Cricket 24 preview: Not quite bowled over

Big Ant Studios’ latest outdoor sports simulation, Cricket 24, is nearly here and we had the chance to get a hands-on experience of the title ahead of its release. Here’s our Cricket 24 preview.

Cricket 24 is bigger than ever. Big Ant Studios has made sure that the game builds upon Cricket 22, which arrived two years ago. It’s trying to do that by including a bigger pool of licensed teams, players, better face scans, and more.

However, despite these inclusions, the experience feels familiar as it is with most sports sim iterations. A good touchstone for that is the FIFA games. If you are a new player, it will take some time to get used to all the new differences at first glance.

Thankfully, Dexerto had the chance to preview Cricket 24 ahead of its release, and here’s our Cricket 24 preview

Feels like Cricket 22 reskin with minor adjustments

Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. If a new player tried Cricket 24 and Cricket 22 side by side, at least graphically, it’d be hard to tell any difference. While trying out the game, I found many player models straight from the grounds of Cricket 22.

After winning the toss in my first match, I started out with bowling. To my surprise, the UI was completely untouched. If you look at the image above, the ‘Aftertouch’ and ‘Timing’ sections have an uncanny resemblance to Cricket 22. I was left a bit disappointed as Cricket 24 has been in development for almost two years.

The same goes for Batting. Even the subtlest of changes like fonts and a fresh UI would’ve been welcome.

Glitches, not so game-breaking yet catch the eyes

Big Ant Studios

Cricket 24, like other games, has its fair share of glitches. While none of them are game-breaking, I found some to be hilarious. For example, one of the glitches exposed the batter’s hair outside of the helmet, which certainly looks pretty strange.

The second glitch I came across sent chills down my spine. In that instance, the batter’s head turned in an abnormal way after hitting a six off a good-length delivery. Other than that, the other mechanics seemed to be working ideally in my 40-minute play session.

One thing to note too, the version of Cricket 24 we played at the venue was older. So, there could be improvements from what we got to experience in the current build now. Hopefully, these kinds of bugs can be ironed out before launch.

Some top teams and players are left out

Cricket 24 marks the debut of a ton of teams from domestic T20 leagues. One of them is the IPL. That said, a handful of teams that have been playing a crucial part from the tournament’s inaugural season are missing. This includes the likes of Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The exclusion of CSK surprised me the most as they were the winning team of the 2023 season. This obviously comes down to a licensing issue that hopefully can be solved, and hopefully, we see them in future iterations of the franchise.

While Cricket 24 includes official teams and players from IPL, they are not a part of the Indian Cricket team in the game. Again, this looks like a licensing issue but it sure is a missed opportunity.

Cricket 24 has a smoother and enhanced gameplay

Enough of the negatives. It may seem like I had a bad time with Cricket 24. I did not. Coming straight from Cricket 22, I felt Cricket 24 presented a smoother and more enhanced gameplay. The players, kits, and flags of the iconic teams of the franchise, Australia and England, look better than ever.

The face scans of players are fairly realistic in Cricket 24, which means the devs are in the right direction. The overall gameplay felt smoother in comparison to the previous game. The reason for the difference could be that I played these two games on different platforms. Apart from that, the camera angles after hitting boundaries and over have been improved.

Shots and lighting now look a lot more natural than before too. As a result, the ambiance inside the ground during high-voltage matches looks a lot more lively than before.

And there you have it — that’s all about our Cricket 24 preview. If you’re interested in more sports games, be sure to check our other content and guides below:

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