Brian Lara Cricket '96

 When I was a little boy I was cricket obsessed, most of my family played the sport and as a result I'd been dragged into it. If you were a cricket fan during the 1990's one man stood out, that man was Brian Lara who was a living legend. It's rare to be called an icon whilst your still active in any sport but Lara was an icon, he's set numerous records and was a special cricketer. Whilst I wouldn't go as far as to say a one in a generation player (especially not what he was playing at the same time as the Little Master, Sachin Tendulkar) he was one of the greats and Codemasters knew it. If there was one thing the Mega Drive (or Gensis) did, it was make licensed sports games and Brian Lara was the name to attach to a cricket game.

The original Brian Lara cricket was released in 1995 and the following year Mega Drive fans were treated to a vastly superior update in "Brian Lara Cricket  '96". The game was simple, it was cricket what could possibly go wrong?
Well sadly an awful lot didn't quite go right. Despite a huge number of options and various matches the game sadly seemed to just lack something. In fact it seemed like much of the game was "OK" but could have been better. The music for example played only during the menu with the main game having limited sounds for the ball hitting the bat and the crowd clapping a boundary, the controls seemed to be fine until you got around to fielding which was just a total nightmare and the graphics, although decent for the era were often dull.

Despite the issues with the presentation and the somewhat difficult controls that seemed to rely on luck at times, it was oddly playable and could easily keep you busy for a few hours, especially if you were playing with a mate. It was perhaps the games multiplayer mode that did save the game from being a bit of a duck. It was whilst playing the multiplayer that you ignored the poor sounds, you gave up caring about the slightly dodgy fielding and you instead revisited the Ashes whilst sledging each other in front of the TV.
Yes it was childish but my god was it ever fun to taunt your mate who was unable to stop the series of fours that just drifted past fielders.

The single player mode of the game did have a lot of depth, ranging from Test Series, to World cups, a practice mode and even a create a team option. Whilst the game has a lot of depth the single player mode sadly fails to ignite the same levels of fun as the multiplayer mode. As a result you may find yourself unable to enjoy what is effectively an out dated product that has more than just a few flaws. Whilst it doesn't do much "wrong" as such it just doesn't really do much "right".

67%

Details:
Console-Sega Mega Drive (Europe only)
Release-1996
Developer-Codemaster
Genre- Sport (Cricket)
Players-1-4

Trivia:
A version of the game was released in Australia baring the name of "Shane Warne" the immortal Australian leg spin.
Using the create a team option you could (if you were bored) pretty much re-create any actual teams playing today.