International Cricket 2010

Cricket continues to resist all those who would bring a crickety console game to market. It doesn't work as a straight simulation, because actually playing cricket is pretty tedious and playing simulated cricket is the preserve of madmen. It can't be Nintendoed into cartoonishness or powered-up with lasers and explosions. It remains defiant, it remains cricket. Not that Codemasters haven't tried. Concentrating on the minutiae will certainlyplease cricketing devotees, and preaching to the converted is surely International Cricket 2010 's only hope. The big innovation is the power stick feature that offers precise analogue control of your batsman's strokeplay and allows all the impenetrable argot of the game free rein. Fine cut to mid-on to your heart's content. Batsmen are now also governed to a great extent by their emotions – confidence is key and, unless you're biffing each and every delivery to the boundary, it will suffer. Quite like Kevin Pietersen, then. Bowling also has its own finesse – cutters are available to those pace bowlers with the chops, and the most dedicated can summon a bit of reverse swing, while spinners can progress via the slider to flippers or doosras. Which is the game in a nutshell – it'll make perfect sense if you're a cricketing type, but be as baffling as the game itself if you're not.