Unlike football, basketball or golf, cricket is a complicated game. It is because of this complicated nature that through the years many developers have tried hard but failed to capture the real essence of cricket into a video game.

Cricket being the most popular sport in our subcontinent, it is no surprise that the latest attempt on creating a cricket game comes from within the subcontinent itself. Pakistani independent developer Mindstorm Studios claim to have come up with a formula that brings the spirit of cricket right to your desktop.

The gameplay is pretty simple. Batting is done by pressing certain directional key combinations for different shots. A single tap of the down arrow makes the batsman play a forward defensive while a quick tap on either the left or right arrows just after pressing the down arrow makes the batsman work the ball on either side of the bowler. This system which uses directional key combinations allows for a wider range of shots than the direction + button control system featured in many cricket games. However, buttons for push, loft and slog can be pressed along with the directional keys to get the desired results. The same shot cannot be played over and over for a gap to be exploited as the adaptive AI will look to counter by setting fields to cover the areas where shots are played more often.

Footwork, timing and shot selection are key in getting bat on ball. A shot can be played only if the ball is in a certain area and if the ball is not in the correct area for the shot you have selected it will cause the batsman to miss the ball. When the batsman first comes to the crease, he will be in an unsettled state. Form can be built up by playing well timed shots and not missing or edging deliveries. The more the confidence of the batsman increases, the higher the settled level the batsman will achieve. Higher levels will enable the batsman to play more extravagant shots without missing. If the batsman is hit however, he goes into a rattled state for a number of deliveries. Within this period the timing suffers and the batsman becomes vulnerable. Therefore it is a good idea to get a hit batsman out of strike as quickly as possible. If a batsman manages to score 10 or more runs within the space of 3 deliveries, he goes into an ‘on fire’ state which improves the timing. This state can be continued as long as the scoring rate remains at over 10 runs in the last 3 deliveries.

There are 3 main types of batsman, being aggressive, balanced and defense. The main difference between these types come in the timing with aggressive batsman having better timing, but taking longer to reach the settled state and vice versa. Defensive batsmen also have better ability to place the ball than aggressive batsman.

Four types of bowlers are featured in the game, being fast bowlers, swing bowlers, off spinners and leg spinners. The spin, seam, swing and speed of the delivery has to be set up before the run up begins so that the player can focus on setting a good line and length during the run up. Making the batsman play a false shot or hitting the batsman fills the adrenaline meter of the bowler. When it reaches maximum, bowlers with high enough skill can bowl special deliveries to deceive the batsman. If you consistently bowl similar deliveries, the AI will adapt and play shots accordingly. However as in any cricket game, the bowling is somewhat tedious and the game does not offer an option to skip the bowling innings. Extensive tutorials for both batting and bowling are available in the net practice mode.

Cricket Revolution is a game optimized for online multiplayer and therefore doesn’t feature an extensive single player mode, offering only two game modes, a league and a knockout cup. Although national sides are featured in the game, there is no licensed content available which was to be expected. All teams have a quota of 160 skill points which can be allocated to the 11 players in the team in batting, bowling or fielding. Therefore, all teams in the game are equal and a player who elects to create his own customized national team won’t be at a disadvantage when competing for online leagues.

The graphics aren’t all that good but the player m0vements and the physics have been well recreated thanks to an extensive physics engine and motion captured animation. The sound effects are a bit disappointing being repetitive and the lack of commentary makes the gameplay seem a bit dull.

The biggest complain about the game however is its steep learning curve. You would expect a player to master the game to some degree before heading into multiplayer mode but the single player mode just does not allow enough depth for a player to get familiar with the gameplay while keeping thing interesting. Even after playing 10 or 15 matches on the easiest setting, you will still be struggling to post scores anywhere near as enough to win matches, which is frustrating and can somewhat ruin the enjoyment of the game.

It has to be said that in this day and age of real to life graphics and gameplay to match, Cricket Revolution does seem to be somewhat out of its league. However, the effort made by a sub continental developer probably working with a fraction of a budget of most development teams to capture the essence of a sport we all love has to be given praise and we hope to see bigger and better things from our neighbors in the future.

Image sources -

http://www.cricketrevolution.com
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