusion to the game. There are also some new catching animation like one hand catches and diving catches. On whole the player is involved in all aspects of the game, where in previous games when you field all you do was bowl the ball and then you can just wait until the fielder gathers the ball and throws it back or you would be tearing your hair by watching the AI fielder drop a catch that your grandma could of caught. Now your destiny is in your hands, if you drop a catch or miss throw a ball for extra runs, then you have no one to blame but yourself.
On whole the 3 over match demo was really satisfying and I am please by the development of this game. It did say that the game was 90% complete, but I suspect it was the final build in terms of gameplay. The game is out on the 23rd of March and it will be a definite addition to me collection. Once I get this I will be giving a full review.
