REVIEW : ASHES CRICKET (PS4/ PS4 Pro)
Cricket games often fail to achieve the audacity or fail at simulating a real cricket game. Big Ants have mastered this art of creating simulation sport games and Ashes Cricket follows the suit. Let’s set the expectations straight, Ashes Cricket is no FIFA in terms of refinement and presentation but Big Ants is getting there with each iteration of cricket game. Ashes Cricket captures the heart of the game with improvements in animation and fluidity of gameplay compared to Don Bradman Cricket 17
The Ashes is a 100 Year old competition which includes 5 Test Matches held between Australia and England and is the main game mode which Ashes Cricket offers along with Fully licensed Australia and England Men and Women teams. Other modes and gameplay features are carried over from Don Bradman Cricket 17 including a career mode in which you can start from rookie and in the end play for your favorite team or start as a star player. Casual matches are fairly quick to access, allowing you to setup a test, 50 over or any other type of match you want quickly. You can play online multiplayer or take part in training or use the match editor to create any type of match you want. You can even create your own stadium with amazing stadium creator tool set present in the game.
The licensed team of Australia and England add to the authencity of the game with impeccable player likeness. The visuals have been improved from Don Bradman Cricket 17 but we wish the facial animations were improved as well as the players tend to look like plastic. Animations and transition between animations have been improved and every shot and every bowl is now a single fluid motion. Fielding has been improved and the superhuman fielding which plagued DBC 14 is absent with improvements over DBC 17 fielding as well.
Lack of other licensed teams is overcome through cricket academy where gamers from around the world create their own teams and players and share them only which are very close to authentic. It is the best solution from Big Ants for a non-favorable situation.
The commentary and lackluster presentation are the worst part about the game. The commentary sounds forced as if the commentators were punished to commentate on the match. Something, which is not expected from real world commentators who provide their voice in the game.
On the ground the game beautifully depicts the sport and it is very enjoyable. The career mode is still the most enjoyable part of cricket games from Big Ants. Performing well in matches gains skill points which you can use to increase skills and result in better performance in future matches hence increasing the chances of selection to next level.
You can choose to play as your player or the whole squad which really provides variety compared to controlling a single player. If you just want to bowl or just bat you can do that by controlling your player only. Letting gamers choose the part they want to play helps as gamers won’t be bogged down with the parts the don’t like.
Game is pretty to watch but is not without its share of bugs. Players tend to pass through one another during celebrations or fielders slide and take the ball pass the ropes. There are two options for controls in Ashes Cricket as compared to previous games. Classic or Standard controls option is a welcome change as this caters to new and old players alike. Classic utilizes the dual stick controls which provide more range of motion where as standard use buttons for easier control. You can mix up control style as well, we ended up using Classic for Batting and Pace bowling and standard for spin. Just like previous games appealing is left to players, everything from LBWs, catches and run outs all need to appealed for which adds to the authenticity.
Fielding is highly customizable to with options ranging from manual, semi-assisted or fully assisted. You can control the speed at which you throw the ball at the wickets with perfect timing throwing the ball hard and fast at the wickets. All the timings can be adjusted in the settings allowing players to have difficulty according to their liking
The slow mo fielding actions have been refined with slow mo triggering even when you need to field a ball. This results in player getting involved in all aspects of the game.
