Ashes Cricket 2009 in Software

Ashes Cricket 2009 may seem like an opportunistic attempt to cash in on this Summer's cricket craze but, for once, an official sports title isn't a lazy tie-in thanks to decent gameplay and slick presentation.

Cricket aficionados will be pleased by the amount of depth on offer: batsmen can choose from a range of attacking and defensive strokes that can each be modified with fancy footwork, and bowlers have an equally varied arsenal that mixes up several different delivery styles. Fielding is easier, with pre-set or custom arrangements available.

The key attribute for all of these positions, though, is timing. Good cadence is rewarded with wickets and boundaries, and poor rhythm is ruthlessly punished with low scores and embarrassing defeats. Codemasters has worked hard to ensure that other factors have a say in your success, too, with weather and ball conditions, as well as the players themselves, all having an effect.

Even keen cricket fans may struggle to get to grips with Ashes 2009 at first but, luckily, there's a practice mode available. It does a good job of teaching you the games basics, and there's a hint of ubiquitous celebrity involvement: Ian Botham and Shane Warne pop up to explain the game's key principles and guide you through your early overs.

Head into the game proper and you'll be confronted with several different modes. As well as the chance to play a full Ashes series it's possible to play one-day internationals, test matches and Twenty20 with any of the 12 international teams included.

The main Ashes series, though, is where the real meat of the game lies. Every player, stadium and pitch has been recreated in painstaking detail and, while it's not always as good as it could be - the crowds are cardboard cut-out abominations, for instance, and some of the player likenesses is pretty ropey - Codemasters has done a top job of replicating the big-match feel that pervades Ashes tests. The addition of Botham and Warne on commentary, too, also adds some legitimacy to proceedings.

Ashes 2009 isn't perfect, though. Get beyond the titular series and longevity is lacking, and online play is disappointingly meagre, with options that simply can't stack up against FIFA 09 last year's top sports game. The sometimes strange player recreations and occasionally stilted animation doesn't help, either.

In a market where the best cricket games are now three years out-of-date or older, though, Ashes 2009 should still sate most fans of this most genteel of sports.

Author: Mike Jennings