Brian Lara Cricket (series)

The Brian Lara Cricket series is a series of six cricket video games that are endorsed by the West Indian cricketer Brian Lara and published by Codemasters.

The Games

As of 2007, there are six games in the Brian Lara Cricket series on eight video game systems, spanning thirteen years.

Brian Lara Cricket

Brian Lara Cricket is the first game in the series to be endorsed by Brian Lara. It was developed by Audiogenic and published by Codemasters in 1994 for DOS and then a year later in 1995 for the Sega Mega Drive and Commodore Amiga systems.

Brian Lara Cricket '96

Also known as Lara '96, this game is a new version of Brian Lara Cricket on the Mega Drive with updated player names and statistics. It is the final game in the series to be developed by Audiogenic and was published by Codemasters in 1996.

Brian Lara Cricket '99

Released in 1998, this is the first fully 3D game in the series. It is the first fifth generation game in the series and was developed and shipped by Codemasters for the Sony PlayStation and Windows platforms. This game was also branded as Shane Warne Cricket '99.

Brian Lara International Cricket 2005

Developed by Swordfish Studios for Codemasters, Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 is a 6th generation console game for the Playstation 2 and Windows. It was released to coincide with the 2005 Ashes series. BLIC 2005 builds on the 3D environment that was first introduced in Brian Lara Cricket '99 and enhances it with rendered crowds and detailed stadia.

Brian Lara International Cricket 2007

Off the success of "BLIC2005", Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 was developed. Using the same release date tactics as the previous game, it was shipped during the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The game was available for the Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 consoles, as well as for Windows. This version includes many graphical as well as gameplay improvements. The Xbox 360 version is the first console port in the series to be in high definition widescreen. Gameplay improvements include analogue direction control when batting, this allows the player to attempt to hit the ball in any direction. In India, it was released as Yuvraj Singh International Cricket.

Brian Lara Pressure Play

Brian Lara Pressure Play is a PSP-only version of the game, released in 2007. Like Brian Lara International Cricket 2007, it features an exclusive licence for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. It is the first Brian Lara title to appear on a handheld console, and the graphics are accordingly less detailed than on the home console versions. It features "Pressure Play" challenge modes, where players complete cricketing challenges such as run chases, big hits, and holding out for a draw. It was released in Australia as Ricky Ponting Pressure Play.

History

In 1985, Michael McLean at Audiogenic, a subsidiary of Supersoft wrote Graham Gooch's Test Cricket for the C64 computer system [cite web| url=http://www.gamebase64.com/oldsite/gameofweek/5/gotw_ggtestcricket.htm | title=Review of Graham Gooch's Test Cricket with release details | accessdate=2007-03-23] . It was a great success and Audiogenic followed up with Graham Gooch's All Star Cricket in 1987 [cite web| url=http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:19759 | title=Release details of Graham Gooch's All Star Cricket on Allgame.com | accessdate=2007-03-23] . The game that was to become Graham Gooch World Class Cricket was scheduled to be released for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1991, but the desire to create the perfect game led to long delays. However, when it did eventually appear in 1993 it was a huge success [cite web| url=http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/grahamgo.htm | title=CU Amiga review of Graham Gooch's World Class Cricket from 1993 | accessdate=2007-03-23] , reaching No.1 in the Amiga charts. A PC version followed a year later.

In 1994 Audiogenic identified an opportunity to capitalise on the stunning success of Brian Lara, who had broken two long-standing world records, and rebranded World Class Cricket game as Brian Lara Cricket, initially for the DOS but also later for the Amiga.

In 1995 Audiogenic licensed Brian Lara Cricket for the Sega Mega Drive to Codemasters. It was a huge success and spent 10 weeks at No.1 in the UK video games chart during the summer of 1995. Brian Lara Cricket '96 was released the following year in 1996 also by Codemasters, and it too got to No.1 in the charts. In late 1996 Codemasters acquired the Audiogenic development and Brian Lara Cricket '99 for the Playstation console was released in 1998.

In 2005 Codemasters released Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 for the Playstation 2 console, it was released on 21 July to coincide with the start of the 2005 Ashes series. It was another success gaining high ratings [cite web| url=http://www.mobygames.com/game/brian-lara-international-cricket-2005/ | title=Mobygames webpage on Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 | accessdate=2007-03-23] . Off the back of this success, Codemasters has developed Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 which was released in March, 2007, to coincide with the 2007 Cricket World Cup.Brian Lara Pressure Play followed in August for the PSP, [cite press release | url=http://www.codemasters.co.uk/press/?showarticle=10713 | title=Brian Lara 2007 Pressure Play smashes into shops today | publisher=Codemasters | date=2007-08-31 | format=html | accessdate=2007-11-06] reaching No.1 in its first week on release. [cite press release | url=http://www.codemasters.co.uk/press/?showarticle=10796 | title=Brian Lara 2007 Pressure Play Hits Number One in the Charts | date=2007-09-07 | accessdate=2007-11-06 | format=html | language=English | publisher=Codemasters]

ee also

*Graham Gooch's Test Cricket
*Graham Gooch's All Star Cricket
*Graham Gooch World Class Cricket

References

External links

* [http://www.audiogenic.com/cricket.htm Official Audiogenic cricket game catalogue]
* [http://www.codemasters.co.uk Official Codemasters website]
*moby game|id=-group/brian-lara-cricket-series|name=The "Brian Lara Cricket" series