With the season of cricket upon us what with the oldest cricketing Test series The Ashes and India finishing a successful tour in Zimbabwe to now go packing to Sri Lanka which is currently hosting Pakistan. The cricket fever has just started, although there has also been some negative publicity with the recent banning on two IPL teams, namely Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings.
One thing cricket lovers also do love other than watching their favourite players on the field is taking the mantle upon themselves to help their beloved players and teams help cross the line in the virtual world.
AnimationXpress.com lists down a few games across platforms that one could try their hands at during the innings breaks or even during the middle overs of an engaging contest.
Cricket Games on PC and Consoles
Don Bradman Cricket 2014
Don Bradman Cricket 2014 came up at a time when the gaming machines were lacking a good cricket game that could live upto the legacy that EA Sport’s Cricket 07 had left behind. Developed by Big Ant Studios, the game provides with realistic batting style, having the player to time their shots correctly; making the game more realistic and giving extra pleasure in the boundary you hit/or the stumps you uproot after you master the controls.
The game offers a number of modes to pick up the controller and start playing. This includes a career mode, custom matches, and online multiplayer. In the career mode, users create a cricket player and follow him throughout a 20 year career. There is also Cricket Academy, which allows players to create and edit teams, players, and competitions.
Cricket 07
The mecca of cricket games if you may call it. The sports fans swear by this game to date as to how many runs, fours, sixes they have hit when the game name pops up in dinner table conversations. The game which came with licensed players from Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa had all the formats of the game to try out – Tests, ODIs and T20s. The Ashes scenario or the long tours with a single team meant hours and hours of gameplay (but who’s complaining).
Offering a wide range of shots and camera angles to tinker with, the game had one of the better graphics from that time. The popularity of the game can be sensed from the fact that some developers went and made an IPL and Champions League T20 patch for the game making all the teams from the respective tournaments as playable along with the correct line-up of players.
Allan Border Cricket/Graham Gooch World Class Cricket
The MS-DOS version of the game was one of the earliest releases of a cricket game on PCs and caught the fancy of the gamers with its gameplay. One of the major things that bring this game to this list is the nostalgia factor. The use of the arrow keys to swing or spin the ball and the cricketing shots by the pixelated players was something youngsters could while away their time in that era. The toss at the start of each game which only featured a hand tossing the coin and the music of the game, was something anyone who’s ever played the game can remember distinctively. Oh where are the nineties!
Boasting of modes at that time, the game featured Tests and ODIs and the option of choosing colour clothing at that time was a big thing. Ten international teams to play with, the game also offered creating a new team with players who were unheard of.
International Cricket Captain 2013
International Cricket Captain as a franchise has been around for a while and the game is as popular as the other sports simulation around Football Manager. 2013 edition of the game was selected mostly for being a notch higher on the graphics part of things which otherwise are not much to boast about in this franchise. Developed by England based Childish Things, the game is a virtual cricket management simulator, where the player hopes to rise from the ranks and become the captain of the best team in the world.
The game’s finesse comes naturally from the fact that the developers are from England and perfectly understand the gentleman’s game better than most developers and know exactly what the gamers want from the game. This edition of the game had an online version too which allowed players to compete against each other and show their managerial skills on the pitch.
Managing each player separately and coaching them gave you a full satisfaction if the cricket fan in you always wanted to be one to take calls on the field. The team selection, knowing every statistics there is to know, wonderful team of commentators and wacky combinations of the field setups made the game very popular. If you feel you can manage Cricket better than you play, this one is tailor-made for you.
Ashes 2009
The biggest rivalry in the cricketing history got a game in Ashes 2009. Although the game had a 2013 update but that is something no one wants to write about. Ashes 2009 had more focus on the biennial series between the two nations with other teams and modes being an add-on.
One of the things that gave the edge to this game was the variety of shot selection and the interactive and intuitive bowling controls along with engaging batting which gave much greater command over the player than any other game. This game also had Hawk Eye visualizations which were something new in those days. Other highlights include the stunning stadiums and the commentary by legendary cricketers like Shane Warne and Ian Bishop.
Cricket Games on Smartphones
Real Cricket 14
Developed by Nautilus, this is by far the most popular cricket game in the app markets. The game provides a good amount of gameplay with different modes that are on the offer and the motion captured 2D graphics with simple intuitive controls add up to countless hours of fun on the go.
The regular updates on the game allow you to keep playing it without having to get tired of the same thing over and over. The developers also introduced a World Cup Edition update during the world cup and with other iterations of the game like the newly introduced Test Match, T20 competitions with English sides and Australian sides along with Champions league, they have tried to capture all aspects of the game.
Stick Cricket
Stick Cricket has been on the mobile platform for a long time now and the game has been expanding with various iterations. Gameplay is smooth and speedy. With a number of modes available, players have a lot on the line while the World Cup is on. All Star Slog modes have you beating your own best, World Domination mode allows you to be on the road and beat the best in the business. The game has an in-app purchase in the World Cup edition which can be bought allowing you to play the tournament to achieve the World Cup trophy.
One More Run
Something different from usual cricket games on mobile, One More Run provides the adrenaline with the fast paced and single touch gameplay. Six balls to play and certain number of runs to achieve; One More Run has two players running between wickets to complete the target. Developed in Unity engine, the game has pixelated art and the fast taps to run will certainly cause soaring thumbs and lead to multiple gameplays.
Cricket Battles Multiplayer
Developed by Games2Win, Cricket Battles Multiplayer is a live multiplayer cricket game pitting two players to score highest runs in an over. In Cricket Battles Multiplayer, players get instantly paired with other players based on their ‘XP’ or experience level so that the competition is evenly matched. In the beginning, any one player gets to bat while the other watches in real time. And that’s the unique feature of the game – watching real time as the opponent bats! After an over of six balls, the first player switches sides and the waiting player gets to chase his opponent’s score. The core loop of the game is infinite as players constantly get a chance of a ‘rematch’ after every game.
ICC Pro Cricket 2015
Having realistic graphics on the mobile is a little difficult task and Disney India has just managed to achieve that on the mobile screen with ICC Pro Cricket 2015. ICC Pro Cricket 2015 was the official game of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 and released during that period. It features over 150 official players from the 14 teams participating in the 2015 edition of the Cricket World Cup. The game has different modes which include, Quick match, World Tour, Practice and World Cup.