Cricket 97 is one of the best cricket games I have ever played. Unlike other games, this cricket game comes very close to actual game. The players need to set for sometime before the timing of the shots gets better. You can create your own teams and assign statistics to each player. We used to have tournaments among friends playing one day matches where each represented a different team. Also the commentary is pretty good in this game.
The test version in the game is pretty good and sometimes it is fun playing all the 5 days.
Playing against the computer is difficult at first till you know where exactly to bowl to the computer and then it is easy to play the computer. Also, it is possible to change the number of overs to 5, 10, 20 or even 50 overs.
When I played against the computer, I used to make up my own team of friends against the computer which used to represent the other countries in the world. That made the game more fun. The only problem playing two player games was that the other player has to play with the mouse. Batting with the mouse is tough especially when the other player is bowling with the keyboard. But there is a way around it.
You
can save the game midway and then change the controls so that the batsman always gets the keyboard and the bowler always gets the mouse. There are also a lot of cheat codes for cricket 97. I remember a fun one where every shot you hit is a four or a six. Also when you bowl against the computer, try to use a swing bowler the most. The computer cannot really play swing. The only thing weird about the game is the running between the wickets. sometimes I have even run seven eight runs because the wicket keeper even being very close to the stumps throws the ball and he misses most of the times resulting into over throws.
The players run insanely fast between the wickets. But then since the boundaries and sixes come only after the player is set, the running between the wickets is very important to keep the scoreboard moving. In short, out of all the cricket games (Allan Border cricket, cricket 99, world cup cricket, cricket 97), cricket 97 is the best cricket game I have every played.
I will recommend this game to each and every cricket lover.
