Run Out

Lately I've been playing Don Bradman's Cricket 2014. It's game I started playing some months ago and one that I've been returning to since.

This may seem like an odd choice seeing as I've had little to no interest in sport games over the years. I have played cricket games over the years but none have come across as something special. So why play this one? Firstly it's made by an Australian developer. Secondly, a lot of Don Bradman's Cricket 2014 hinges on the rather cunning way the developers worked around the licensing issues. This takes form of the the Don Bradman Academy where players wanting to include famous teams and current teams are encouraged to create them in the Academy and share them with other players. They even have soundbytes for famous names and nicknames!
As such, this cunning navigation was enough to secure my interest.

Based upon my own experience with Cricket games (ie the primitive One Day Cricket and Graham Gooch cricket on the C64) this incarnation is head and shoulders above them all. The controls are accessible and there's a decent training section. There's a lot of freedom in match customization and never once does the game seem overwhelming to a newcomer and/or someone unfamiliar with cricket. For the first time, for me at least, cricket comes across as being fun to play and never once a slog to get through. In fact, the fact that I keep coming back to this game is proof enough that this game is a bonafide success.

And as for the Academy I had some fun in building up the Tasmanian Best XI (which was announced earlier this year) and seeing them go against the other teams. And hey, where else could you have  Charles Eady getting Jack Hobbs out for four runs?