The phrase, 'cricket game' may seem tautological, but therein lies what has been a big problem for cricket games in general: the need to balance interesting gameplay with the realistic simulation of a sport that is, let's admit it, fairly slow paced, though infinitely complex. The failure of many developers to successfully do this has left many cricket fans feeling frustrated by the fairly limited cricket games that have, up until now, been released. It's strange really; cricket fans aren't a minority lusting after some obscure sport to finally get treated properly, this is cricket, not curling or dare I say it, paintball! Ricky Ponting International Cricket 2005 (also known overseas as Brian Lara International Cricket 2005) is a damn good stab at getting this balance right and for the most part is a pleasure to play, but it also has its own fair share of limitations.

Upon starting RPIC 2005, you're greeted with a whole screen of options, from Challenge Mode and Tournament (which include an ICC-licensed Cricked World Cup and Champions Trophy, a World Tour, Double Wicket Tournament, and World XI Series), through to The Nets and Create Your Own Player. The Challenge mode is particularly cool, and Classic Matches play out almost like a story of cricket's history as you try to accomplish realistic goals. Starting out with the birth of the Ashes, where you must bowl the entire English team out before their target of 85 runs, Classic Matches let you either replay history or, if you prefer, to recreate it if you play the opposing team and change what went before. Beating each challenge unlocks the next, as well as classic players and photographs. Some of these historic matches are presented in classy black and white, complete with film artifacts running over the screen and correct period uniforms, not to mention the mutton chops on some of the historic players!

Even if you're an experienced cricketer, it's recommended that you start off at The Nets, as it is here that you can hone both your virtual batting and bowling skills to perfection. The Nets is also an invaluable tool for coming back and practicing on your weaker areas within the game's main modes. When batting, The Nets allows you to practice receiving short or full deliveries, and the pitch itself is divided up into many areas so you can easily customise the bowler's delivery. In fact, customisation is the main flavour of RPIC 2005, and you can choose what type of pitch you would like, time of day, even the ball's age. A lot of effort has gone into giving you the ability to shape your gaming experience as your skills increase. Accordingly, you can amp up the difficulty as you progress, which has a noticeable effect on both how hard it is to hit the ball when batting and how difficult it becomes to take wickets whilst bowling. Choose the harder difficulties and the window for your batting reaction gets less, hence less balls heading for, or over, the boundary.

The difference between batting and bowling in RPIC 2005 is immense, and it may come as a surprise to many that in this title, contrary to almost every other cricket game available, bowling is actually a lot more fun and can be more rewarding than slapping a ball for six. Batting involves you reacting to each delivery on an ad hoc basis; there is little opportunity for going in with a pre-conceived play in mind, as ball deliveries can change at the last moment. Point the left analogue stick in the direction you would like your shot to go and press a shot button and your player will do his best to accommodate you.

It's easy to adjust your shot and each button on the controller corresponds to an intuitive batting system allowing for defensive and hooked shots, shots across the ground (yes you can actually score boundaries all the way along the ground), and lofted shots. Batters must try to optimize their confidence bar, which changes for better or worse depending on how you play the game. There is also a helpful timing bar, which lets you know whether your last shot was too early, too late, or just right. It's a good system that works well in most situations and a batter with high confidence can make better hits and has more movement in the crease.

However, as stated above, bowling is where it's at, which seems to run contrary to the adage 'batting is a pleasure, bowling is a job'. When bowling, you're given more options than a take-away pizza. This comes down to a deeply intuitive button system and the ability to add swing or drift to each delivery. Delivery options vary depending on the type of bowler that you go, but there is everything from fast and slow deliveries, the Bouncer and Yorker, through to the Googly and Flipper as special shots. But it's with the inclusion of swing or drift, via the L and R buttons, which makes bowling so complex and skillful.

