Ashes Cricket

Pros

• Officially licensed cricket video game
• All Australian and English teams represented
• Includes 14 unlicensed national teams

Cons

• Game pulled from Steam after release
• Console editions cancelled

Ashes Cricket 2013 is a cricket video game that features professional Australian and English teams.

Things have gotten better for cricket fans since the release of Ashes Cricket 2013, but back then, fans were hungry for a realistic cricket simulation in the mold of EA’s FIFA and NFL. Ashes Cricket 2013, which was developed by Trickstar Games and published by 505 Games, was supposed to be that title. Let’s begin with what the game did well. It features the entire 2013 Ashes cricket series. It boasts the official licenses not only for the event but all English and Australian teams, and game commentary is performed by voices cricket fans will recognize: David Lloyd, Mark Nicholas and Michael Slater.

The game also features a fielding editor that’s quite advanced over the editor in the previous release, and it has more than 60 fielding options. In addition to more weather and pitch condition variables, those variables now affected bowling styles, which was a big change. A new batting system that added a lot of shot variety was also promised. It didn’t make it into the initial release and was supposed to be added in a patch, but that never transpired because of everything else that unfolded.

The physics model likely remains the game’s biggest problem. It’s simply inconsistent, and that results in a lot of odd behavior. Exacerbating the physics model was the overall lack of polish. In retrospect, it’s clear that Trickstar Games was falling behind in its release schedule, and 505 Games choose to push the game out in an unfinished state. The plan apparently was to make it right through post-release patches.

That plan backfired. It released first on Windows via Steam and was almost universally panned by critics. A small niche had been made smaller, and that small pool of consumers wasn’t biting. The outrage among those who had purchased the game had gotten so loud and supported by the media that 505 Games, probably due to some urging by Steam, pulled the game and refunded those who bought it.

There was some hope initially that Trickstar Games would fix the game and then 505 Games would re-release it, but that was quickly dispelled. The publisher soon announced the cancellation of versions for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U and chose to eat the losses incurred. So, here we are with what’s probably the most recognized cricket video game ever made and one of the most notorious video games ever released. Most would agree it’s not a good game, but it is a piece of video game history, and you may want to have a look at it for that reason alone.

Pros

• Officially licensed cricket video game
• All Australian and English teams represented
• Includes 14 unlicensed national teams

Cons

• Game pulled from Steam after release
• Console editions cancelled