It was a year and a half ago I last looked at The Crickets, in the form of Ashes Cricket by Big Ant Studios. When I was able to review Ashes Cricket, even knowing that my knowledge and ability with all balls smaller than a football is left wanting, I was left quite enamoured. Ashes Cricket was and still is the best cricket game around. Naturally, with Big Ant at the helm, you could expect the follow-up to be even better.
In a move to build on from Ashes Cricket, Cricket 19 will reportedly feature every format of the international game, both the women’s and men’s teams, all host venues of events and of course the game is the officially licensed game of the Ashes for both England and Australia. In addition to these core features, Cricket 19 will also feature a scenario mode that lets players recreate matches from the history of the sport but also their own custom challenges. All of these will be able to be shared online.
Also, for the first time, Cricket will be able to be played on the go. Big Ant studios are bringing Cricket 19 to the Nintendo Switch, letting people play offline or online wherever they are.
There are other enhancements said to be included within the game, particularly to the AI. It is said to be more realistic than ever as the AI will work out your team's weaknesses, adapt its bowling and batting strategies to target weaker players and actively look for gaps in the field. In addition, it should also work out your own bowling strategy, should you happen to be predictable and go for the same things or follow a pattern of sorts.
Big Ant Studios CEO Ross Symons has this to say regarding the game:
We have the most active and passionate community. Many of our players logged thousands of hours with our previous cricket titles, and Cricket 19 is very much built on the experience of those players. Whether you’re looking to enjoy a 20-year cricket career that takes you from the club level to captaining the national team, re-create an ODI or IT20 series or take part in the Ashes, or just bash some balls around with friends, Cricket 19 has you covered.
While there isn't much to go on right now, other than Cricket 19 is a game about Golf and you'll obviously be playing with a racket of some sort, here's a little teaser video:
Cricket 19 - The Official Game of the Ashes is set to release sometime in summer this year and will be coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. A PC release is scheduled to be released shortly after the initial console release.
