With Cricket 26 developer Big Ant Studios holding somewhat of a monopoly on the cricket videogame genre for more than a decade, fans of the world's second most popular sport have been crying out for some competition within the genre. The good news is that Don Bradman Cricket Jr has just been announced by Tru Blu Games. The bad news is that at first glance it seems less like a serious contender confidently striding to the crease, and more like a pitch-invader who's sprinting waywardly around the outfield for a brief bit of fun.
With chunky, cartoon visuals that look like they were created inside Roblox, Don Bradman Cricket Jr appears to be positioning itself as a sort of NBA Jam-esque take on the most beer-friendly of summer sports. The only problem is that Big Ant Studios already had a crack at more or less the same thing way back in 2018 with Big Bash Boom. It featured super-deformed versions of fully licensed BBL and WBBL squads, and packed pyrotechnics into every pull shot and Fortnite-inspired celebration dances for each wicket taken. It was a solid stab at transforming the notoriously complicated sport into a more pick-up-and-play proposition, with our review deeming it to be "a fun, flashy, family-friendly cricket game that’s a bit too light on features to make it a must buy." To date Big Bash Boom remains a one-off experiment, though, with Big Ant opting to focus on the roughly two-yearly cadence of its main simulation-style Cricket series.
In comparison, Don Bradman Cricket Jr is arriving eight years late and minus any official team or player licenses, beyond the inclusion of Australia's greatest ever batsman himself as an unlockable character. By completing a specific in-game challenge, players will apparently be able to drop the Don directly into the otherwise entirely generic Australian team, as well as gain access to a bonus minigame that recreates his famous knocking-a-golf-ball-into-a-water-tank-using-a-stump-fo-a-bat training exercise.
Elsewhere, Don Bradman Cricket Jr seems to be offering a fairly basic feature set, with unlicensed tournaments to play and a challenge mode to test your skills with, alongside split-screen support for two players. Not much is known about the actual gameplay, but the developers are promising that the experience of batting will ensure that "no two shots are ever truly the same." This despite the announcement trailer above seeming to show multiple versions of the same pull through mid-wicket.
Still, this could be a bit of fun for younger cricket fans when it arrives on PC, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, and Nintendo eShop. No release date has been given for Don Bradman Cricket Jr, however according to Tru Blu Games it's coming soon.