There are some sports around the world that are only appreciated and respected in certain territories. For America, Baseball is hugely popular with millions of fans who watch and play the sport religiously. For England, Australia, India and a few other countries Cricket is the bat and ball game of choice. Xbox has been really clever with their Game Pass subscription for the month of April 2022 and dropped both MLB The Show 22 and Cricket 22 onto the service. In this review, I’ll be taking a look at Cricket 22 developed by Big Ant Studios and published by Nacon.

Introduction

Cricket is one of the oldest sports known to man and originated in South-East England in the 16th century. The sport isn’t particularly hugely present in the gaming world but several studios have had a stab at creating a solid Cricket experience over the past few decades. The most notable title to me was Brian Lara Cricket back on the Sega Mega Drive in 1994. Since that exceptional entry, we have seen a stream of lacklustre efforts from EA Sports and other development teams.

Big Ant Studios took the reigns back in 2014 with Don Bradman Cricket 14 and since then they have regularly supported the sport with an almost annual release. Personally, I have played and tested most of them and have to admit that none of them have been particularly mind-blowing and frankly just above average. With the last release in the series being Cricket 19, the team have had just over two years to produce Cricket 22. With the game entering Xbox Game Pass, I was intrigued to grab the bat and check out whether they have improved on previous titles.

What’s New?

The team at Big Ant Studios have labelled Cricket 22 as the most robust, substantial game of cricket that fans have ever seen. I am actually inclined to agree with this statement as there is a huge selection of modes and options here with new additions. There are introductions to new innovations such as all-new bowling and fielding controls, a deep-narrative-driven career mode and an all-new commentary team. In a first for the series, we see women commentators, deepening the representation of women in the sport of Cricket. Fans will be happy with the inclusion of the Australian KFC Big Bash League, Caribbean Premier League and the 100-ball cricket tournament “The Hundred” from England and Wales.

Licensing in the game has vastly improved and has extended to new regions throughout the world. It blends authenticity into the game and adds to the overall realistic atmosphere. If you haven’t played any of the games in the franchise then be safe in the knowledge that real player names are infiltrated into the correct teams throughout the world.

Learning the Game

If you aren’t familiar with the sport then you’re in luck as there is an extremely intuitive tutorial to start with. Here you’ll get to learn the rules of Cricket and how to bat, bowl and field and the different skill variants of each. It was seriously impressive to see how in-depth they went here to ensure that you have an understanding of not only the rules but also how to play. I’ve played so many sports games that have complex rules or control schemes and it’s made me put down the controller almost immediately. Cricket 22 does an excellent job of making it simplistic before heading into the other modes on offer. There is a sprinkling of extended tutorials beyond the basics if you want to get clued up on more terminology about the sport.

A Rich, Deep and Varied Career Mode

Once you have the tutorial out of the way, you immediately wonder what mode to pick up on. I was hoping to get hands-on with the Indian Premier League, but sadly this isn’t present in Cricket 22. There is the Indian Cricket Championship T20 to enjoy though which did scratch the itch a little. The game is slightly geared towards being the official game of The Ashes, there is much more beyond this though. I particularly enjoyed commencing my time in career mode which is fairly deep in its immersion.

Career mode can be played as a created cricketer or an existing player. Here you’ll be able to compete in local leagues or tournaments and also Cricket on the international stage. Get ready for the long haul though as you’ll need to endure full tests, T20 matches and even three-day events. To put things into perspective, my first match took me almost two hours to play to completion and this was without being experienced. For die-hard fans, it does have you feeling as if you’re competing in a whole day of cricket rather than a watered-down sped-up iteration like a 12-minute game of FIFA for instance.

Hit the gym and build your strength

In between being on the field, you’ll be spending time training with batting and bowling in the nets challenge facility. You can also hit the gym to assist in building strength, skill and endurance to aid your future performances. This was a nice touch as it provided more depth to the mode rather than just clicking play the next match. If you do want to speed up your time though, you can opt just to cut to when your character has to bat, bowl or field if you prefer. Personally, I had more fun playing as the entire team during each match.

Online Mode Extends Replayability & Longevity

The online options are where serious players will want to go and hang out. With a plethora of impressive customisation options across the board, this is the go-to option if you want to create your own team. You’ll be able to name your team, edit your attire and build your squad with a number of players. This was tricky as you can’t just go in and select all the best players of the cricket world, it has to be balanced for fairness. Engage in online matches, challenges and more as you strive for your competitive edge.

How Are The Controls?

This is probably the best entry in the series to date. Batting and bowling are simple to understand. I would like to see more animations for batting as it does start to become slightly repetitive with the same actions regularly. Bowling has more flexibility in the type of actions such as spin bowling, adding bounce to the ball and attempting to throw the batter off course. Fielding is where I found most of my frustrations. You can position fielders where you want them to be on specific areas of the pitch, but their responsiveness can be woeful at times. The level of fluidity doesn’t match the other functions of the game. Often fielders would run towards the ball and stop dead before clutching the ball from the ground to throw back.

Graphics & Audio

It’s clear to see that Big Ant Studios don’t have a budget as big as EA Sports for instance. Graphically Cricket 22 still appears to be dated. That said, the development team have excelled in several areas of the game such as cutscenes between breaks of play and some fantastic HUD design to mimic an equivalent to what you’d see on TV. Menus are really well presented with clear fonts and easy-to-follow on-screen prompts. Some of the backdrops could have done with a little more work as they are still displayed like a sports game from the early Xbox One generation. These visuals don’t hamper the gameplay though as you’re too focused on what is happening with the cricket ball.

The audio is first-rate with some great commentary from the men and women. Crowd noise provides a great atmosphere with transitions between exciting and heart-stopping play provoking a reaction from the audience. The soundtrack is decent enough and adds to an overall good package in the sound department.

In Conclusion

Cricket 22 is a good entry into the genre. Would I say it has improved on the last instalment? Yes is the answer, but clearly, it hasn’t exceeded the 2019 version massively. The addition of more modes, licencing and online options does make it a much better game overall. Sadly though there are some issues with bugs and glitches here and there and I did witness some crashing issues on Xbox Series X. You won’t find a better cricket game out there, mainly because there really aren’t any others. Big Ant Studios has built the foundations of something great though. If they can focus on enhancing visuals with better facial, batting and fielding mechanics and iron out the kinks for future games, then we could see this franchise contending with some of the best sports games in the catalogue.