Don Bradman Cricket 14 (0)

Overview

'Don Bradman Cricket 14' is a cricket sim developed by and published by . The and versions were released on April 3, 2014 in Australia and April 11 in Europe, with the PC version arriving on June 26th.

Visually upgraded Xbox One and PS4 versions of the game were released under the name 'Don Bradman Cricket' on Feb 11, 2015.

The game stands out from other cricket simulations as being the first to use dual joysticks on console controllers for both batting and bowling. It is also notable for having a fleshed out career game play mode that allows for player progression via the levelling up of skill stats.

Batting

• The left joystick controls foot movement, allowing the batsman to move in any direction to position themselves for a shot. A 'green' delivery indicates that a batsman should move forward to hit the ball while a 'red' delivery indicates they should go backward. 'Yellow' deliveries are best played by neither moving forward or back.
• The right joystick controls shot selection, allowing the batsman to play a full range of shots.
• Joypad trigger buttons determine a defensive (right trigger), aggressive (both triggers), or an airborne aggressive shot (left trigger).

Good foot movement and appropriate shot selection need to be combined with good timing of the shot for the shot to execute as desired.

Unlike other cricket simulation games, there is no fielding radar available while batting. Instead the game offers the batsman a momentary period ahead of each delivery where the batsman can go into a first person view to look around the field from where he is standing.

Bowling

• The left joystick controls swing, seam, cutter, and spin selections and is held down up until the point of delivery.
• When the bowler reaches delivery stride, a timed downward movement of the right joystick determines the landing point of the front foot, which is quickly followed by a second timed upward movement of the right joystick to determine the length of the delivery. If this upward movement is made slightly to the left or the right of center, this will influence the corresponding direction of the delivery.
• Failure to time the down movement correctly will result in a no ball. Failure to direct the delivery correctly will result in a wide ball.
• The right bumper button can be pressed to add extra speed to a delivery. Overuse of this feature will lead to bowler fatigue.

Career mode

In Career Mode, the objective is to guide a 16 year old batsman or bowler through a 20 year campaign, developing him into a great player who is selected to play for national Test and One Day teams.

Career player skills develop specifically in areas that are used both frequently and successfully. For example, if you bowl a perfect out swinger that clips the top of off stump, your away swing stat may increase slightly. Correspondingly, if you bowl an out swinger that ends up being a wide instead the swing stat may decrease.

Career mode allows each match to be AI-simulated until it is the turn of the career player to either bat or bowl.

BARS ( Big Ant Review System)

Umpiring decisions are occasionally incorrect and it is in these situations that the BARS review gameplay mechanic comes in to play. The player is given 10 seconds to challenge dismissals or appeals. Overturned decisions can often be critical to the flow of a game. However the player is only given two reviews per innings so they must be used wisely.