Customer Reviews

Ashes Cricket 2009

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ashes Cricket 2009 is a solid recreation of the sport and this summer's big sporting event, but it's lacking spark and feels a little slight in terms of depth. Play with a friend as opposed to the AI and you'll likely be able to have fun up to and beyond the end of the Ashes series, but as a next-gen sports sim it doesn't feel as though Codemasters has done enough to push the series forward.

presentation is resolutely 'no frills', a far cry from the polish and attention to detail of an EA Sports spectacular - more PES than FIFA, if you like. And that applies to the hit-or-miss likenesses, too (Flintoff looks like a fuzzy Pac-Man).

In the commentary box, Beefy and Warney are joined by the experienced and loquacious likes of Aggers and Tony Grieg. In the tutorials, with scripted delivery, I've heard livelier eulogies; but in-game once they loosen up a bit and go off on one there's some decent, insightful chatter on offer. And Hawk-Eye is a nice addition for anoraks, popping up at the end of each over with CBeebies-bright diagrams of your bowling/batting genius/shame.

With the ability to play the whole Ashes series, plus Twenty20, 50-over and five-over exhibition matches, Ashes Cricket 2009 is the perfect thing to have ready for those inevitable English summertime rain-breaks.

Simply put, this is the best Cricket game on PC available as of December 2010. And trust me, it is worth the buy if you care.

Sure, there are few minor bugs, but they interfere in the game play no more than 10% of the times. To name a few, in some specific situations, fielders/wicketkeeper do not throw the ball quickly enough back to the pitch, missing a run out opportunity. Fielders never seem to chase the ball fast enough, and on a couple of occasions, players go through each other upon collision (graphical bug. And there is no reverse sweep - the only batting annoyance, really. But my biggest complaint is replays. Just how difficult is it to give a good reply at the click of a button? There are replays through some quirky camera angles for shots, and wickets. But they add no value to that important feature of the game. These bugs take out one star. They could have easily fixed them in 2010/2011 version, but they didn't come out with the PC version. Damn.

Batting is otherwise pleasing in the Normal mode and it takes practice to save your wickets and score runs, which is great. I advise even the beginners to start at Normal mode and then progress to Hard mode, which is really really hard. But I must admit, with some serious bowling practice and trial and error, I was able to bag quite a few wickets , bowl some maiden overs, and also run some batsmen out. Same goes for batting - in the Normal mode of course. AI is sometimes too strong at times (never forgiving the bowler).

Almost all gaming modes and rules are perfectly built into the game. There are about 8 stadiums to choose from and I couldn't care less for any more. Several weather conditions and pitch wear are also present, adding to the choice of how the game is going to play out.

Licensing remains a problem except for the Ashes teams, I chose to live with it. But surprisingly, the way game keeps track of your career as a team or as a player (awarding points) is impressive. Overall, a great game for under 20 dollars, is able to run at 1080p resolution with very good graphics. You do need a good computer to get the most out of this game.

Codemasters just keeps getting better and better at making Cricket games. There has been a tremendous improvement in this game compared to Cricket 2007. The graphics and visuals have improved greatly. The game no longer looks that cartoonic. It looks far more realistic than the previous versions (not the previous versions are bad, but this is just so much better). Codemasters has always done a top-notch job with the Cricket games, and they continue to do so.

No world cup or champions trophy in this game. Bear that in mind. You can play test matches, just some regular unrecognized one day series and tournaments, and twenty twenty knockout championships. All major international teams are on board to play. The user can rename players to those of real life players. No domestic games or IPL tournaments yet. Codemasters has not tapped that part of the market yet. Hopefully, they will in the future. Those have become too much of a big thing in Cricket for Codemasters to ignore anymore. Watch out that in this game, you have to field as you bowl. There is no auto-field option. So, if a batsman hits it in the air, don't wait for anyone to catch it. You have to react quickly and press the button for catching.

Just a few words of caution - DO NOT BUY THIS GAME, if you do not have a graphics accelerator card with a memory of MORE THAN 500 gigabytes. You also need plenty of RAM memory. At least three gb in my opinion although the game itself recommends only two gb. Always aim to exceed the requirements of a game. If you don't, you will be disappointed that the game is slow. The game is not slow. Your accelerator card is making it seem slow.

Other than that, this game is just too damn terrific, and deserves all the five stars it gets.