EA Cricket 10 review

Damien McFerran

We review EA Cricket 10, a one-thumb cricket game that'll have even non-cricket fans hooked

Published on Sep 10, 2009

With England’s triumphant Ashes victory fresh in the mind, EA Cricket 10 couldn’t have arrived at a more opportune time.

However, to assume that the game is likely to sell by the truckload purely because the nation is in the grip of cricket fever is doing it an injustice; despite the fact that it’s a humble mobile phone game, this is easily one of the best representations of the sport we’ve yet witnessed on any platform.

EA’s home console sports releases have gained a reputation over the years for being feature-packed affairs and EA Cricket 10 is no exception. First off, there’s an extensive tutorial mode which will ease you gently into the various control schemes that permeate the rest of the game.

Once you’ve attained your preferred level of confidence you can step up to the crease and enter one of the various competition modes, including a one-off friendly match, a World Cup championship and even a challenge mode, which features several short mini-games that are ideal for mobile play.

As you might expect, the actual game is made up of three different segments. Battling is easily the most entertaining as it involves hitting the ball long distances. Bowling is almost as much fun, thanks to the ability to tailor each throw and keep your rival batsman on his toes. Finally there’s fielding, which is traditionally viewed as the least desirable job on a cricket pitch, yet still manages to entertain here.

All of these sections are built around a very similar control method which involves stopping a power bar at the correct moment. It’s a system that has been used in countless other EA sports titles – most notably the PGA Tour series – and the one-button control scheme works like a dream on the mobile phone format (which traditionally lacks precise joysticks or dedicated button layouts).

For example, taking the perfect swing whilst battling requires you to stop the moving marker in the green area of the power bar; this will result in a clean, accurate shot. Conversely, if you happen to get it in the red zone then you can expect to be making the lonely trek back to the stands, because your shot is going to be a poor one.

There are other options that change the way you bat, too. For example, you can select your player’s disposition before the bowler even releases the ball. A passive stance will result in a conservative swing which is unlikely to go for a six but will at least prevent you from being caught out. An aggressive playing style will encourage your character to attack the next ball. This is obviously going to result in a good run tally if the shot is successful, but it’s harder to master the power bar in these situations as the green zone shrinks slightly.

Bowling also comes with additional choices to customise your game; you can add various degrees of spin to the ball as well as being able to select where you’d like it to bounce. All of the interface options present in the game strike a neat balance between risk and reward; if you want to perform well and truly outplay your opponent, you’ll need to turn up the pressure every now and then.

Considering EA Cricket 10 relies on the use of just one action button it offers a truly incredible degree of depth and realism. The fact that this superb setup is enforced by some astonishingly robust game modes makes the experience even sweeter; even if you loathe the sport of cricket and would rather watch paint dry than spend a day at Lords, this is an almost essential download for your mobile.