Cricket 22 - The Official Game of The Ashes (Nintendo Switch)

Product Information

In comparison with the likes of the FIFA or NBA 2K games, Cricket 22’s production values look somewhat amateurish – its renditions of well-known cricketers, for example, are good enough to be recognisable, but only just. All-new mechanics, commentary, and a captivating, narrative driven career mode, will immediately immerse you in the ultimate cricket experience to date.

The official game of the Ashes struggles with the limitations of a low budget but still has the ability to knock fans for six. NACON and Big Ant Studios have revealed that Cricket 22: The Official Game of The Ashes is releasing soon on Nintendo Switch. It’s a credit limit that’s sits alongside your PayPal account which you can use for your online purchases. Happily for cricket fans, Big Ant's 2021 effort, Cricket 22, is now available – just in time for the start of the sport's most epic Test competition, the Ashes. Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Codemasters' Brian Lara Cricket franchise achieved a high level of popularity, but in recent years only Australian developer Big Ant Studios has kept the cricket-game flame burning.

That colour-coding system is also in evidence when you bat, giving you crucial split-seconds to decide which shot you're going to employ using the right stick, before timing that shot with one of the buttons. Finally it's here, to a mixed community response – yet there’s still a decent amount of willow waving and cherry whacking on offer. Smaller formats of cricket, such as Twenty20, may last for over an hour if you don’t score ten wickets (the equivalent of a baseball “out”) on an inning.

Bowling in Cricket 22 can seem like pot luck to the beginner, as at first as you’ll be taking wickets without really knowing what you did and conceding boundaries off what you thought would be good balls. Enjoy all-new mechanics, commentary, and a captivating career mode as you take to the international field of battle with fully licensed teams from Australia, England, The West Indies, New Zealand, and Ireland. The game also features a really lengthy tutorial meant to teach newcomers about what the hell cricket is all about, not only in terms of how to play the game, but also its rules, different formats, and other intricacies. Cricket 22 brings a star-studded commentary team, featuring Michael Atherton, Ian Healy, Mel Jones, Alison Mitchell, and David Gower.Sadly, here’s the problem: even though Cricket 22 is an excellent cricket video game, the sport of cricket just doesn’t translate well into video game form. Choose L1/LB to throw to the bowler’s end, or R1/RB to aim at the keeper, then tap X/A for a safe throw, or hold circle/B to aim directly at the stumps. Cricket 22 will also include new bowling and fielding controls, “real-time ray tracing elements”, and a “deep, narrative-driven career mode” including injury management and off-field commitments like training and press conferences. Due to the realistic ball physics in the game, you can’t really “cheat” taking wickets with funky field placings or loophole glitches. It's refreshing that the series isn't annual, so while it's from a smaller team than some sporting behemoths here's hoping that the near three year gap will have served development well.