The Indie Informer

I don’t know enough about the actual sport of cricket to be totally sure, but I don’t think this is how you’re supposed to play it. My first introduction in this title throws me into the maws of dinosaurs and ushers me through time to the manicured lawns of modern day. No matter the time period, Cricket Through the Ages‘ murderous humor takes center stage.

Admittedly, this is a game best played with a friend and I’ve only jumped in solo. However, it’s easy to imagine a night of uproariously silly deaths at the hands of a buddies’ cricket bat. Even if you are not a sports person and you don’t know the first thing about this bug-sounding game from across the pond, there are a lot of laughs to be had.

It’s difficult to boil the mayhem down to a unified gameplay explanation, but the mechanics are relatively simple. One button activates your designated character’s arm, sometimes, but not always, with a piece of sporting equipment attached. The early tutorial brilliantly sets the absurd tone and basic rules while tricking players into thinking they are just messing around with big toothy lizards.

Completing this, I unlock the next challenge and after that, the next. So, part of the drive to actually get through levels — if you want to call them that — is to see what on earth the game can have in store for me next.

Level structures largely sit on the framework of a cricket match — though with a lot more death involved than I suspect the real world counterpart has. But, again, I’m not an expert. I pick my team and face off against increasingly capable opponents on the field of battle.

I force my vagey defined figure’s arm to swing wildly by holding down the one button available to me and release the projectile by releasing the button. This is not a precise process. It’s not meant to be and that’s where most of the hilarity stems from. The opponent is equally unwieldy with the bat, leading to either a comedy of errors or a pretty impressive connection. The first scenario is where the game shines.

Accidentally whacking myself to death with whatever batting implement I’ve been granted — but still getting points because I took a nearby bird down with me — always earns a laugh. However, the game sometimes trips over its smile-inducing strength. Toward the end of levels, the computer challenger can actually feel really tough, leaving me to fail and repeat the same match over and over. The frustration sits at odds with the title’s inherent whimsy, but playing with two humans would likely wipe out this problem.

Whatever you were imaging when you saw the title Cricket Through the Ages, wipe it from your mind. The silly death simulator hitting today bears no resemblance. You really do have to play it to wrap your mind around the experience.