There are three main components to cricket: batting, bowling and fielding. Well, four if you count boozing. But for RPIC 07, Codemasters have gone with the philosophy that each of these three elements should be equally engaging and fun for the player. To this end, they have totally rebuilt the game’s fielding system, which was quite limited in the ’05 iteration.

Apart from the aforementioned ability to throw the ball to both ends, and the inclusion of silky smooth contextual animations, there are a heap of new options and abilities that allow you to field with total confidence. Batting is now analogue and this is shown by a light cone on the field icon. Therefore, with shots going all over the place, it’s just as well that you can place your fielders with the touch of a button for pre-set placements. Don’t like that? Simply get all particular in the field menu to really breathe down the opposition’s neck.

And when a ball does get slogged, the new Reflex catch system comes into play. Taking inspiration from the Matrix, this bullet-time system gives you a timing window on the bottom left of the screen; the game slows down and gives you an opportunity to press a button and catch the ball. But before you start thinking that this will make the game easier, reflect that you’ll be up against more aggressive AI, a completely 360 degree shot placement system and the fact that confidence stats will ebb and flow – so that slow-timed catch may just be the most satisfying moment ever.

Don’t like fielding? Fine, just opt to skip innings. Codies are aware that some people hate particular aspects of the game, or simply want to bat all the time, and so have given you the ability to skip over the boring bits and only engage with the gameplay element that you like best. This shows, in my opinion, a deep understanding of both the game itself and the intended audience. Codemasters want to reach as many people as possible with this game, from those who don’t know the first thing about cricket, right through to those who can spout off encyclopedic knowledge of particular games and players.

Whilst bowling, I noticed quite a few cool graphical effects, such as clumps off the pitch and dirt lifting up, as well as some great particle effects. Obviously, this has an effect on subsequent balls that get delivered, as both the pitch and the ball wear away over time. This, coupled with the fact that delivery speeds are realistically tied to the type of bowler that is on show, means that matches should be dynamic and different every time.

But the achievement whore in you is wondering what you’ll need to do to hear that wholly satisfying pop, right? Well, I actually got to see the achievement list and, after furiously scribbling down a few of them, I can reveal that they look like a lot of fun to get. There are achievements for things such as getting a hat trick or half century and century. Then there are some cool ones like getting six boundaries in a row or six sixes in a row – that’ll be interesting to get. Even more surprising is the fact that there didn’t seem to be any achievements for multiplayer – we’re guessing that Codemasters feel the player should be more rewarded for their single player efforts.

So... hands-on impressions? Well, this is still basically the same type of game as RPIC 05 (a cricket one, der), but the differences are certainly there. I had a go at bowling first up and the different bowling options are still mapped to the face buttons. The circular aiming marker is also visible, but to me it certainly felt quite intuitive and when the ball bounces realistically and is met with great animation from the batsman it really does serve to immerse you in the game. Batting is probably where most of the fun is to be had, and using the thumbstick to aim around the stadium for a shot certainly feels great. To step forward and really give the ball a slogging, you actually have to press a specific button combination much earlier than a normal shot – and this does leave you open if you miss the ball or only chip it. Tactically, the game feels both subtle and deep and from my very short hands-on time I can definitely feel the improvements over RPIC 05.

Delving back into the game options, it’s actually possible to choose between balanced or realistic settings. Balanced evens all the stats up a bit whereas realistic is linked to the real life stats of each player – so that’s pretty cool. In fact, the whole game seemed pretty cool and I think the most impressive part of the whole visit was the way in which the guys at Codies were the first ones to identify the major faults with RPIC 05. By really focusing on the game itself, and recognizing that gamers want to have the option for every little thing – and then giving them those options – I can only predict that the game will fulfill almost any cricket fan’s dreams.

Come March, it’ll be on, and rabid cricket fans the world over will be living out their own individual World Cup fantasies with this game. So grab your bat and ball, stock up on tinnies and slap on some extra thick sunscreen – the balls are about to go flying thick and fast... in a good way of course.

Article by Dylan Burns