International Cricket Captain 2014: Review

Childish Things 2014’s International Cricket Captain 14

This is not your ordinary computer game. In fact, it barely qualifies as a ‘computer game’. To liken it to other cricket games such as EA Sports’ Cricket series or Don Bradman Cricket ‘14 or any other sports game (save Football Manager) would be disastrous and comical, for this game is as different from the aforementioned as chalk is from cheese.

Since it’s inception in 1998 as a university experiment undertaken out of boredom, the International Cricket Captain series has fallen under the unconventional ‘Sport Management Simulation’ genre and tends to a niche clientele, albeit an extremely fanatical clientele. International Cricket Captain only further reaffirms this stand with its supremely in-depth composition. Let’s look at the game in detail.

Statistics

Simply put, International Cricket Captain ‘14 is a game of three words: Statistics, numbers and figures.

The newest addition to this franchise has, believe it or not, even more in-depth statistics than the previous versions. From the batting and bowling averages - the simple; to bowling trajectories and second team records - the complex; to the preferences and salaries of 4000-odd players from all the top leagues in the world, precise fixture lists of every international and domestic team in the world synced with ICC’s official calendar - the outright mind-boggling; this game has more numbers than a Chinese telephone directory. While this is something the regulars of the franchise have become used to over the years, a tyro would be overwhelmed by the sheer quantity and unwavering quality of these numbers.

With this game, you can find out when Jigar Naik took his first fifer, whom Adam Zampa scored his only list-A fifty against or how many balls it took Yuzvendra Chahal to get his first Ranji Trophy scalp, without having to scour the internet in vain or try to get in touch with a cricket historian who is too cool to reply to your e-mail, not to mention have to be subjected to the infamy of being branded either socially awkward or retarded, possibly both.

On a more serious note, you will discover a host of things from Cricket Captain ’14 about your favourite players that you would not have known (but you should have known) earlier. Not only will this give you bragging rights to be X player’s ‘true and worthy fan’ (which you are not, in truth), it will also earn you oodles of veneration (and abuse from envy) for your wisdom and learnedness, and make you the toast of the geek side of town. All this from a computer game!

Cricket Captain ‘14 has a revamped statistical interface, as part of a more aesthetically pleasing game interface. Coupled with the new looks is a user-friendly statistical database, something the franchise has been guilty of not providing over the years. Now, understanding statistics is no longer an abstruse act, even to a tyro.

Gameplay

Out with the old, in with the new.

What Cricket Captain ’14 has undergone cannot be termed a mere face-lift, for, it is nothing short of a complete and radical makeover. Keeping in mind the adage “the first impression is the best impression”, Childish Things 2014 have made sure that the game impresses prima facie. No longer does the main menu look like Tally (thank God for that). The game interface is now just as good as any other game in the market, management simulation or otherwise. The graphics too have been substantially improved, with players now even managing to look a little like their real selves.

The ‘radical makeover’, however is not in the interface or the improved graphics, but in the new game engine. Never before has a management simulation game been so realistic. No longer can Samit Patel score a century and win you the league when you were following on only the previous day, no longer can Munaf Patel tough it out and last the last two days of that crucial Test match to save you the series, no longer can Parthiv Patel bowl you to IPL glory with a ten-wicket haul, for, Cricket Captain’14 is more real than Madrid.

Table-toppers are seldom knocked off their perch, relegation-battlers are seldom doing anything but scraping the floor, good batsmen are seldom dismissed cheaply, poor batsmen are seldom not dismissed cheaply, good bowlers are seldom wicket-less, mediocre bowlers are seldom boundary-less in Cricket Captain’14. Below are a few examples of the level of realism of the game.

(All screenshots have been taken with AI in command, and not the writer/player.)

This was me bowling against India (AI) and Rahul Dravid.

The discipline of James Anderson

The discipline of Ashish Nehra.

Commentary

Keeping in tune with the realism of the game, the commentator too minces no words in criticising the umpire for a wrong decision. However, commentary is otherwise extremely trite with Jonathan Agnew expressing his delight when the ball is hit for a boundary in nine different ways, expressing his ecstasy when the ball is hit for a six in six different ways, expressing his surprise when a batsman is bowled in five different ways and expressing various other emotions for various other dismissals in a grand total of ten different ways (all according to the writer’s calculations), making for thirty different lines of commentary.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with thirty different lines of commentary when playing one match or two matches or even five matches, but if you start playing this game on a regular basis, don’t be surprised if Agnew’s ”timing was the key” starts haunting you in your dreams.

Games modes

Cricket Captain '14 is best enjoyed the way it is meant to be enjoyed - playing the 'English Career' game mode. This game mode is the quintessential exponent of every feature of the game, and no other game mode facilitates a more thorough understanding of the nuances and intricacies of the game. With the youth system, promotion, relegation and the sui generis English county atmosphere, beware, for, this can get you hooked harder than Ricky Ponting against Darren Gough.

The ‘All-Time Greats Series’ emerges as my second favourite game mode. There’s everything to love about this game mode save one blip: the problem of plenty. One would never be satisfied while picking eleven Australian legends or Indian legends because he’d have to leave some titans out. While you can pick them for the next match, leaving them out of your squad for a game can give you guilt bites for days on end. Also, beware, for this game mode can mess with your brain. I, for example, have started believing that Lancashire’s Andrea Agathangelou is a reincarnation of Sir Don Bradman after seeing their eerily similar preferences.

The ‘Indian career’ game mode is easily the most disappointing, and does not capture the essence, the vibe, or even the general working of the IPL. Cricket Captain ’14 was initially designed for Test cricket, and remains a game for the longer format of the game. The game therefore, in my opinion, is not conducive to T20 cricket, and renders the IPL version a damp squib.

Since the game is niche, the online aspect hasn’t really kicked off.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for entertainment, or a way to pass your time, International Cricket Captain ’14 is certainly not the game for you. But if you’re looking for something thoroughly engaging, something incessantly riveting, something that can frustrate you, deprive you of sleep but also add purpose and light to your life, look no further than International Cricket Captain ’14. With it’s masses-targetting faceover, this may just be the new kid on the block of games that have revolutionised gaming.

Overall Rating: 8.6/10