Don Bradman Cricket 14: A Baseball Fan Takes a Look

[RaychelSnr]

Last week, while browsing the Playstation Network Store, a new sports title caught my eye: Don Bradman’s Cricket 14. I was not only surprised to see a cricket game on the US PSN, but also by the fact that it appeared to be a full-featured, non-indy title. With the knowledge that cricket is a distant ancestor of baseball (my favorite sport), I decided to give this title a try.

Before reading my experiences, please keep in mind that this a review in structure only. Sure, I’ll give you the good, bad, and ugly, as well as offer buying recommendations at the end. But I am hardly a cricket expert. Basically, this is one baseball fan’s take on Don Bradman’s Cricket 14.


Read More - Don Bradman Cricket 14: A Baseball Fan Takes a Look

[Cryolemon]

Regarding what realistic scores are, for 20/20 games, anything above about 170 is a good score, anything above 200 is great. The record score in real life is about 280 IIRC. For a 50 over game, 300 is a great score, the record is about 430. For 5 day matches no-one really scores more than 600 very often, because it takes too long to leave a realistic chance of winning. The record (internationally) is 952 though, and about 1100 overall.

[RajonMoneyRondo]

This is funny because im from australia and this just sounds like me when i picked up the first baseball game with mlb the show 09 on ps2.

and to correct you it is not an indie title but the budget for this game in minimal. not even close to a AAA title or anything like the madden or fifa franchise with a very low budget.

that said, it's probably one of the worst cricket games that have come out here since 2008 it has gone downhill over the last decade for cricket games.

EA sports did one in 2005 and 2007 that was great.

at least you enjoyed the game.

[Dazraz]

Good read & coincidental in its timing as I took a look at this game myself a few days ago & am pondering on whether to buy or not. Having played Cricket games in the past I know they can be awfully time consuming. Can you tell me if there is an option to simulate individual Overs during a game. Thanks.

[Dazraz]

Re: Don Bradman Cricket 14: A Baseball Fan Takes a Look

This is funny because im from australia and this just sounds like me when i picked up the first baseball game with mlb the show 09 on ps2.

and to correct you it is not an indie title but the budget for this game in minimal. not even close to a AAA title or anything like the madden or fifa franchise with a very low budget.

that said, it's probably one of the worst cricket games that have come out here since 2008 it has gone downhill over the last decade for cricket games.

EA sports did one in 2005 and 2007 that was great.

at least you enjoyed the game.

I agree, EA's last couple of Cricket games were pretty spot on. Cricket is a pretty tough sport to get right particularly when running on a tight budget.

[Cryolemon]

Re: Don Bradman Cricket 14: A Baseball Fan Takes a Look

EA sports did one in 2005 and 2007 that was great.

at least you enjoyed the game.

I didn't rate the EA Cricket games, but they were at least better than EA's Rugby games...

One issue I have with a lot of cricket games (the more recent codemasters ones, particularly) is that the difficulty levels are not very good. Easy is usually far too easy and anything else is far too hard.

[BigAntStudios]

Thanks for taking a look at our game Caley.
As developers we're a bunch of really passionate Cricket fans and we certainly appreciate that you took the time.
Cheers,
Ross.
CEO Big Ant Studios

[Alfie]

@Caley Roark,
You are spot on in saying DBC 14 (Don Bradman Cricket 14) is the FIFA or Madden of cricket. This is the best cricket game created. period. And to folks who are comparing it to EA's efforts of the last decade, it's not even close. DBC 14 is heads and shoulders above EA's efforts. I would urge folks who are interested in the game to check out the game's reviews on metacritic and cricinfo (the go to website for cricket fans) before making up their mind as it's clear to me folks/users like RajonMoneyRondo or Dazraz who have commented on the game have never played DBC 14. Here are the review links...

http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/don-bradman-cricket-14
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/752421.html


And if you are a hardcore cricket gaming fan, you can check out the positive feedback the game got on the only cricket gaming forum around...
http://planetcricket.net/forums/don-bradman-cricket-14-forum/

Thumbs up to operation sports and specially Caley for checking out a cricket gaming and writing about it here.

P.S. - I'm a hardcore cricket fan who picked up football in US and am a big Madden fan so I know how much you can learn about a new sport via a video game.

[tril]

always wanted to learn to play cricket. I will be buying this up soon

[ocat]

Shane Warne Cricket '99

Best back then, still the best now (sadly)

[ellgieff]

This is funny because im from australia and this just sounds like me when i picked up the first baseball game with mlb the show 09 on ps2.

and to correct you it is not an indie title but the budget for this game in minimal. not even close to a AAA title or anything like the madden or fifa franchise with a very low budget.

that said, it's probably one of the worst cricket games that have come out here since 2008 it has gone downhill over the last decade for cricket games.

EA sports did one in 2005 and 2007 that was great.

at least you enjoyed the game.

Wait, what?

Both the EA titles were bad jokes. Did you ever try sweeping a spinner, and miss?

The ball would hit you, you'd fall down (apparently dead - from being hit by a spinner :O ) and then the keeper would stump you.

Seriously, bro. This is far and away the best representation of cricket there has yet been. Playing the game feels much more like actually playing cricket, rather than playing a series of quick time events with a cricket graphic on top.

This game means I don't have to buy The Show anymore - I only ever bought The Show because there were no decent cricket games.

ocat: you've got some rose-tinted specs on. SWC/BLC didn't have no-balls, only gave wides if you played a stroke, flat out wouldn't run on Cyrix x86 CPU's and crashed often on AMD ones - and even crashed often on many 3DFX cards (including the one I had at the time) although one of the selling points was the 3DFX performance.

Yes, it was good at the time. It's not fit to clean the shoes of DBC 14

[Rhys1218]

Great read! Being from the UK I might have to give this a try!

[Oakland86]

If this isn't the best cricket game then what is? Anybody know if it's available on disc and would play on an American system if I imported?

[TTD71]

I would kill or die for an Australian Rules Football game to come out in the US...anything to get me away from the now annual EA Madden disappointment for a few years!

[heroies]

For all the newcomers . Being an ardent cricket fan I have suffered for years but finally a worthy game.
This game was started by a dev team and was in the making for years. And wow how
Fruitful are the results. It's the first ever cricket game with a career mode like be a pro
Also fifa has never added extra tournaments or patches 2 months after the game has released ,
But big ant studio has continued their support. This is my first comment ever on operation sports
And only cause I find this game and the efforts and post game patches worthy of it. Buy it
Enjoy it . It's coming to PC this month and ps4 soon.