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Sony recently invited me to check out Cricket 24 on PS5 before its release. While I'm not an avid cricket fan, I keep up with the world of sports video games, and Cricket 24 already had my interest piqued. While the world of sports video games is dominated by EA and 2K with their FIFA/FC and NBA series, Big Ant's previous iteration with Cricket 22 and Cricket 19, as well as its predecessor, the Don Bradman series, have been successful in their own rights.
With the curiosity to see what Big Ant has presented this time around and how the game plays on the PS5, I took an early flight on October 4 to New Delhi to play and experience Cricket 24 at The Oberoi.
First impression of Cricket 24 on PS5
While I have tried a few games on PS5 here and there, I haven't really dedicatedly played any titles on the console previously.
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So, one of the first things I noticed on the system is the significantly faster loading time, especially compared to Cricket 22 on PS4. The gameplay music and the crisp visual style excited me to jump right into a match and pick up the bat.
Teams and players in Cricket 24
The first thing I checked out was the game's selection of teams and players. The big headliner for this entry is IPL teams, most of which are present in this game. Other than the IPL, the series also includes a selection of other cricket series teams, including BBL and WBBL, The Hundred, PSL, CPLT20, and Super Smash, to name a few.
Moving on to International teams, the series' legacy is in the Ashes. It includes the Australian and the England national teams with all of the players, along with teams of other nations such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies, and more.
One thing I found a tad bit disappointing is the Indian National Team. Due to licensing issues, while there is an Indian team, it's not the team we are familiar with. The roster consists of creative names and generic-looking players.
Game modes in Cricket 24
Like the diversity of the teams, Cricket 24 also consists of diverse game modes to play. The career mode sees the return of familiar faces, while the deep tournament mode means you can tweak and pit the top teams against one another.
Other than these, players can also play full leagues like IPL, BBL, and, of course, the Ashes. Players can also play the World Cup and crown the best team in the world.
The batting and the bowling in Cricket 24
Moving on to the core gameplay of the series, Big Ant has expanded on what already was a great gameplay loop of batting and bowling in Cricket 22 to a more in-depth experience.
This improvement gives players more refined control while not being overwhelming. I barely played Cricket 22, but jumping into a match of Cricket 24 took me less than five minutes to completely grasp the control.
For batting, I had to select what kind of shot I wanted to play as well as the direction I wanted to play. The timing of the shot was also crucial, and if I played a bit early or late, it could cost me a dot ball or, worse, an LBW decision.
After each shot, the game also showed me a basic analysis of my shot across timing, direction, and type of shot, helping me understand and improve on the next ball.
As for bowling, the experience was a bit mixed. I loved using fast bowlers over spin bowlers, as I could not grasp that particular style of bowling quite easily. For bowling, timing played a crucial part, as I not only had to position where to place but also how much power to use and what kind of ball to throw.
Between the shots, I had to press a button manually to run. Most of the time, I got dismissed due to running out, as the batsman and the runner went for another run while the ball was comfortably in the hands of the wicketkeeper.
Although it might be more due to me mistakenly pressing the button twice the first time, the game should not be stacking inputs for running or letting players run after the ball has been played.
The performance of Cricket 24 on PS5
The game I played was on PS5, and it was a very smooth experience. The console's SSD loaded in the matches instantaneously while displaying at native 4k 60fps. Although at that resolution, it also highlighted some of the game's shortcomings quite well.
All in all, it was a great event organized by Sony India, giving me the opportunity to try out Cricket 24 on PS5. Sony also launched a PS5 Cricket 24 bundle, priced at ₹47,990/- for the Indian market.
