Don Bradman Cricket 14: Release Date, Features and Game Preview

Cricket's most legendary figure is coming to PS3 and Xbox 360 with the imminent release of Don Bradman Cricket 14.

Bradman adds his name to the list of greats, including Brian Lara, Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting, who have had their own video games.

But as The Don's iconic status eclipses all others in cricketing history, this release will have to be quite something to live up to its name.

The trailer below offers a brief insight into what to expect from the game:

Release Date

April 11, 2014 (UK), April 3, 2014 (NZ and Australia)

Features and Preview

The game has spent nearly five years in development by Big Ant Studios, and a deal with publisher HES has insured a wide distribution.

As reported on PlanetCricket.net, HES managing director Sebastian Giompaolo promised a revolution in cricket gaming with a raft of unique features:

"

Don Bradman Cricket 14 will deliver the most realistic gameplay and promises to be the greatest cricket game of all time.

The comprehensive 20 year career mode and plethora of features including access to community generated players and teams through the Cricket Academy that will provide endless hours of enjoyment of cricket both off and on the field.

"

The table below outlines the game's features, which include the ability to pause and save games in progress online, making the playing of a full Test match online a viable option for the first time in a cricket game. 

Career Mode	Take a player through the ranks
Unique Batting and Bowling Controls	Full 360 shot delivery and no pitch markers
Fully Featured Fielding System	Allows for full control in the field
Ball Physics	Realistic edges and ball movement off players
Appeal and Electronic Reviews	Challenge the umpire for the first time
Practice Nets	Allows practice outside of matches
The Cricket Academy	Customise teams, players, competitions, etc.
Online Save System	Continue matches at will online

The full career mode is also a cricket gaming first, per PlanetCricket.net, and allows the player to take a young cricketer through to the upper echelons of international T20, one-day and Test cricket.

Further revolutions come in the batting and bowling department. Shot control is possible to every area of the ground while it offers the ability for line and length delivery without the need for pitch markers.

The latter point solves a perennial cricket-gaming conundrum in which pitch markers always used to show the batsman the exact line and length of the delivery before it left the bowler's hand.

While in the majority of previous cricket games the most satisfactory pursuit has been in batting due to its greater variety, Don Bradman Cticket 14 makes the bowling function a much more varied and challenging discipline.

Associated Press

Even the fielding is in the hands of the player, as is the ability to refer umpire decisions in the style of the modern-day game.

While Bradman is the only officially licensed player in the game, the developers have managed to get round this by cleverly allowing the gaming community to create players for them via a PC app.

A total of 25,000 players have already been created, per PlanetCricket.net, all of which will be available for download by all users.

Meanwhile, only the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Bradman Oval are licensed stadiums on the game. 

After the debacle of Ashes Cricket 2013 last summer, which was taken off sale after it was plagued by glitches, per BBC News, it looks as though this is finally a cricket game to get excited about.