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Ricky Ponting Cricket 2007: Hands On

Published By: Tristan Clark On: 13/03/2007 10:00

AT A GLANCE

"There's some promise in there, but is it enough?"

The Good: Deep gameplay; good music.

The Bad: Average graphics and animation; lack of polish.

The Ugly: Playing as 'Flameng' instead of 'Fleming'

By Tristan Clark

The cricket World Cup is upon us - and at the end of the month you’ll be able to relive the highs and lows as the top (and not so top) teams from around the world compete. That's right - Ricky Ponting Cricket 2007 has arrived, and we recently got a chance to check out a work-in-progress version.

Cricket games haven’t really had a great time as of late. The last few EA titles (especially Cricket 07) have been entirely forgettable, and the previous Ricky Ponting games haven’t fared much better. So the question is, can the latest version in Codemaster’s long-running series break the mould and actually provide a fun cricketing experience?

At this stage, it’s hard to answer, as it was obvious that many features were not yet fully implemented – but if the majority of them aren’t fixed up before release, things don’t look so hopeful for Ricky Ponting 07.

The game gives you all the standard options you’d expect from a sports title, such as popular tournaments (including the latest World Cup) and series’, as well as one-off matches that can be played on a variety of levels, from club to national. You’re also able to head to the nets for a bit practice and advice.

This last feature is absolutely essential for those unfamiliar with cricket, and is even highly recommended for cricket fans who haven’t played one of these games before. I jumped right in to a one-day match, and even though I was only playing against Bangladesh, I got my ass kicked (funny, this actually happened to the Black Caps not so long ago…). This was due in large part to the controls, which are hard to get to grips with unless you burrow through the main menus looking for a guide.

However, once I found out how to actually hit the ball, as well as how to bowl yorkers, things got much more interesting. I was soon able to actually win games, and started having a bit of fun as I worked out which shots I should play, or what kind of length to bowl.

There are, however, a number of issues that really detract from the experience. The first obvious one is the lack of real player names, seeing as EA have those rights all locked up. It’s unfortunately unavoidable, and can at least be fixed by changing the names yourself.

The other major problem also stems from EA. Simply put, I think I’ve been spoiled by the sheer amount of polish that their sports games boast. While the gameplay of Ricky Ponting 07 seemed solid for the most part, I found myself wishing for more detailed graphics, better animations, and a much better set of commentators. I guess this is what happens when you don’t have the kind of funds that a huge publisher like EA can provide.

Right now, Ricky Ponting Cricket 2007 needs a lot of touch-ups in order to provide a fun experience. You can catch glimpses of it here and there, but any sort of immersion in the game is hampered by the problems mentioned above. Hopefully these issues will be sorted out before release, but I suspect that at least some of them will still be there when the final version hits these shores at the end of the month.