Yuvraj Singh International Cricket 2007

Codemasters’ cricket franchise has been around since a long, long time—their series kicked off with ‘Brian Lara cricket’ in 1994, with sequels releasing every few years for almost each and every platform out there. The most amazing part about it all is that all the Brian Lara games have always managed to please fans. I remember playing hours and hours of Brian Lara Cricket ‘96 with my cousin, on my trusty lil’ SEGA Mega Drive. Man, I loved that game! If you did too, you’d be glad to know that Yuvraj Singh International Cricket 2007 is as true to the genre as any game in the series was, and it doesn’t stray far from the experience the other games in the series offered.

You’re probably wondering what Yuvraj Singh International Cricket 2007 (YSIC2007) has to do with the Brian Lara Cricket series. Well, the deal here is that YSIC2007 is basically the same as Brian Lara International Cricket 2007. The same game’s got a new name for the Indian regional market, along with Yuvraj Singh as its frontman. So now that we’ve got that cleared up, let’s see what the game has to offer…
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Codemasters has given you a chance to participate in a fully licensed ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 and 2006, which means that there won’t be any pissing-off fake names in this mode. However, if you play anything other modes you’re gonna have to make do with cricketers named S. Tendulki and R. Druvad. Not that it really matters, but it always feels better to play with replicas of the real guys right?

Even though the names or player models might not be accurate, the important thing in sports games is that it emulates the real thing well enough, while retaining the fun and excitement of an International tournament. In that respect, the game delivers. YSIC 2007 is a lot like the previous games in the series, which in this case, isn’t a bad thing at all. All the mechanics from its older brothers are seen here and are noticeably tweaked a good bit, to help the game feel more responsive than before. The batting mechanics are simply perfect—placing shots between gaps in the field setup is made much easier, more effective and much more dynamic that before. Playing strokes requires nothing more than using the left analog stick along with either one of the face buttons of the controller—however, in the end the most crucial thing is picking the right shots and timing them well. This comes pretty intuitively to you, even if you’ve missed the last few games in the series, which goes a long way in making batting a lot of fun and easy to pickup for beginners too.
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Bowling on the other hand is far more difficult; if you’re new to the game and you’re up against a tough opponent, chances are you’re gonna get your balls whacked all over the field. Ok, that didn’t sound too right, but you know what I mean, right? Bowling the right line and length simply isn’t enough—you’ve got to add swing and spin to deceive that batsman, and keep varying your deliveries, else the AI will catch on and blast each delivery beyond the boundary lines.

To help you cope with the hard-to-master bowling mechanics, the game has a really awesome Coaching Mode which helps you get familiar with all the various aspects of the game quickly. This tutorial is rather well designed since it moves along pretty quickly, providing only relevant information while keeping training sessions short, concise and to the point. The only place it falters though is with the fielding bit. No matter how hard you train to field, chances are you won’t pull of those Jonty Rhodes catches anytime soon. While taking catches (much like the previous games) a meter appears out of nowhere, with a fast moving bar that you have to stop when it’s at the centre, else you’ll fail. This requires some really fast reflexes and great anticipation, more so than the previous games. If you aren’t gifted with lightening fast reflexes (I know that I’m not; I’m sure that a lot of you aren’t either), dropping catches will become a pretty regular and frustrating occurrence. Codemasters should have really revamped the fielding mechanics in this game, since it can pretty much ruin the experience for a lot of us.
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Another area which seems a little loosely managed is the game’s visuals. Although most elements of the game seem quite crisp and vibrant, the character models don’t seem to have fluid or realistic movement. The character animation goes for a complete toss at times; for example, at times the fielder will turn his back in the direction he throws the ball, and the ball will still travel to its target. At other times the character movement seems awkward and not strewn too well into the action, making things the game seem quite choppy. If you can ignore this however, the game’s presentation is pretty good. The commentary is better done than other cricket games out there, but it can get a little repetitive with the clich