Coinciding with the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Brian Lara makes his debut on the Xbox 360 console with Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 (BLIC 07). Whether you love or hate cricket, Codemasters have managed to take what could be considered by many (me included) as one of the most boring sports in the world and actually turned it in to a fun, competitive and dare I say, fairly addictive game.

Gameplay:

BLIC 07 offers more officially licensed content than ever including official teams, stadiums (which includes all eight official World Cup venues); more kits and equipment along with true player likeness’s of superstars such Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Peterson, Ricky Ponting, Mahendra Dhoni, Muttiah Muralitharan and of course, Brian Lara himself to name but a few. These authentically recreate all the excitement, skill and intensity of world-class cricket without any late night drunken “pedalo” antics, match fixing scandals or any sign of a team coach being murdered after his team’s shock exit from the Cricket World Cup.

Starting off with the coaching mode, BLIC eases players in to the world of cricket and guides players through not only the basics of batting, bowling and fielding but also new and more advanced skills. The advanced skills allow the batsman to dance down the wicket to punish the short ball, perform sweep-shots. The bowlers who now not only are capable of the traditional leg-cutters, googly’s, top-spinners or off-spinners but also have the ability to affect how the ball moves in the air and reacts off the pitch which is showcased no better than by the swing bowling skulduggery of players such as Shane Warne. The Practice Nets mode has also been enhanced and enables players to put all new skills into practice without having to play through matches.

BLIC features several types of competitions for players to participate in such as the ICC Champions Trophy, One Day Internationals, Test Matches where you are able to play in either individual test matches or a league of up to 16 teams, Twenty Overs and naturally the officially licensed ICC Cricket World Cup 2007.

Previous versions of Brian Lara cricket soon become little more than a simple slog fest with the boundaries seemingly easy to reach. Well the latest in the franchise is not overly different, with the early order batsman still more than capable of 20+ runs per over by simply slogging the ball to the boundary. As you progress through the batting order you will notice the lower order batsmen are not as able to crack the ball out of the park for a 4 or 6 and you will have to play it simple and play for runs.

Fielding is semi-automatic in that the computer determines which fielder should attempt to retrieve, stop or catch the ball and the player controls the catches and throws by pressing A at the centre of an on screen meter. This is fine and works well when the fielder is out on the boundary and the players has time to adjust to the situation but slip or behind wicket catches are damn near impossible especially as the camera change to focus on the action which often distracts you from the fact you need to actually be catching the ball and leaves you almost milliseconds to react.

Graphics:

Graphically BLIC has also been overhauled although this for my money is an area that still requires work. Even though the stadiums are recreated from their real life counterparts they are far too simplistic, bland and dare I say reminiscent of last-gen BLIC titles. The crowds appear to be almost nothing more than blobs and the surrounding environment such as hills in the distance look almost like a cardboard cut-out and all of this including the stadiums and crowds are disguised by a rather strange focus blurring effect. The player animation unfortunately also falls in to the last-gen category and is crying out for some motion capture to be utilised in the no doubt future BLIC titles.

Sound:

Other than a few thwack’s and “how’s that” screamed from the bowlers in vein attempts to gain an LBW decision from the umpire; the audio department is handled by cricket experts Jonathan Agnew, David Gower, Ian Bishop, Bill Lawry and Tony Greig who provide top notch commentary. However, way too soon do you begin to hear very repetitive commentary which is a real shame as initially this is a very strong and impressive feature of the game.

Longevity:

Hidden under the last-gen presentation which doesn’t really detract from the experience is a game with plenty of play variations to keep you busy along with Xbox LIVE adding even further variation. BLIC is in for the long haul, even the Xbox 360 achievements which are utilised excellently within BLIC 07 will keep you batting and bowling in an attempt to gain the more tricky of them such as double century, six sixes in a row or king pair.

Overall:

Overall and quite surprisingly I have found BLIC to be not only fun but quite addictive. It has almost a perfect blend of being easy to play but taking time to perfect which will require time spent in the nets practising batting and bowling techniques. The graphical shortfalls are a real shame as is the commentary becoming repetitive within an hour or so but the reality is, this really doesn’t detract from the overall fun which makes BLIC 07 a worthy addition to any sports fans collection or at least well worth a hire.