Cricket 2004 - PS2

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Cricket 2004 (PS2)
Also for: PC
Viewed: 3D Third-person, floating camera Genre:
Sport: Cricket
Media: DVD Arcade origin:No
Developer: HB Studios Soft. Co.: Electronic Arts
Publishers: Electronic Arts (GB)
Released: 5 Mar 2004 (GB)
Ratings: PEGI 3+
Accessories: Memory Card
Features: Vibration Function Compatible, Analogue Control Compatible: analogue sticks only, Multitap adaptable

Summary

There's never been a great many cricket sims available in the video gaming world. Perhaps this is because the sport is not that popular with your average games player, or maybe because cricket doesn't translate very well physically as a gaming concept. Either way, cricket fans have never really been spoilt for choice virtually. Well, not wanting to let fans of any sport down, EA has come to the rescue with this latest PlayStation 2 take on the British gent's bat and ball game - simply, yet rationally, entitled Cricket 2004.

As you would expect, the game is a playable and in-depth simulation of the sport, full of all the official teams, players, environments, and endorsements you'd normally associate with EA Sports titles. As such, there are more than 1000 players and over 50 teams, including all the sport's international teams and bonus squads, as well as domestic teams and competitions from England and Australia. If that's not enough for you, then there's also a player editor, which allows you to create and change players' features throughout the game.

With regard to the environments, the game features 61 accurately modelled stadiums, including famous grounds from England (Lords), Calcutta, Melbourne, and Cape Town. Each stadium benefits from various pitch types and conditions, detailed real time weather effects, and night modes for Day/Night matches.

For the true fanatics, Cricket 2004 gets fairly deep into the data, offering a large variety of statistical graphs, such as run rate and wagon wheel graphs, as well as stats on each player that track over the course of a tournament. On the other hand, the game also keeps the action coming, revolving around full TV-style presentation that includes the likes of action replays, third umpire, animated ducks, and TV-style overlays.

As mentioned before, there aren't many similar games about, leaving Cricket 2004 without much competition. Regardless of this fact, the game is a faithful and concise representation of the sport, complete with the renowned EA Sports attention to detail.