It becomes so easy in RIPC 2005 that it may even see you opting to bowl should you win the coin toss at the start of the match. As with batting, it gets much harder to take wickets as you increase the difficulty, and there will be many a time that you jump up from the couch thinking you heard the ball nick the willow, only to be stymied by the slo-mo replay and the umpire (who, by the way, must be bloody old seeing as he looks exactly the same every match, even in the classic matches of last century) denying you the wicket. Yes, ecstatic moments are few and far between in RIPC 2005 (especially on the greater difficulty levels) but then that's exactly like real life cricket.

Of course, with such a complex bowling system comes the danger of the player feeling like there is too much to do. Often, you may feel rushed when bowling, as you must juggle placing the ball, your bowling choice (leg cutter, off cutter, slow ball, fast ball), not to mention whether to pitch it full or short, and then you must gauge the power bar correctly and factor in how much swing or drift you want to add . . .Phew! This all happens within a space of about five seconds, so many players may feel that they are rushed and thus may not feel like they're getting as precise ball placement as they would like. Add to this the influence of the confidence meter, which when full allows different bowling classes to access special deliveries, and it becomes clear that bowling is both harder and more rewarding than batting. It would have been nice to have the option of either more time to adjust the delivery or perhaps some kind of pre-planned delivery system, for those who will get frustrated with constant wides and errant balls (the cricket type, not the common Friday night occurrence).

For the most part, excluding those matches licensed by the ICC, the player names are not actually real (with the exception of Ponting and Lara). Thus, we have the likes of MacGrith, Gelchrast and Worde playing on the Australian team, coupled with the likenesses of the real life Gilchrist, Warne and McGrath. Whether or not this is a good thing will depend on your sense of humour. It can be quite funny, as it is evident that the developers have cheekily gotten very close to the real names, but some players may find it disconcerting and hence detrimental to their enjoyment of the game. That aside, the rest of the game screams authenticity, whether it is the commentary from the likes of Bill Lawry and Tony Greig (which, by the way, is very good and actually corresponds to your situation in-game, rather than sounding like a recorded robotic eunuch discussing the demise of pre-Socratic thought) or the fantastic player animations that react realistically to the position and delivery of the ball. The addition of hawk-eye technology is also an awesome part of RPIC 2005, and it lets you examine each delivery for the last over, as well as show you why the umpire refused to 'raise the finger' on an LBW appeal.

Fielding is a fairly simple affair, and involves only one button press coinciding with a sliding field meter. This system allows for both catching and throwing the ball back to the centre. A slow reaction results in large parabolic flights for returned balls, or worse, missed catches. There are many options when setting the field, both defensive and offensive, but most hard-core cricketers will want to set their own custom field and this is very easy to do in RPIC 2005. The biggest limitation for fielding, apart from not being able to directly control fieldsmen, is the fact that there is no option to throw to the bowler's end - it always gets thrown to the wicket keeper. This becomes very frustrating, especially if the batsman is vulnerable at the bowler's end.

Some other small yet annoying aspects mar this title's near-flawless presentation. When batting, the Y button is used to make runs. In some nail-biting instances, you may press the button twice without realizing it, which the game remembers, and shouts of dismay can emanate from you as your batsman goes for a second run and gets run out. A.I. batters are also very defensive, and some may get frustrated trying to lure them into running, but hey - that's cricket. These issues aside, RPIC 2005 is a very nice looking game, helped immensely by little flourishes such as background blurring and realistic crowds (no more cardboard cut-outs!). After all, how realistic can you expect a grass field upon which a bunch of blokes throw their balls around to look? The graphics get the job done with good looking stadiums but player likenesses range from fairly good to so-so to pretty poor.

Of course, the competing title to RPIC 2005 is EA's latest iteration which, despite being an inferior title to RPIC 2005, had one feature that was pretty cool. Said feature was the ability to fast forward through an innings if you don't wish to bowl. This was handy for those who absolutely hate bowling with a passion and while I don't really see that happening with this title it would have been a nice inclusion nonetheless. What this game does offer in return is something the EA game does not have, and that is the ability to save between overs. This makes it great for playing an over or three and then laying it to rest if you only have half an hour up your sleeve.