Description
One dark night, a number of years ago now, I was wandering alone through the Sydney CBD, keeping a watchful eye over one shoulder and a firm grip on my bag. Before I could slip through the shadows unnoticed, a group of large looking blokes materialised at the end of the street and began sauntering up the sidewalk like four cowboys strolling down the main street looking for a gun fight. Naturally, my heart started beating a little faster and I looked around for an escape route; but the moment was already upon me and not wanting to show any sign of weakness, I stuck to my fated trajectory. As I kept my head down, I heard not a chirp of friendly banter or chatter. I thought I was done like a dinner.
Finally, the wall of blokes was only ten feet in front of me. I took a brave glance up at my potential attackers only for the adrenaline to kick up another few notches. It was Ricky Ponting, Jason Gillespie, Mark Waugh and, er, some other guy (probably the twelfth man). I was struck alright - star struck! A feeble "...hey!" fell out of my slack jaw as they popped their collars and marched on to whichever drinking establishment they had obviously chosen for their night off.
Meeting Ricky Ponting this time around was a somewhat more relaxed experience. In fact, Punter (as he's known to his teammates and cricket fans around the world) was far more jovial than you might expect from the stressed-out looking captain you see on the cricket field. More than happy to chat, he seemed genuinely excited about the latest incarnation of virtual cricket with his face on the box.
'Batting off' means something completely different in cricket...
Ashes Cricket 2009
is hitting shelves just in time for Australia's return to England to retain the Ashes trophy, so expectations are not only high for another cracking test series, but for a fun and satisfying cricket game that improves upon the last Ricky Ponting Cricket. Ponting and I were also joined by Mark Houareau fromTransmission Games
, the Australian dev studio behind the new instalment.
Ashes Cricket 2009 has been built from scratch, disposing of all the bits and pieces that went into making Ricky Ponting 2007. Yet first impressions from the build on show were of a game that feels surprisingly similar, aside from crisper graphics and noticeable improvements to the HUD and in-game options (such as being able to simulate overs - hurrah!). Once you start digging into the controls, there's evidence that some real effort has gone into providing more depth to all aspects of the game.
The first thing you notice in the HUD is that your choice of batting stroke is represented by helpful controller icons in the corner of the screen, with a little silhouette of a man (Scaramouche, scaramouche!) in the batting stance that corresponds to a lofted hit, defensive stroke or attacking drive. Moving the left analogue stick rotates a slender "batting cone" around the circular radar of the ground, so you can better aim your shot to beat the field. Once the ball comes pinging down the pitch, the timing feels natural, and we were spanking fours, nicking quick singles and even edging a few through the slips.
"It's really a feel thing, it really is," Mark Houareau explained to us. "Experience the game for a while and you learn what an early stroke can do, what a late stroke does... and if you play a front foot or back foot stroke. You get a feel for how late you can leave the ball and how you can work the ball through gaps. With the front-foot/back-foot modifier, you can actually pinpoint your radar position on the field. So, if I'm trying to work it between Point and Third Slip or something, I'll refine my radar and leave my stroke a little bit late to work it through there. That's in there for advanced players of the game.".As does 'being out for a duck'.
Running between wickets is aided by a picture-in-picture display of your batsmen going for it, while the main TV-style view follows the journey of the ball. You have more than just the option of cancelling your call for a run this time, as we noticed that you could select to dive at the crease with bat outstretched should you think the bails are going to come off. Batting has always been the more intuitive and fun aspect of these games, so we were more curious to see how the bowling and fielding worked this time around.
Bowling now presents the player with far more tactical depth on the fly. Not only are there more styles of delivery, but you can tweak your spin and swing and get more variation out of where you pitch. Poking around the new tutorial mode, we noted that spin bowlers get taught how to bowl everything from leggies and wrong 'uns, to the flipper, top spin and slider, amongst others. Not only does the game explain the purpose of each delivery, but Shane Warne himself is on hand with audio commentary as you learn how to play. (In fact, Warney also offers match commentary, along with Ian Botham, Ian Bishop, Tony Greig and Johnathan Agnew.)
Each button on the pad corresponds to a different delivery, whilst the shoulder buttons allow you to rotate the ball to the left or right to add the required spin or swing. The bumper buttons work as a modifier, giving the player access to a huge variety of deliveries on every ball of the over. To help with line and length, the target marker now changes colour to indicate if you're going to pitch the ball in a good spot for that type of delivery.
Likewise, fast bowlers get schooled in everything from off-cutters to reverse swing, and the controls to perform these deliveries are logical and intuitive. The Legends tutorial mode is not only fun, but actually informative, which is great for newcomers to the game of cricket.
Screen shots
System Requirements
Minimum System Requirements for PC Game –
* OS: Windows XP/Vista
* CPU: 2 Ghz Pentium or AMD processor
* RAM: 1 GB
* HDD: 2.5 GB free disk space
* Graphics: 256 MB Graphics Card with Shader 3.0
* Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible
* DirectX: Version 9.0c
Recommended System Requirements for PC Game –
* OS: Windows XP/Vista SP1
* CPU: 3 GHz Pentium 4 or AMD
* RAM: 1.5 GB
* HDD: 3 GB free disk space
* Graphics: 512 MB Graphics Card with Shader 3.0
* Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible
* DirectX: Version 9.0c
Supported Graphics Cards:
Minimum – GeForce 6800 / Radeon X1600
Recommended – GeForce 8800GS or Radeon X1900 series
Download Links
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