Why Cricket 26 is the perfect game for fans of the Ashes

The freshest cricket game to hit the market features plenty for veteran and new gamers alike to enjoy

We all know what it's like to wish we were witnessing an Ashes tour in Australia.

But in Cricket 26, Big Ant Studios have come up with the next best thing.

The latest cricket video game to hit the market features an all-new Ashes Mode, which allows players to take control of their preferred team in cricket's biggest Test series.

As well as graphics that make you feel like you're really Down Under and off-field management decisions like squad selection adding to the thrill, Cricket 26's licensing operation means real teams and players are always part of gameplay.

It's the latest triumph for Big Ant director of development, Mike Merren, who has worked on cricket games for 16 of the almost 40 years he has spent in the gaming industry.

"We wanted to look at turning what everyone thought about cricket games upside down," recalls Merren, of the pioneering innovations Big ant have brought to market in that time.

"It always used to be about putting a marker on the ground where the ball was going to pitch and that's where you work out what shot to play.

"But when you play cricket, you're generally looking at the ball and following what that's doing, so we moved the marker to the ball and cricket purists loved that.

"Cricket's a very different beast to football or rugby games, where you know it's 11-a-side over 80 or 90 minutes, whereas we've got so many different formats like T20, Test, ODI, four-day and factors like ball deterioration and rain to think about.

"Trying to bring that to life and make it fun for gamers has been out biggest challenge, as well as trying to get an AI to do things that are quite complex."

The Pro Team feature allows players long-term fun with innovations such as weekly card packs and targeting players via the Auction House, alongside weekly challenges.

This is built on with Centurion Mode, in which gamers compete with 99 others to make the top score from six overs, with the bottom 25 per cent being eliminated after each over.

Management Career Mode is sure to be a hit with fans of cricket strategy games and, with cricket constantly evolving, new shot types have been added to players' repertoires, while an updated fielding system also allowed greater control.

"On older games when you played and missed, you'd sometimes miss the ball by a couple of feet," adds Merren.

"But we've also refined this to be more realistic so you can miss it by just a whisker, giving the bowling side a sense that they got close to taking a wicket.

"We want to give that added realism to people."

Click here to get your copy Cricket 26 now!