Hitting the big time

Reviewed by Peter Eley

Cricket World Cup

EA Sports

PC and PlayStation

$99.95 (available this month)

Sadly, buying this game is probably the only way you are going to see New Zealand's Black Caps play in the World Cup final at Lord's on June 20. Although I haven't yet played Cricket World Cup, EA's titles are sound and their last cricket game, Cricket Ashes Tour, was up to scratch.

The industry buzz is that Cricket World Cup is every bit as good as EA's soccer World Cup 98 - one of the best sports games ever.

What made World Cup 98 so good was the statistical detail, as well as great graphics and game-play.

Cricket World Cup will follow this winning formula, with motion-captured players using England's Hollioake brothers, Adam and Ben, as models.

PC players will be able to log on to the EA Web site as the real cup tournament unfolds and update their game files to reflect player form, injuries, team changes and weather conditions. EA's New Zealand general manger Mike Wynands says the company worked closely with New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming during the development of Cricket World Cup.

And he let slip how Fleming passes the time when it rains during games - he plays video games on a PlayStation.

Shane Warne Cricket ****

Codemasters

PC

$99.95 G

This title has been around on PlayStation for a while and it's made it to the PC platform just in time to be a serious rival to EA's Cricket World Cup.

It was good on PlayStation and it's even better on the PC, with the console's occasionally blocky graphics giving way to smoother and more detailed motion, especially on accelerated systems. The game has also been updated to include players new to the test arena.

Incidentally, Shane Warne Cricket is the Australian/New Zealand version of Brian Lara Cricket, so don't be tempted to buy both.

Required: Pentium 166, 3D accelerator, 16Mb Ram. Pentium 200 and 64Mb Ram needed for optimum performance.

Still on the subject of sport, Microsoft has bought Access Software, best known for its excellent Links series of golf titles.

Just where this leaves Microsoft Golf remains to be seen, although this has been one of its most popular leisure titles.

Incidentally, courses for the two games were transferable until last year. Hopefully Microsoft will revert to this arrangement. -7DAYS.