We have grown up smashing the likes of Wasim Akram and Curtly Ambrose and getting the better of Sachin and Brian Lara. No, these stories haven’t been scripted in the 22 yards but our computers. Over the years, we have played different computer games related to cricket. From the rivalries to the heart breaks, these games takes us back to the golden days. Even though compared to soccer, cricket games have been fewer in numbers, but that didn’t stop us from anticipating a better experience every year. Let us go down the memory lane and have a look at different cricket pc games so far.
1. Don Bradman cricket 2014 :
It’s a hardcore cricket fan’s delight, and should keep you entertained for years. The best thing about this game is that you can create any player of your choice and save them to the cricket academy, while any of your friend can go to the academy and hire the particular player to play in their respective matches. You can create and add umpires of your choice, at the same time build a new stadium of your wish. The Career mode in Don Bradman 2014 is as exciting as it can get, including tournaments, tours, career and practice. It allows you to create and customize your own player of choice, from attributes to looks and accessories. Your objective would be to mentor your player through 20 cricketing seasons and become a legend of the game. Gamers can play games both online and offline, and save them respectively. The main feature of this game is the introduction of hotspots, hawk-eye and snicko meter, you can question the umpire decision twice in a match if you think that the batsman is out. Now players will have the opportunity to influence the decision made by the umpire by choosing to either stand ground, or walk away to the pavilion, creating an impact on the umpire’s mind.
2. Ea Cricket 2007:
EA Cricket 2007 had surprised the gamers with its features. Most of the cricket lovers have tried their hands on this edition. You will enjoy the background songs as well as the graphics. The installation is straight forward and usual EA Sports setup. Now, on to the game play. This surprisingly is a lot better than any of the earlier editions. EA Sports Cricket 2007 comes with many different game modes which ensure replay ability. Apart from the usual ones like The Ashes, World Cup and World Series, you can take part in the fully licensed version of Twenty-20 Cricket. This game introduces a range of bats from brands like Gray-Nicolls, Kookaburra, Puma and Slazenger. The teams for Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand are fully licensed. You need to put a little effort and edit your hero’s name say from Dhenier to Dhoni. You can change field positions by opting for custom fielding. Even though there are certain limitations, but you can test the craft of the batsman with your strategies. The best part is switching to Ashes scenario. You can witness the short videos of 2005 Ashes series and challenge yourself to repeat the same. The practice nets are really helpful. One can fine tune their technique and timings during off-season. Developed and published by EA Sports. The minimum requirements for the game to run easily on your computer are Windows XP or Vista, 2 Ghz Pentium processor, 2.5 GB hard disk space, 1 GB RAM, GeForce 6800 or Radeon X1600 graphics card.
3. Ashes 2009:
This game is a tribute to the historic rivalry between Australia and England. Ashes offers five-day, five-match tests between Australia and England using the current real-world player roster; Test matches features the same five-day matches as Ashes mode but lets you choose from 12 competing nations; One Day International (ODI) is a slimmed-down version of Test cricket with 50 overs of play per team; and 20 Overs, the most recent addition to the sport, this game user-friendly and helps you compete with delight. You can choose the difficulty level and feel the real-time experience. Online you’ll be able to test your skills in both friendly and ranked matches in the various disciplines. A distinct lack of online players means you might be searching for a while to find a game, but once you do, the experience runs smoothly. Raising the game difficulty increases the precision required for you to hit the effective part of your accuracy meter as the zone shrinks in size considerably. While the bowling mechanics are simple and you’ll be up and putting your bowls down the pitch with ease, there’s also subtlety to be found here. Deliveries that swing towards or away from batsmen have different cursor types to the basic straight and slow balls. You can keep a check on player’s stamina apart from mental set up. With a good timing of the ball, the confidence if the batsman if increase and vice versa. Timing is important in this edition of the game, and that makes it interesting. Swinging too early will leave your stumps exposed, while going late will see you edging shots and risking being caught. Players stand around with the ball in hand rather than making timely returns to the keeper, and the frustrating part is the leg-before-wicket decisions, which are given even when the ball pitches outside the line and clearly won’t go on to hit the stumps. Batsmen makes clear calls of “no” even for obvious fours and sixes, and unstopped overthrows can cause the ball to get stuck midair as players path to it and circle with confusion at being unable to pick it up. Licensing of the official Hawk-Eye ball-tracking system is a good inclusion, but its excessive and often irrelevant use, such as after fours and for catches, feels shoehorned in. Only the two Ashes teams (Australia and England) are fully licensed, and you need to be passionate enough to get down to editing your favourite team. Apart from certain visual problems and game play effects, this is will go handy with the cricket lovers. With the Ashes on stake, you better grab with both hands. The game has been developed and published by codemasters. The minimum requirements for the game to run easily on your computer are Windows XP or Vista, 2 Ghz Pentium processor, 2.5 GB hard disk space, 1 GB RAM, GeForce 6800 or Radeon X1600 graphics card
4. Brian Lara International Cricket 2007:
This version is comparatively easy but a little cold because of the lack of game modes. Batting is done using a combination of button and control stick movements The game has four levels of difficulty. Compared to the other versions, this game is little on the easier side when it comes to game play. Bowling is similarly easy. The location the ball will first land on the pitch is set using the left stick, while a power meter that rises as a bowler approaches is used to determine pace. Bowlers can also shift the direction of a ball in midair to further rattle a batsman, although the size of the shift depends on the skill levels of individual bowlers. You’ll need to press the appropriate button while the meter is at its middle to ensure a catch sticks or a throw back to the stumps is straight above the bails. The meter itself moves rather quickly–sometimes too quickly to be able to react in time. You can join or set up friendly games online and display your skills. It’s pretty easy to trap a batsman for LBW , and expect umpiring howlers. Brian Lara cricket is good platform to enjoy the game within its limitations. Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 is a cricket computer game from Codemasters available on PlayStation 2, PC and Xbox 360. It is endorsed by West Indian cricketer Brian Lara. This game has been developed and published by codemasters,Glu Mobile. Platforms : Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable
5. Stick Cricket:
Moving a little away from mainstream titles, here is one flash game you wouldn’t want to miss as a cricket lover. It stresses on the batting aspect of the sport, it presents simple and swift gameplay requiring you to achieve runs-based objectives Despite being a flash game, Stick cricket will satisfy you to the core. The game play is just like N Power flash cricket. You can play the game on your pc by visiting its website, or you can head to Facebook and try your hands on this exciting game. Stick Sports is an Adobe Flash sports gaming website. Their first game, Stick Cricket, was developed originally by Cann Creative, a company from Sydney, Australia.