Product Description

The game will provide you with the most authentic Ashes experience possible without having to don your white.

Delivering all the exciting, athletic, skilful and technical elements of the sport, the games comprehensive Ashes mode will feature all five Tests played out at carefully detailed recreations of each authentic venue.

Featuring twelve Test playing nations and eighteen stadia from around the world, Ashes Cricket 2009 is the most comprehensive cricket video game ever.

Experience the whole gamut of the world of cricket from the iconic Ashes series, Test matches, ODIs and 20 over games. The kits, the pacing, the atmosphere and the players all change depending upon your game mode.

• Enhanced bowling experience:
• Make decisions as the bowler does with an intuitive, interactive bowling control scheme
• Dynamic and intuitive batting:
• Feel more in control of the ball than ever before, with greater coverage and shot choice
• Official Hawk-Eye Tracking:
• Official Hawk-Eye visualisations, as seen on TV
• Cricket Legends Mode:
• Learn how to master the disciplines of batting, bowling and fielding with coaching from Sir Ian Botham and Shane Warne
• Play in stadiums from around the world:
• Eighteen of the world's most recognisable stadia recreate geographic conditions and climates, as well as true-to-life crowd noise and atmosphere. Expect swing in England, bounce in Australia and extra turn in India
• Online Play:
• Full online multiplayer gaming through PlayStation Network.
• Single and Multiplayer Modes:
• Two player Co-op play, with up to four player vs matches.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #296 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Codemasters Limited
• Released on: 2009-08-07
• Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
• Format: Unknown format
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Bringing you closer to the action than ever before with the officially licensed teams, players and stadia of the 2009 npower Ashes Series!

The game will provide you with the most authentic Ashes experience possible without having to don your white.

Delivering all the exciting, athletic, skilful and technical elements of the sport, the game’s comprehensive ‘Ashes’ mode will feature all five Tests played out at carefully detailed recreations of each authentic venue.

Featuring twelve Test playing nations and eighteen stadia from around the world, Ashes Cricket 2009 is the most comprehensive cricket video game ever.

Experience the whole gamut of the world of cricket from the iconic Ashes series, Test matches, ODIs and 20 over games. The kits, the pacing, the atmosphere and the players all change depending upon your game mode.

Customer Reviews

It's just not cricket!
Where too start.

First off, I think most people would agree that cricket is not exactly the most universal of sports. Apart from the test playing nations, I wouldn't have thought a game like this would generate much interest in other parts of the world, not least the USA, which would normally provide huge market potential for a game.

As such, when I heard a new cricket game was coming out, I was ready too accept that in terms of presentation, it wasn't going to be on a par with other more popular sports such as football, golf etc. All i really wanted was a game that accurately reflected the basics of the sport, with an even balance of difficulty between bat and ball. This is where, like all previous cricket games, ASHES 2009 completely fails.

Having played the game for a few days now, i'm left wondering whether the developers have ever played the sport.
I'll start with bowling. As well as the ridiculous run ups and action animations (which i've said i can forgive) there are numerous problems. Firstly, despite there being all the usual delivery options, once the ball is bowled there is no discernable difference between any of them and the batting AI seemingly agrees as it plays pretty much whatever shot it likes, usually with success. The whole point of bowling in test cricket is to build pressure by bowling a consistent line and length to frustrate the batsmen into playing a difficult shot when their confidence is low. Essentially, you bowl to a plan and set the field accordingly. Turns out, this isn't the way to go. In fact, after playing a number of matches, I honestly have no idea what the AI recognises as good bowling. Dismissals just seem to occur for no particualr reason every so often, most commonly by run out as the AI sets off on crazy runs just when you're on the verge of hurling the controller out the window in frustration. This amounts to complete tedium because, although by the end of the innings the scoreboard looks sensible, there is no skill involved.

The batting, if possible, is probably even worse in terms of realism. Back foot late cuts for 6 off full deliveries, front foot slogs over mid-wicket to bouncers, back foot covers drives for 6 off 90mph bowling. It just makes no sense. Just like the AI does when it's batting, you can play whatever shot you like, regardless of the ball. Whilst hitting sixes ad nauseum may appeal to some, it's not realistic, it's not challenging, it's not fun.
What really grinds my gears is that the developers have claimed they started the game from scratch. Rubbish. The game feels identical to the last Brian Lara and is probably worse in many respects. I honestly thought EA's cricket '07 was ok and that a new generation game would solve all the previous problems. Instead of concentrating on the gameplay, all they've apparently been doing is adding a few more pixels to Monty Panesar's beard.

Joking aside though, I can't emphasise enough how disappointing this game is. If you're a true cricket fan, do not buy!

Good in certain areas, not so good in others
After the long wait from Cricket 07 and Brian Lara 07, Codemasters have finally released another cricket game, and this is the 1st one on PS3.
So, whats it like. Well the presentation is good, but not up there with the EA Games. I tried a normal test 1st up on Normal difficulty against Zimbabwe. Why not, I thought, start against an easier team. I won the toss & decided to bowl 1st, hoping to rattle them out for cheap and notch up a high score with the bat. But in reality the difficuly curve is so steep it is nearly vertical. It is a brutal wake up call, and enough to make me quit, and start again on Easy. It is fair then, to say it took me a while to get to grips with the game. The graphics are good for the majority, but not up there with the very best sports games, and most of the player likenesses are not great. Flintoff looks nothing like himself.
After a while though I got into the game and liked it. Its not great, only England & Australia are officially licensed, and as such the rest of the teams do NOT have proper kits, names or likenesses. And there are no club/county teams either. Codemasters have missed out there I think. It is a good game, that takes time to get into, and if you perservere you will enjoy. The commentary is ok, but repetative. The legends training mode is also a nice touch. Cricket 07 for me just edges this, simply for the amount of options it has, that Ashes 09 does not. It is a good game, that excels in multi-player, but it is just too iffy to be considered amongst the sporting greats. Best console cricket game in a while though. Cricket 07 on PC is still the best overall.

On harder Difficulty levels you need to understand Cricket.
Well, what can I say. Apart from a lack of games modes this is the difinitive cricket game. After an hours tutition from Beefy and Warney I was into the game.

As an experiance player I went straight onto normal mode. Remember if your a newbie driving outside offstump is very dangerous early on, you will get caught in the slips. However after a while I was happily batting away. The bowling is a bit better too. I've actually got people out caught at short leg(which has been a completly useless position in all previous games). Just keep a steady line and length. Bowl to short too often and you'll go round the park, too full you'll get driven all day.

Now I've got it on hard, it really is a challenge. You can't go sloging every ball and be patient when bowling. It rewards hard work, there's nothing like keep Ricky ponting quiet for a few overs, then getting him caught behind with a full outswinger!

Now for the best bit............. online.

It does have some inter ball slowdown issues waiting for the other player but, there's nothing like creaming an Australian though the covers, or bowling someone will a slower ball just after they launched you into the stands. 20/20 is probably the way to go for most(lasts just over an hours to an hour and a half).It's great fun, and it'll be the one thing to keep bringing me back for more.

If your not a cricket fan, this should probably be a three, for all the rest of us a 5.