exprezzo
Club Cricketer
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2007
- Online Cricket Games Owned
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Codemasters, over the years has utilized the ?The Brian Lara? brand in marketing its Cricket games. From the critically acclaimed Brian Lara Cricket 99 to Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 the journey has been an eventful one with a lot of effort going towards making the game as realistic as possible for avid Cricket lovers. I started following their releases closely with Brian Lara Cricket 2005 which I played on PC-DVD and moved on to the much hyped Brian Lara International Cricket/Yuvraj Singh International Cricket/Ricky Ponting International Cricket on PS2. Though the former fared reasonably well but the latter suffered a lot of criticism due to numerous bugs and poor gameplay.
With the promise to deliver and make a Cricket game as authentic as possible Codemasters in association with Transmission Games has come out with their latest release Ashes Cricket 2009.With the change in brand name Codemasters has tried to incorporate a fresh new approach in game design and apparently has gone through the tedious process of restructuring the entire game engine.
?Our number one priority for 2009 was the game-play. All our decisions stemmed from what was best to improve the playing experience, and make it feel more dynamic and reactive. Previously, cricket games would often feel like they 'locked' the player into certain shots to certain areas, with pre-determined outcomes - it felt more like you were picking from a variety of pre-canned possibilities, rather than actually batting/bowling and having a dynamic experience. What we're most proud of is, we believe, you should get a lot of variation in your play experience, since we've really tried to set this up as a cricket ?simulation: not as a series of pre-canned events.? - Heath Smith, Lead Designer, Ashes Cricket 2009, Transmission Games.
Thus with a lot of hope and anticipation I ventured in to the world of The Ashes Urn. I played the PC demo at first but decided to go the PS3 way to experience the game at its best. The game has indeed gone through a lot of changes and to make a player gain more knowledge about them it has a ?Legends Mode?. It can seem a little boring but once you have got the hang of it you can be rest assured that you have covered all the aspect of gameplay starting from Basic and Advanced Batting/Bowling to Fielding, Catching etc. You are also introduced to the various controller buttons so that you are at ease when you actually go in for the big game. It?s a nice way to introduce the game to a newbie as well as a pro who can actually understand how much more the game has to offer from its predecessor.
Timing is the key; as you move on deeper into the game you will realize that as in the original form this simulated version of the game also has its base built on this fundamental aspect. Try to hit an out swinging delivery recklessly without proper footwork and nine times out of ten you will edge it to the slips or the wicket keeper. Give the batsman too much width and you will be hammered all over the park. The catching module in the game is also very interesting. As the ball goes up in the air you will see a ring which changes colour from orange to green to red. You have to press the ?catch? button on the green to grab it perfectly or else you will miss it ?Mr. Butterfinger?. To make this even more interesting the developers have gone ahead and made it a little easier for accomplished fielders: with Herschelle Gibbs you can catch the ball even on the orange ring, cool isn?t it?
The batting has indeed gone through a lot of changes with an array of different shots in the batsman?s armoury. The ability to dance down the wicket anytime in the game is a welcome change from the previous version where only a batsman with full confidence could execute that shot. The sweep shots also come effortlessly with the directional analog stick without having to press a set of different buttons as earlier. The confidence of the batsman is also displayed very well (Rested and Confident, Rested and Bold etc.) allowing the player to choose whether to play attacking shots or go the defensive way and build the innings accordingly.
The bowling engine has a very realistic approach wherein you can create subtle variations at the last moment and challenge the batsman. You can control the level of swing by changing the seam position and deceive the batsman with reverse swing when the ball is old. The pitch and weather conditions come into play and in a crumbling wicket the spinners come in handy. Like the swing you can control the amount of spin and even slide and drift the ball. In the Legends Mode you have bowl the famous delivery by Shane Warne which took the wicket of Mike Gatting, a leg spinner pitched outside the leg stump which spun and drifted back into the wicket. Wicked stuff! Great addition to the game!
The fielding has become relatively easier than the previous version. Set the field and bowl accordingly and the fielder will automatically do his duty. You just have to use the controls to choose which side to throw; the bowler or the keeper?s end. One of the most annoying features in the earlier version was the wicket keeper whipping off the bails on every occasion the batsman took runs. Thankfully this has been resolved and even the stumping and catching behind the wicket has improved. Though the ball still feels like it is attached with a wire to the hand (like a Yo-yo) but I am sure this will change in the future version of the game.
The ability to dive or drag the bat into the crease is praiseworthy while running between the wickets and taking those quick singles. It looks very realistic but the only part which left me disappointed was the wild over throws and reckless running by the AI resulting in unnecessary run outs. I am positive that this will also change in the future.
In conclusion the only dull aspect of my gameplay experience was in the area of graphics which has not acquired much change from its earlier version. The player stats, scoreboard, hawk-eye, spider are good but the player animations still need a lot of work. Not having licensed squads (which we were all used to in the previous versions) is another disheartening factor. The player editor is mediocre as there is very little you can do with it and changing the fake names to the original ones is rather boring and time consuming.
