No strangers to the world of cricket games, Melbourne’s own Big Ant Studios once again step up to the crease with Cricket 24. Timing the launch with the ICC 2023 Cricket World Cup and boasting increased licensed content such as the Indian Premier League, Big Bash League and more, the game looks toward boosting video game cricket to the same heights as the EA Sports FC or NBA 2K franchises, but definitely needs more polish to match the competition.
Seeking a bigger international stage, Cricket 24’s licensed content is a very mixed bag. The acquisition of licenses for international men’s and women’s leagues such as New Zealand’s Dream 11 Super Smash League, the Indian Premier League, the Caribbean Premier League, The Hundred as well as the Pakistan Super League gives players a wide variety of choice. However not all teams have been licensed; the Indian Premier League lacks two of its franchise teams, and the fact that the game itself is usually anchored around a now-ended Ashes series sets it back a little. Even though the launch coincides with the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, there’s a big missed opportunity to utilise the format – while they have secured licensing for a wide array of national teams, the only way to enact the World Cup is to create the tournament yourself.
If you’ve played a cricket game in the past five or so years, you’d be no stranger to knowing that cricket is Big Ant Studios’ bread and butter (starting with Don Bradman Cricket) but it comes as a surprise to find a game that starts off… very basic. Generic rock tracks, bland and uninspiring menus – don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of the “keep it simple” principle, but when every menu option looks the same it gets a tad boring, even before you’ve gotten yourself into a match. It doesn’t bode well when I boot up a PS5 game and feel like I’m looking at PS3-era titles and menus.
Career mode is a tad light-on when it comes to substance; managing your character involves watching them sit in their room or the change rooms between matches, with occasional trips to the sauna to aid in fatigue reduction. The upside is the customisation in the character creator gives you the ability to mould your character the way you want. I thought it was pretty funny having a character that permanently wears zinc all the time regardless of where he is. I also got a small pang of pride when I could choose a local club in Victoria as my character’s starting point to his career. The mode also gives you the option of playing solely as your character, or controlling the whole team, which is a nice touch.
Getting into gameplay and we bear witness to some of the most polarising aspects of the game. Graphically, its all over the place. It’s clear the most work has gone into the players, thanks to Big Ant’s dedication at scanning in over 300 players for some great attention to detail. I don’t live and breathe the sport, but I could definitely tell that I was seeing David Warner or Steve Smith even before their names appeared on screen. This level of detail also includes the licensed uniforms and bats as well. We lose a little detail when it comes to the different stadiums in the game, though.
Despite boasting many famous cricket grounds, each one feels as if its missing an essence of soul, whether it’s due to lack of crowd noise, or low-quality textures for the grounds and their stands. One local suburban match that I played, for some reason, decided to have pyrotechnics as pre-match entertainment, and another stadium in the Pakistan Super League decided to have the same pyrotechnics, but seemingly placed underneath the crowd. In fact, in that same match, the branding that appears on the boundary banners decided to hover in the sky instead, leaving blank purple banners around the ground.
Once you get past the uncanny valley of the visuals however, there is actually a great, responsive game underneath. Batting is definitely the most fun – understanding your shot selection, positioning and angles gives you a range of styles to play with. Bowling can be frustrating, as there is so much to tweak when it comes to power and delivery, however once you manage to get the right shots in you’ll find yourself taking plenty of wickets. The biggest positive that comes from the gameplay is the ability to play to your skill level. You can select an arcade style which allows you to play with ease, or if you want to get more technical you can switch up the control style to really finesse your game. The ability for new players, even those who have never played a cricket game previously, to jump in and learn with ease is definitely a credit, and experienced players still have the ability to finesse their skills.
That being said, fielding is probably the worst aspect. If you’re manually fielding or playing as an individual, the game rewards you, but if the AI is running your fielders they’re often slow to respond, or make the worst decisions. I can’t tell you how many times I had them looking down the barrel of the camera, only to throw the ball behind them with pinpoint accuracy. Similarly, the commentary team also didn’t seem to know what they were doing half the time – even the inclusion of Adam Gilchrist didn’t help. With the commentary team seemingly switching during the middle of the match and new commentators taking over, terrible shots were applauded and good shots were chastised, leading me to be truly confused as to whether we were watching the same game.
