Pushing back the boundaries
ICC2000
PC £29.99 Empire ****
What do Championship Manager players do during the summer? They keep playing Championship Manager, of course. But the ones who want a break could do worse than try the latest edition of International Cricket Captain, endorsed by Nasser Hussain.
ICC2000 puts the emphasis on captaincy rather than management, though it does include picking the team, negotiating contracts and training youngsters. However, the main aim is to let you play through one-day, county and international matches ball by ball. This isn't an action game, but you can tell players how aggressively (or how defensively) to play. You can set a line and length for bowlers to follow, and either set standard fields or design your own.
Like the real thing, this takes a long time. Fortunately you can skip the graphics, or just watch highlights (such as when a wicket falls), and get through more games in what might be called scorecard mode. One mouse-click can either represent a single ball or an over. If you're really in a hurry, you can click "Skip game" and let the computer calculate the result.
Player statistics are based on Wisden's Cricket Almanac, and teams are commendably up to date. However, there are some "historical scenarios" that let you replay classic test series or last year's World Cup. ICC2000 also provides a two-player game, and will support online play when the server comes online.
The game is mouse-driven and the polished interface makes it very easy to play. It also seems very fair. Active management generally seems to produce good results, or at least palliates the inevitable disasters. Even repeatedly skipping games does not seem to be a barrier to success.
All in all, ICC2000 is an outstanding game for cricket fans, especially those who follow the English county game.
Unfortunately this is a limited market, even by international cricket standards. What the game lacks is the introductory tutorial and background information that might help bring it the wider audience it deserves. (JS)
Fiendishly clever but not enough
Diablo II
PC £29.99 Blizzard ****
There are some people out there who have the temerity to assert that Diablo - that's the original Diablo, released in 1996 - is still the best role-playing game on the market. Despite Might & Magic, Fallout and Ultima.
Most of these people, of course, also believe that the sun revolves around the earth. But the real question is: if the first game won so fanatical a following, can its sequel become the champion of RPGs? Well, no, but not for want of trying.
The setup and interface are still recognisably Diabolical, except for the fact that it has incorporated all the advances in the RPG world and a few more to boot. There are five character classes instead of three, 3D support, shadows, weather and water effects, cheatproof multiplayer support, and some innovative new skills and enemies (anyone ever use a corpse explosion on a scarab demon before?).
Not only do you get different maps and non-player-character responses with each class, but because of the nature of the interface, you'll find yourself developing totally different keyboard techniques for barbarian, amazon, paladin, necromancer and sorceress.
Left-click for melee attack and right for ranged might suit one character, but assigning left-click to spells and switching between them might be a better option for another.
Then there are the little touches, the sort that make you curse other programmers for being so lazy. Rats that flock to feed off the corpses of your vanquished opponents, only to scatter when you turn back. Chickens that squawk and flutter out of your way when you walk into them. Zombies that moan differently according to the extent of their injuries.
Moments such as these make the opening chapters of Diablo II a delight.
Only when you're some way into the game do the design flaws start to get to you. Stingy inventory space means you're heading back home every 10 minutes to sell off your excess baggage. Customised options revert to default every time you start a game. Creatures that hit obstacles spin crazily instead of standing still. The control system becomes more and more cumbersome, the more skills you learn. And the way that characters often face in a different direction from the way they're walking, creating a sort of diagonal- moonwalking effect, is just sloppy.
One flaw smarts from the start: the lack of save slots. Sure, you can save and exit, but thanks to the perennial autosaves, you can't save and reload. This is no biggie from the death point of view: you die, you're resurrected in town, you go back and pick up your stuff. But the save facility is not just there for death. It's there for moments when you accidentally spend all your hard-earned cash on a useless weapon, or spend an experience point on the wrong skill, which can ruin a game right up to the end.
The saving disgrace aside, Diablo II's drawbacks are mostly minor. But they're enough to ensure that Baldur's Gate hangs on to its RPG crown. (AB)
Dastardly does down Disney
Wacky Races
Dreamcast **** Infogrames £39.99
Walt Disney Magical Racing Tour
Sony Playstation ** Eidos £29.99
Often imitated but never bettered is one way to describe Nintendo's classic racing game, Mario Kart.
However, the fat plumber's reign may be coming to an end with the release of Wacky Races. Continuing the recent 70's revival -Dukes of Hazzard, and the Muppets have appeared in games -Wacky Races breaks the standard inverse relationship between quality and license by actually being cracking fun.
Graphically the game is a beauty, with the Hanna Barbera look captured expertly by the Dreamcast. Very much like Diddy Kong Racing, Wacky Races sets you a variety of karting challenges. Win race, gain stars, gain access to new track is the general rule, though if you get stuck on one course, you can quickly try a challenge on another.
The game will really appeal to those who remember Penelope Pitstop, the Anthill Gang and the rest but, frustratingly, the real heroes, Dastardly and Muttley, are available to play only when a large proportion of the game has been completed.
Surely as cruel a denial as any half-baked plan they may have hatched on TV. Thank fully there are no such problems in this months other kart release, Walt Disney Magical Racing Tour. Despite the licence the characters are strictly C list, with the likes of Chip 'n' Dale offering little incentive to persevere on some surprisingly tough circuits. A Goofy or a Mickey would have helped, and while the Disneyland visuals will appeal to the juvenile target audience, Wacky Races is by far the better game.
It seems Mario may finally have met his match. (GH)
