Ashes Cricket 2009 (Wii)

...it!) For the non-Wii owners, Ashes Cricket 2009 is also available on other consoles, but I am reviewing only the Wii version. I picked it up on Amazon along with an order of books – and paid 27.78 – RRP is 29.99.

I can't profess to be much of a gamer so possibly my review might reflect this. I look for a game that is easy to pick up, that allows you to play it „out of the box“ and for you to get into it before understanding the intracacies ...
...with any Ashes tie-in you can bet your bottom dollar that the main aim is ultimately to win the Ashes (and ideally 5-0 winning every game by 10 wickets and/or an innings). Before you rush into wanting to vanquish the old enemy, it is worth cutting your teeth on the various other game modes. I like the game because there are enough possibilities with it to have a bit of fun playing it, although a cricket purist might be disappointed at the fact that ... more

There was a quite a clamour for a cricket game for the Wii, with there being a site wiiwantcricket.com petitioning for a while for cricket to be given the Wii treatment, given the way that the Wii is controlled compared with other consoles. I'd played EA Sports' offerings on the PC in the past and was semi convinced and had played one of the Brian Lara cricket games. All of which were a far cry from the keyboard pounding of bowling in Graham Gooch's Test Match Cricket – the cricket game I cut my teeth on for the BBC Master in the late 80s (I think the game itself was already past its sell-by date when I bought it!) For the non-Wii owners, Ashes Cricket 2009 is also available on other consoles, but I am reviewing only the Wii version. I picked it up on Amazon along with an order of books – and paid 27.78 – RRP is 29.99.

I can't profess to be much of a gamer so possibly my review might reflect this. I look for a game that is easy to pick up, that allows you to play it „out of the box“ and for you to get into it before understanding the intracacies – a bit like cricket then in other words... As with any Ashes tie-in you can bet your bottom dollar that the main aim is ultimately to win the Ashes (and ideally 5-0 winning every game by 10 wickets and/or an innings). Before you rush into wanting to vanquish the old enemy, it is worth cutting your teeth on the various other game modes. I like the game because there are enough possibilities with it to have a bit of fun playing it, although a cricket purist might be disappointed at the fact that there are only ten grounds, 8 international teams, and apparently no way of customising new players, having yourself playing for the England team, and the fact that it focusses on only international cricket. Also there are no add-ons e.g. being able to unlock a new stadium for completing a certain challenge, or to reply Ashes Tests of yesteryear - e.g. could you also bowl Australia out for under 130 to ensure England victory at Headlingley after having to follow on?

Firstly there is exhibition mode, where you can play a simple game (i.e. a friendly) against the console or up to three more friends. I've only played on my own – friends don't tend to visit at 3am on a Friday night after a Dicken's Cider. But it is good that there is a multiplayer option. I played a few games of this to get me going and there were assorted tips along the way to help me learn the game – albeit not as quickly as had I headed straight for the tutorials. One thing I did like was the „double wicket“ mode – where up to 4 people can play and you each control one cricketer. To increase the fun there are different scoring modes (as per pairs cricket) including hit and run (you lose a run if you don't run!) and high score (where boundaries count double but where you lose ten runs for getting out).

Scenarios mode: you chose one of the eight international teams, and for each one there are 7 scenarios (i.e. one against each of the other seven international teams). This is a telling statement – the fact that there are only 8 teams (England and Australia – using correct player names, and then West Indies, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka that use names close to the real thing e.g. having a West Indian captain called Craig Golle (Chris Gayle perchance?)) meaning that not all ICC full members are included (bad luck Bangladesh and Zimbabwe) and the leading associates are not included – which is a shame that you can't chose Scotland, Ireland or Holland for example. Some of the scenarios are quite easy to complete (e.g. three sixes in an over for a single batsman – lots of „B“ shots (hitting B lofts a shot, A is along the ground)). Some require greater application – e.g. not losing a wicket for a certain number of overs, making a certain partnership.

Ashes Mode: I think this speaks for itself. You can play the whole Ashes series at the grounds used in the 2009 series.

Tutorial Mode: Useful as a way of finding out how to play the game if the instruction booklet is not adequate).

So what is the actual playing experience like? Batting I got into very quickly as really it just involves timing and knowing where you want to place the ball and knowing when to run in the event that you do not smite another boundary (I did find I was racking up 14 an over without trying very hard after only a few overs). With running the good feature is that by shaking the WiiRemote you can tell the batsmen to run faster – i.e. If you want them to go for a second run. Fielding was good – no real involvement unless you want to set the field to a non-standard formation. I did play with about 6 bat/pad fielders – and a forward defensive sees them dive all over the pitch looking a catch – amusing the first time but a slight bug. Bowling took longer to master, there are options to bowl seam and spin, and by bowling a succession of three "green" (i.e. Good) deliveries you can bowl an automatic perfect ball. Rotating the remote allows you to swing the ball (for seamers) and spin the ball (for spinners). One good thing about the manual is that there is little cricket terminology in the whole game – something I think creicket games can do is to over-suppose the knowledge of the player. It explains therefore what the type of spinners do (e.g. off spin bowls right handed and ball spins to the right).

The commentary team is not bad – although of course there is a lot of truist banter – but they add to the game rather than interfering with it. Aggers in the main man, supported by Sir Ian Botham, Shane Warne, Ian Bishop and Tony Greig.

To play I found it good in that it was easy to get into although unfortunately it mirrors my real-life inabilities with bat and ball. So far I have stuck to the easy mode (Village Mode) and it is a very one-sided game for the batting side – maybe that will change once I progress through the levels of difficulty. I did missing sledging, injuring batsman - a deft shoulder charge from the bowler as the batsman was coming through for a sharp single would have been interesting, and a spot of ball tampering.

To summarise I would have to say that it is a good first stab at a cricket game (if you exclude the beach cricket offerings that have appeared to date). It is easy to pick up and get into and get playing. The fact that you can start playing and then get into the intricacies of it all more gradually is good, although its shelf life is limited by the fact that you can only really play the Ashes as a series (i.e. You can't instead have a 3 match series between New Zealand and South Africa in South Africa). Of course the fact that it never rains could be seen as a bonus. It is a good starting platform and hopefully they will expand it by adding new grounds, other tournaments (although possibly licensing rights are the thorny issue) and a create a player feature. Compared with the previous cricket games I have played I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get into the game, and the only let down was the possibly limited scope of the game once you've thrashed Australia 5-0 for the third time.
I'd give it 8 out of 10. 

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