CRICKET WORLD CUP
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Howzat?! Pretty average really

By JAMES ANTHONY

As the cold weather sets in memories of long summer days listening to the cricket on the ABC have almost faded but, fortunately, fans have the World Cup to enjoy.

And for those who want to do a bit more than just watch/listen to the premier one-day competition, EA Sports has released Cricket World Cup a 3D simulation that should have us strapped in front of the PC for days.

It is a fun cricket sim with which you can indulge your sporting dreams during England '99. You can play single one-dayers, or get stuck in to the whole cup competition and lead one team through to glory.

All of the sides are included, all in magnificent pyjama-game clothing and all ready for the slaughter at the hands of Steve Waugh's mighty Aussies.

The controls are a doddle, with mouse clicks deciding on the spot you want to bowl at, the speed at which you will biff the ball, and how you want to hit the shot - play a stroke, defend or have a tonk to cow corner (for non-cricket folks that means a power stroke).

Fielding can be adjusted from normal to aggressive and the virtual players perform pretty well when diving to catch or stop the ball.

If you start Cricket World Cup on the easy level (perfectly sensible for beginners) you will think - this is just too simple. Things become considerably more interesting when you go up the difficulty levels as the opposition's woeful overthrows all of a sudden turn into run outs.

Their bowling and batting also becomes more difficult to counter and all of sudden there is a match on.

You can choose from 10 overs through to 75 overs each side, although the latter would take quite a while to play.

Graphically, Cricket World Cup is very good. The grounds look magnificent, the players move well, although they again fall short of those in FIFA '99, and while the overall play is enjoyable people will be niggled by some bugs.

Opposition keepers cop the worst of it as they may already have the ball but will still move to the side of the pitch, pretend to catch an incoming ball then throw it to the bowler.

The commentary also struggles at times and while the dulcet tones of Richie Benaud and David Gower have been done very nicely, the placement of the comments can sometimes be a little awry.

Running between the wickets is a bit suspect on the easy level - the fielding side can miss the stumps several times during one episode of play and despite the call of over you can continue to pile up the runs until you feel like stopping. Seventeen extra runs were added during one instance.

Other things that need to be corrected are that Darren Lehmann and all other left-handers seemed to have switched hands, bowlers steam back to their marks at full pace (yeah, right!) and the world's greatest legspinner seems to have converted to offspin. Hmmmmmm.

There is a considerable database included and this can be updated with all the latest stats from off the Net.

All up, this is a fun way to spend a few hours but, until the bugs get fixed, don't take it too seriously.

ORIGINALITY 90%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 70%
PLAYABILITY 80%
ADDICTION 90%
ENJOYMENT 75%