Should keep cricket fans happy - but with some scope to improve.
So, any half-decent cricket title is likely to find its way into my gaming collection and, despite the criticism I have seen in some quarters, Ashes 2009 is better than half-decent.
First up, it is presentationally very smart: menus, backgrounds etc. giving it the polished look of an EA title. In addition, the in-play information such as scorecards, stats charts of all varieties as well as hawkeye replays and pitch maps all give it that authentic feel. Following on from that the graphics in gameplay are high quality and well animated (except perhaps for the crowds).
In terms of gameplay, the general play controls will be familiar to EA cricket veterans. For bowling, select a delivery type, placement, then amount of seam, swing or spin and then a rising gauge determines pace (too far and it's a no ball). For batting, shuffle about in the crease, choose front or back foot, aim with the left stick and then time with the shot button (defensive, attacking or lofted). Catching is now interactive (time a press of the x in a slo-mo close up of the fielder to try and snaffle the ball).
Batting and bowling are both intuitive. The shot aiming is far more accurate than on the PS2 titles and there seems to be a wider variety of shots available. Bowling is pretty much the same – although probably easier to get the ball on a good length, if not allowing the extravagant amounts of swing possible in the PS2 titles.
Also on the plus side, there is a good in-depth tutorial mode which takes you through levels of batting, bowling and fielding and explaining some of the basics for beginners (despite some rather leaden commentary from Messrs Botham and Warne).
In-game commentary (Aggers and Greig) is ok – although the commentators can be warbling on about a lengthy discussion of, say, fitness in cricket apparently oblivious to the fact that play has restarted and runs are flowing or wickets are falling.
All in all, good fun to play and enough to keep any cricket fan happy. You can play single or tournament choosing 20-20, one day or test games – plus the whole 2009 Ashes series.
There are, however, some down sides:
• International teams only (most without the real player names) and limited scope for editing.
• The fielders (which you can't control at all except when attempting a catch or choosing an end to throw to) sometimes seem to run through treacle and sometimes stop what seems like only a few inches from the ball as it rolls past to the boundary.
• Dodgy LBW decisions still abound (just like real cricket I suppose!)
• You seem to need to choose your next bowler at the end of every over: why not have changes at user request (unless one has reached his over limit).
One other factor: your test matches probably won't last 5 days. But I don't see this as a bad thing. I think that has always been the case for games like this: this is after all a video game of cricket: not the real thing! How many of us would want or have the time to play a 5 day test in real time? How many people play FIFA or PES with full 90 minute games (and even if you did the scorelines there would be ridiculously high: does that make them bad football games?). In addition, who wants to sit for hours playing defensively and nicking the odd single – sooner or later your finger will be twitching over the 'lofted' shot button as you try and despatch Brett Lee into the car park.
So my view is that you should enjoy the fact that you can play a test match in a reasonably short space of time and on the whole enjoy the fact that the PS3 has a good cricket title. Room for improvement sure, but plenty to keep me going until I dust off my whites for next season.