Cricket 19
UNEVEN BOWLER IS UNLIKELY TO CREASE YOU UP DAVE MEIKLEHAM
PUBLISHER BIG ANT STUDIOS / DEVELOPER BIG ANT STUDIOS / RELEASE DATE OUT NOW / COST £39.99/$49.99
means the proper monikers are only a
swift download away.
Regardless of whether you’re
playing through an Ashes series or
the perfunctory career mode as an
established star or up-and-coming
rookie, batting is well handled in
Cricket 19. Is it a bit overly simplified?
Perhaps. But the game does a decent
job of nailing down the attacking
aspects of the sport. Shot selection is
both intuitive and easy to read, with a
radar showing how opposition fielders
are spread out being a huge help
when it comes to picking where you
want to smack the ball.Crease of cake
When you take to the crease you can
either play a defensive, aggressive,
attacking or precision shot. The AI
will occasionally crowd the wicket to
put pressure on your batter to go for
a risky shot, but for the most part,
it’s a little too easy to smash B for a
lofted mega hit that often earns you
a boundary or a six. Opposition sides
usually leave glaring holes for you toTo pilfer a thundering
cliche from football,
Big Ant’s bat and
ball sim really is a
game of two halves.
When you’re at the
crease bashing the opposition bowler
for six, it can be genuinely thrilling.
But when it’s your turn to try and take
wickets? Crossing the Atlantic Ocean
with a pedal boat would be easier than
consistently claiming the AI’s fiercely
guarded stumps.
Before we get bummed out over
bowling, lets break down the game’s
patchy approach to licensing. Even
though it’s dropped the name from
its title, Cricket 19 is still the official
game of the Ashes. As such, you get
fully licensed test sides that span
both England’s and Australia’s men’s
and women’s international teams. If
you’re an Aussie fan, you’ll be pleased
to know you also get official takes on
a range of domestic sides. Sadly for us
poms, England’s sides don’t have their
proper names or badges. Thankfully
though, online community editing
exploit, and it says a lot that we were
able to smash the Aussies for 38 runs
from tailender Stuart Broad in a little
over four overs during one match. In
Big Ant’s world, the tail wags entirely
too often, with even low-ranking
bowlers able to knock out consistent
boundaries on the default difficulty.
It’s on the bowling side where
Cricket 19 trips itself up. While there’s
little technically wrong with the
mechanics of pitching in balls, taking
wickets can be an almighty slog.
Delivery variation can be mixed up with
the face buttons, where you have the
option of playing a standard delivery,
or for an in-swinger or out-swinger.
You can further tailor your shot by
varying length – X for a yorker, Y for a
full delivery, A for good length, B for
short. Whatever sort of ball you opt
for, though, the game’s batters can be
seriously hard to outfox.
We have lost count of the amount
of wicketless overs we have joylessly
had to endure. Due to the somewhat
languid nature of the real sport, this
isn’t a game you can just casuallyshort
cutWHAT IS IT?
A faithful cricket
simulator that boasts
the Ashes licence.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
Cricket... therefore
drawn out and
sometimes a tad dull.
WHO’S IT FOR?
Ashes obsessives
who pine for virtual
boundaries.080 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE