Ashes Cricket 2009 Review

Not exactly spoiled for choice but this cricket game is actually decent!

Played on Xbox 360

by McFustin

Da da da. Ya da da da. Da da da. Ya da da da. Ya da da da, Da da da!

Gripping, isn't it? The iconic theme from Channel Nine's cricket coverage is one of the first things you hear as you load up Ashes Cricket 2009, and it does a fantastic job of setting the tone for Codemaster's latest foray into the oft-neglected cricket genre.

It's been a few years since we last had a cricket game to play, with the passable, but repetitive and quickly forgotten Ricky Ponting International Cricket 2007 (released under Brian Lara's name outside of Australia, I guess no-one else in the world wants to play with Ricky...) the last chance we had to whip out our electronic bat and ball. And with cricket such a niche sport, and cricket games in general having far less of budget to work with than you upper-class sorts like Fifa or  Madden, I'm always a bit worried when a new cricket game appears on the horizon. So what have Transmission Games done to make Ashes 2009 worthy of your valuable time?  

I'll spare you the bats and balls jokes this time around.

 Starting with the gameplay, Transmission have gone a long way towards making the control scheme more accessible, with some of the more fiddly actions such as fielding almost completely automated. This allows the focus to be shifted almost entirely to the batting and bowling, which for me was a good choice. There is a timing component to both batting and bowling, with a bar displayed on-screen that determines either the power and accuracy of your batting stroke, or the accuracy of your bowling delivery. The various controller buttons alter your choice of shot or delivery, and the Legends Coaching Mode does a fine job of introducing the player to the finer points of controlling the play. There are also a range of Legend's Challenges on offer which offer a different challenge to the regular test match, one-day or 20-20 matches.

As with every cricket game I've ever played, the advantage is firmly in the hands of the batsmen, as once you get the hang of timing your shots, most deliveries can be played fairly comfortably, and the runs flow freely. One area that really lets the batting side down however, is the atrocious running between the wickets. There’s a significant delay between pressing the run button and any on-screen action, then another delay if you happen to run by mistake and need to turn back quickly. I ended up run out far more often than any other type of dismissal, and after a while I found it easier (and much safer) to ignore running between the wickets all together, and just go for fours and sixes.

On the graphical front, some improvements have been made from previous efforts, however Ashes 2009 is not the prettiest game going around. The player animations are somewhat disjointed, and don't really flow well into each other, leaving you with the feeling that you're in control of a team of machines rather than men. Some of the player likenesses are ball-park region at best, but most of the major players (at least in the English and Australian teams) bear at least a passing resemblance to their real-world counterparts.  

Not pictured: Awesome Channel 9 sports theme

After the rousing opening theme, I found myself a bit underwhelmed by the presentation on offer in Ashes 2009. The main menu is functional at best, with very little in the way of guidance around just what each selection may or may not contain. Once you've found what you're looking for, the commentary team of Shane Warne and Ian Beefy Botham do very little to earn their respective paychecks. Warney sounds like he'd rather be down the pub, and Beefy needs to look up the word “inflection” in the dictionary. You'll also be up for some player editing if you like to play with teams other than England and Australia, as it seems the licence doesn't cover all available players. 

As with most sports games, multiplayer is where Ashes 2009 really hits its straps. The online multiplayer options are a bit sparse, but once in a game the netcode seems to hold up well, at least while playing someone else in Australia. Unfortunately while writing this review I found it hard to find a game online, so it may be best to either organise a time with a friend before hand, or if possible play some local multiplayer, unless you like looking at search screens for extended periods.

Private school boy's wet dream

So if you're a cricket fan who's absolutely dying to play your favourite sport in the comfort of your own lounge room, and you don't happen to have the amazing Test Match board game lying around, then unfortunately you're not exactly spoiled for choice. While it's not perfect, Ashes Cricket 2009 is easy to pick up and play, and delivers a fun game of cricket, particularly when played with a few friends, either locally or over Xbox Live.