Cricket 19 is The World’s Most Realistic Cricket Game

There are many cricket games out there, but some are a lot better than the rest. If you love your cricket, you really must try out Cricket 19.

15:03 26 January 2021

In 2018, game developers Big Ant Studios delved into the world of NBA but their final product was quite disappointing. The following year, they decided to turn their attention back to cricket and developed Cricket 19, a game that all cricket fans will truly love playing. Using their previous Ashes Cricket game from 2017 as a base, Cricket 19 breathes new life into the presentation, improves the AI, and adds a new scenario mode that looks and feels extremely authentic.

 

A Licensed Ashes Game

 

The word "Ashes" has been dropped from the title of this game, but Cricket 19 is very much so still an officially licensed game of the 2019 Ashes contest between England and Australia. The Australian grounds that featured in Ashes Cricket still remain and they are joined by the five English grounds that were used during the 2019 series - each ground is present in convincing detail from the Father Time windvane at Lord's to The Point at Old Trafford.

 

Cricket 19 Feels and Looks Like the Real Thing

 

Big Ant Studios have put in a lot of effort to make sure that the matches in Cricket 19 have a sense of occasion, just like real life Ashes matches have. To achieve this, each match opens with a rousing rendition of the national anthem, you see the covers getting wheeled off, players celebrate centuries with verve, and when a bowler is dispatched to the fence, oftentimes the captain will follow the bowler back to his mark to give him some advice. Furthermore, the highlights of boundaries and wickets that are showed when an innings ends helps bring more authenticity to the broadcasting side of the game. At times you might even briefly forget that you are playing a video game.

 

The only thing that you cannot do with this game that you can do in real life is bet on the action that is happening. However, if you are a cricket betting fan, you need not worry about that because, as you can see on cricketonlinebetting.in, there are plenty of other cricket tournaments that you can bet on such as the IPL, Big Bash League, and the ICC Cricket World Cup. Markets for all of these are available at the best bookies out there such as 10Cric, Betway, and Unibet.

 

A Great Single Player Game with a Dynamic AI

 

Cricket 19 is a great video game for those who enjoy playing on our own since the AI has seemingly greatly improved nous and match awareness, although it is more noticeable for the batting part of the game. For example, the opposing batsmen will take a single from the last ball of the over in order to keep the strike when they are batting with a tailender and once the run rate gets above double figures, they will put their foot down and swing hard. Therefore, you will feel a lot of gratitude when you bowl a number of dot balls to build up the pressure and then take their off-stump out of the ground when they attempt a big heave.

 

What about the AI bowling then? Well, it must be said that it is a bit of a mixed bag, the computer does bowl to plans at times, sending down overs of short balls or aiming for your pads, but the erratic behaviour from previous games, such as the bowler swapping from around to over the wicket with each ball, can dent the illusion of realism. However, it must be said that the AI behaviour is a lot more dynamic than that which you find in previous cricket games.

 

The New Scenario Mode is What Makes This Game

 

The career mode can last up to twenty in-game years, but the scenario mode could actually last your whole life. You have the ability to create and tweak scenarios, with pretty much endless possibilities. You can replicate real life match states, so if you felt like reliving the 4th day of the 2nd test from the Ashes in 2005 with the Aussies needing 107 runs to win with just 2 wickets left, you can. This is pretty awesome if you ask us, but we must tell you that you need to have the patience to sit down and manually insert the scorecard to recreate the circumstance that you want to play.

 

When compared to other cricket games by Big Ant Studios, it is safe to say that Cricket 19 is the best of the lot, but it does have some issues. For example, we found that outswinging deliveries are more likely to catch the inside edge rather than the outside, which is a bit unnatural. Also, some DRS replays disappear meaning that you sometimes are left wondering how the third umpire came to his decision.

 

Quick Verdict

 

Cricket 19's gameplay might have a few niggles, but despite these this game is definitely the closest to reality than any other cricket game that has come before it. The scenario mode is a welcome addition as it allows you to relive history and attempt to change the past. Overall, it is a game that we believe will keep cricket fans thoroughly entertained.