Brian Lara to return in 2007

By Ellie Gibson Published 21 July, 2006

On PC, PS2 and Xbox 360.

Codemasters has announced that a new instalment in the Brian Lara International Cricket series will be coming to PC, PS2 and Xbox 360 next year.

BLIC 2007 will feature licensed players, including the likes of Andrew Flintoff, Ricky Ponting, Mahendra Dhoni and Muttiah Muralitharan. And our Brian, of course.

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 mode will feature all the official teams, stadiums, kits and equipment from the tournament, and other modes will include an ICC Champions' Trophy event. You'll also be able to compete in One Day Games, Test Matches, 20-over run events and other exhibition matches. Plus you can play online via your PC's Internet connection or Xbox Live.

As for the gameplay - subtle edges and sweepshots will be introduced, and you'll be able to head down wicket and smash the ball over the boundary for six. The range of bowling delivery types has been enhanced, so that the way the ball swings in the air and reacts off the pitch is more realistic.

You'll be able to experiment with Shane Warne's various spinning deliveries, lob it proper fast like Steve Harrison, and even try a reverse swing. A new slip catch system has been designed to test fielders' reflexes, and you can be stumped by wicket keepers and run out at both ends.

We're promised "photo-realistic visuals", just for a change - hundreds of player likenesses are being carefully modelled, complete with animated facial expressions. Stadiums will be even more detailed, and you can expect different lighting effects depending on time of day and weather conditions.

Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 will be released to coincide with the ICC Cricket World Cup in March next year. In the meantime, why not have a look at these screenshots for the PS2 version and the next-gen version.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • M_Diggitty #1 6 years ago

    Oh bravo Codemasters. Splendid, splendid.

  • snick #2 6 years ago

    The last one felt very limited, while the bits that you could do worked better than EA's cricket, it felt very much as if the computer was doing almost all the work for you.

    If they could make it more like the old megadrive games that would be great.

  • Fatnick #3 6 years ago

    Thank goodness! The 2005 edition was great...but the scripted animations became a tad irritating after a while. As did the lack of stumpings, and the fact you could only get run-out at one end.

    The sad thing is this might well be my most anticipated game at the minute.

  • Xerx3s #4 6 years ago

    Who?

  • gazareth #5 6 years ago

    Let's hope they get some people who have actually seen a cricket match before to play test it. Some of the batting physics in 2005 were a joke.

  • afray #6 6 years ago

    2005 did seem like a backwards step compared to the PS1 version.

    You could do fancy things like the no-ball mechanic and the special meter, but there was no auto-bowl option, the fielding AI was simplistic at best, and bowling out AI batsmen was a chore. There were almost no edges at all. And I'm not even mentioning the shoddy player career! Oh go on then: If you start a fast bowler character, he bowls at around 40mph! And /still/ takes lots of wickets!

    An online 360 version with these things fixx0red would be great.

  • RiverMan #7 6 years ago

    No Xbox version? :-(

    /goes back to the dark ages

  • Merlinho #8 6 years ago

    Can you throw the ball to the bowler's end now?

  • Fatnick #9 6 years ago

    "bowling out AI batsmen was a chore."

    Haha, not if you have the skills!
    Basically:

    Batsman 1-5 - Set a deep, mainly legside field with someone out at 3rd man. Bowl short and slightly outside offstump. Voila! watch as the batsman lofts the shot into the air, straight down to third man. You'll probably concede a few 6's, but you can often take hattricks with this method.

    Batsman 6-10 - no fancy stuff, just try yorking him. normally, if a quick yorker doesn't work, following it up with a slower ball on the stumps certainly will.

    If codemasters fix these problems (along with the ease of smashing balls for 6) I will be a happy bunny.

  • imperial_seal #10 6 years ago

    "lob it proper fast like Steve Harrison"

    who the hell is he ??? you mean Harmison

  • OllyJ #11 6 years ago

    "Can you throw the ball to the bowler's end now?"

    This is answered if you read the article ;D

  • RiverMan #12 6 years ago

    "and even try a reverse swing"

    A reverse swing? Is this like some sex chair or something?

  • afray #13 6 years ago

    Fatnick: "Haha, not if you have the skills!..."

    Your method describes how to flunk out the AI. If you try bowling like a real bowler would, edges almost never come and you can't seem to out wit even the poorest batsmen. Special yorkers/bouncers are ducked/defended every time even by tail-enders (don't think I ever took a wicket with them, where as in multiplayer when to use them is a skillfull art and keeps the batsmen on their toes).

    Bowling is difficult to make fun: You're always relying on the batsman making mistakes, but the auto-bowl option took the sting out of it in the PS1 game. With it gone there's no option but to either plug away for 50-odd overs or to exploit the AI as Fatnick suggests.

    Anyway, with online in the 360 version I should be able to get a decent fix out of it.

  • afray #14 6 years ago

    "and even try a reverse swing"

    And do they mean a reverse sweep? You could reverse-swing the ball in 2006, IIRC.

  • HMAN #15 6 years ago

    Cricket, its not for girls

  • Stickman #16 6 years ago

    If I play this, and get hit for 20 sixes over third man whilst bowling yorkers again, I'm going to track down posh_geordie and shove it up his ass.

  • kentmonkey #17 6 years ago

    We have fun at work with the multiplayer, but everyone but everyone bemoans the fact that you can't get edges in the game that often. It seems you either have to take the stumps out of the ground or catch one of the (many) lofted shots.

    Why do the fielders run so bloody slow as well, it's as if they're running through treacle.

  • posh_geordie #18 6 years ago

    Post deleted at 18:45:04 02-01-2012