Citizen Game Ashes Analysis

Michael Vaughan Cricket manager – PC

It would be somewhat foolish to judge a game that is primarily a hardcore simulation on its performance in a short cricket test session. However from the minimal time spent during the Citizen Game ashes special with Michael Vaughan Cricket manager reminded me of Championship Manager games from the mid to late 90’s. The menus, the pacing and the buttons that have a peculiar lag time before they display the next menu.

On the surface it appears to be a game designed to push, prod and pull each and every sense of my statistical driven happy spot. How the game plays as a management simulation is something I’ll need to investigate further but fear it’s bare-bones aesthetic and absent of explanatory detailing when the team you’re managing is performing poorly may be a difficult hurdle to clear.

EA Sports – Cricket 05 – PS2

I’m not sure what to entirely make of EA Sport Cricket 2005.  It was the most simulation heavy game I played during the Citizen Game ashes series, which is a ludicrous statement in a series that included two cricket management simulation games.

Sluggish, unresponsive and devoid of fun.  Initially i’d put the sluggish and unresponsive nature down to lag added by the video capture hardware. Dumbfoundead was I when discovering that the same laggy control response existed under normal conditions.  How can a game I somewhat remember having fond memories of be so poor?

Cricket 2005 encapsulates everything that was bad about EA Sports games in the early to mid 2000’s – All style and no substance.  The game replicates the feel of watching cricket on TV but this comes at the severe cost of being hideously boring to play.

Whether or not you’d strike the ball seemed random.  Timing needs to be perfect, almost down to the millisecond, otherwise you’d nick the ball off to the slips or spoon the ball up into the air. While bowling was a total dark art. Even after spending an hour or so in practice mode I was never able to grasp the line and length required to consistently challenge the computer.

The balance between simulation and arcade is a difficult like to walk. Sadly EA sports cricket 2005 walked so far away from the line that the line is now a spot on the horizon.

Graham Gooch Cricket – Amiga

The oldest, most accessible and downright fun game I played during this whole Citizen Game ashes.  Possibly the closes any of the games come to replicating the shear excitement of Twenty20 cricket. Something to marvel at considering the game was developed a decade before the formation of the Twenty20 format.

In spite of the game being twenty one years old it remains every-bit as playable and enjoyable as it was in 1993. Yes, some graphical idiosyncrasies are more apparent under inspection, but you show me a sports game of similar age that has aged as well.

Brian Lara Cricket 05 – PS2

A game out of the era when you didn’t care that players names were incorrectly spelt to get around licensing problems. Brian Lara cricket 2005, the digital offspring of the loved Brian Lara Cricket ’99 on the Playstation, somehow manages to pick up right where the 1999 version left off, albeit with all the style of a game befitting the PS2.

Many contempary sports games would improve significantly if basic control fundamentals were echoed from  Brian Lara cricket. Mainly; tight, responsive controls.  When pressing a button at the right moment you get the required result. Actions seems instantaneous.  Finger control and actions are tied intimately. Time the button press accurately and see the ball rocket to the boundary for four runs.  Attempting to address poor timing with aggressive application of power will not overcome poor timing. Brian Lara cricket 2005 is one of the greatest cricket games of all  time because of the attention to timing.

International Cricket Captain 2001: Ashes Edition – PC

Just like Michael Vaughan Cricket manager is would be foolish to judge International Cricket Captain 2001: Ashes Edition on limited playtime, particularly when playing a single test match, since the games strength lays in total management of a cricket team over seasons.

As with Michael Vaughan Cricket manager and Cricket Captain 2001 the feeling of being a passenger was heavy. My actions limited to just a few clicks. All the joy and excitement had been removed due to the nature of the game mode i was playing. Under normal game conditions i’d have been guiding a county team over a season and career to the ultimate goals. But in a one off test I was left with the default England squad and constricted picking from a narrow pool of players.

ICC 2001 did, in the time i spent with it, offers a rewarding experience. Unlike Michael Vaughan cricket manager my actions of selecting bowling discipline, line and length had a noticeable effect; See Austrailia hitting three sixes off one over when I tried to overwhelm their tail end with aggressive pace.  For a quick look International Cricket Captain 2001: Ashes Edition left a good impression. A game i’d spend more time with. All i need now is more time.