Brian Lara International Cricket 2007

The gaming world's second most popular Lara returns to the crease, and BLIC07 certainly makes a good opening impression by flaunting its real-world tournaments (the ICC Champion's Trophy and World Cup), accurate player likenesses and commentary from the likes of Gower and Greig.

It's also one of the prettier cricket titles out there, at least when it comes to animations - when Freddie Flintoff rubs his arm after receiving a 'wayward' Brett Lee thunderbolt, you find yourself wincing along with the bestubbled porker.

But once you start playing, things start to look rather less dazzling. First, it feels like the controls were designed with the console versions in mind, then shoehorned into a mouse/keyboard mode - the keys are all over the place. The camera angles could be better too. Too often, you find yourself dropping catches you'd expect a five-year-old with no fingers to make, because you couldn't predict when you should be readying your 'catch' button.

Helpfully, the Al does its best to balance things out by inexplicably missing simple catches and placing fielders in silly positions, so racking up a bunch of fours and sixes is actually pretty undemanding.

Maybe I'm being a little tough on BLIC07 - it's a reasonably effective swing at a cricket game, with a nice range of shot and bowling types, which suggests that it might find its mark in the multiplayer sector. But if you're expecting a spot-on simulation of the sport, you'll find yourself stumped.