Having said this, Ashes Cricket 2009 is the best cricket game I have played and a lot of credit goes to Codemasters and Transmission games for their wonderful effort. It?s a step in the right direction and promises to deliver even better quality of gameplay in the future. I will give it an 8/10.
With the promise to deliver and make a Cricket game as authentic as possible Codemasters in association with Transmission Games has come out with their latest release Ashes Cricket 2009.With the change in brand name Codemasters has tried to incorporate a fresh new approach in game design and apparently has gone through the tedious process of restructuring the entire game engine.
?Our number one priority for 2009 was the game-play. All our decisions stemmed from what was best to improve the playing experience, and make it feel more dynamic and reactive. Previously, cricket games would often feel like they 'locked' the player into certain shots to certain areas, with pre-determined outcomes - it felt more like you were picking from a variety of pre-canned possibilities, rather than actually batting/bowling and having a dynamic experience. What we're most proud of is, we believe, you should get a lot of variation in your play experience, since we've really tried to set this up as a cricket ?simulation: not as a series of pre-canned events.? - Heath Smith, Lead Designer, Ashes Cricket 2009, Transmission Games.
Thus with a lot of hope and anticipation I ventured in to the world of The Ashes Urn. I played the PC demo at first but decided to go the PS3 way to experience the game at its best. The game has indeed gone through a lot of changes and to make a player gain more knowledge about them it has a ?Legends Mode?. It can seem a little boring but once you have got the hang of it you can be rest assured that you have covered all the aspect of gameplay starting from Basic and Advanced Batting/Bowling to Fielding, Catching etc. You are also introduced to the various controller buttons so that you are at ease when you actually go in for the big game. It?s a nice way to introduce the game to a newbie as well as a pro who can actually understand how much more the game has to offer from its predecessor.
Timing is the key; as you move on deeper into the game you will realize that as in the original form this simulated version of the game also has its base built on this fundamental aspect. Try to hit an out swinging delivery recklessly without proper footwork and nine times out of ten you will edge it to the slips or the wicket keeper. Give the batsman too much width and you will be hammered all over the park. The catching module in the game is also very interesting. As the ball goes up in the air you will see a ring which changes colour from orange to green to red. You have to press the ?catch? button on the green to grab it perfectly or else you will miss it ?Mr. Butterfinger?. To make this even more interesting the developers have gone ahead and made it a little easier for accomplished fielders: with Herschelle Gibbs you can catch the ball even on the orange ring, cool isn?t it?
The batting has indeed gone through a lot of changes with an array of different shots in the batsman?s armoury. The ability to dance down the wicket anytime in the game is a welcome change from the previous version where only a batsman with full confidence could execute that shot. The sweep shots also come effortlessly with the directional analog stick without having to press a set of different buttons as earlier. The confidence of the batsman is also displayed very well (Rested and Confident, Rested and Bold etc.) allowing the player to choose whether to play attacking shots or go the defensive way and build the innings accordingly.
The bowling engine has a very realistic approach wherein you can create subtle variations at the last moment and challenge the batsman. You can control the level of swing by changing the seam position and deceive the batsman with reverse swing when the ball is old. The pitch and weather conditions come into play and in a crumbling wicket the spinners come in handy. Like the swing you can control the amount of spin and even slide and drift the ball. In the Legends Mode you have bowl the famous delivery by Shane Warne which took the wicket of Mike Gatting, a leg spinner pitched outside the leg stump which spun and drifted back into the wicket. Wicked stuff! Great addition to the game!
The fielding has become relatively easier than the previous version. Set the field and bowl accordingly and the fielder will automatically do his duty. You just have to use the controls to choose which side to throw; the bowler or the keeper?s end. One of the most annoying features in the earlier version was the wicket keeper whipping off the bails on every occasion the batsman took runs. Thankfully this has been resolved and even the stumping and catching behind the wicket has improved. Though the ball still feels like it is attached with a wire to the hand (like a Yo-yo) but I am sure this will change in the future version of the game.
The ability to dive or drag the bat into the crease is praiseworthy while running between the wickets and taking those quick singles. It looks very realistic but the only part which left me disappointed was the wild over throws and reckless running by the AI resulting in unnecessary run outs. I am positive that this will also change in the future.
In conclusion the only dull aspect of my gameplay experience was in the area of graphics which has not acquired much change from its earlier version. The player stats, scoreboard, hawk-eye, spider are good but the player animations still need a lot of work. Not having licensed squads (which we were all used to in the previous versions) is another disheartening factor. The player editor is mediocre as there is very little you can do with it and changing the fake names to the original ones is rather boring and time consuming.
Having said this, Ashes Cricket 2009 is the best cricket game I have played and a lot of credit goes to Codemasters and Transmission games for their wonderful effort. It?s a step in the right direction and promises to deliver even better quality of gameplay in the future. I will give it an 8/10.
