I have to admit, when I first heard of Cricket: Jae’s Really Peculiar Game, I spent quite a while wondering what would be so peculiar about a game of cricket. I imagined bowling with hand grenades, for instance, or any number of similarly silly scenarios.
However, once I started playing, it turns out that Cricket: Jae’s Really Peculiar Game from PM Studios has absolutely nothing to do with the dull bat and ball sport . No, what this is is a hand animated RPG, tipping nods to the classics of the genre. Sounds much more interesting than the sport…
First up is perhaps the most vital part of any RPG, the story of the game. Without a narrative, an RPG will fall flat on its face. Luckily, the story here is not only quite engaging, but is revealed part by part, keeping us guessing until the very end.
We play as Jae, the titular character, and it turns out that Cricket is his mother’s nickname for him. However, in a sad twist, his mother has passed away, and Jae is pretty much left to fend for himself. He does have a sister, but she has sodded off to university, leaving Jae alone. Luckily he has a best friend, Zack, who helps to make sure he is okay. So, what starts off as a fairly simple quest to obtain flowers to place on his mother’s grave soon turns into a wacky adventure, as he attempts to bring his mother back. Can this be achieved, or is it a pipe dream? The only way to find out is to play through, but you won’t be getting any spoilers here.
Cricket: Jae’s Really Peculiar Game is quite appealing in how it is presented, with a pleasing hand drawn look to the graphics. Both Jae and Zack, and the rest of the characters they meet on their journey, are pretty well designed, and while some of the enemies are nothing short of daft (being attacked by flowers and sharks who can not only walk on land, but work in a factory? I’ll have a pint of what they’ve had!) but the animation, both in the battle scenes and in the general overworld is very well done. With many different biomes to explore, from a forest to a bunch of sewers, there is a lot to see.
The sound of the game is also pretty good, with the battle effects being exactly as you’d expect, especially with the characters coming armed with such eclectic weapons as a rake or a road cone. The music is also very nice, and while the parts where Jae is thinking about his mum seem to come across as overly maudlin, the rest matches the action on screen. The story is presented largely through the medium of text boxes, but the characters do utter the odd word here and there, which adds to the realism. As realistic as you can expect from a game where squirrels in helmets are a foe, anyway!
If you have ever played an RPG before, you’ll be instantly at home with what Cricket: Jae’s Really Peculiar Game offers up. The action is split into two sections, exploration and combat, and I’ll deal with each separately.
Starting with the exploration, we can pretty much go where we want in the main part of the game, and exploring off the beaten track will bring rewards. The things we can find appear to be in biscuit tins abandoned on the ground, which can contain healing items or money; the in-game currency. Running about the place, means that enemies will pop in the field, but whether you choose to engage and kick some flowery butt, or decide discretion is the better part of valour and avoid them, is totally your call. However, getting stronger by fighting is normally a good tactic in any RPG, and so it proves here.
When you decide to engage in combat, it is primarily a turn based experience, with a little bit of a twist. The twist is that you can press the A button, when attacking or being attacked, and if you match the input to the on screen prompt, then you do increased damage or take reduced damage. Obviously, the timing is different for each attack and for each enemy, but this soon becomes second nature, and serves to keep you engaged in the battle.
You can also use a “Tide” bar that builds up as you do regular attacks, in order to do more damage, and best of all, if you hold down the LT button, the game will go into slow motion, making the timing of the button presses even easier. Add into the mix different team attacks that can be pulled off with two of your team mates, and the scene is set for an interesting battle experience.
With a host of weapons to find and buy, lots of fun to be had fighting and an engaging, heart felt story to follow, Cricket: Jae’s Really Peculiar Game comes with a lot to recommend. It’ll certainly keep you playing, as the silly plot and enemies add to the charm of the game.
If you fancy an RPG, then you could do a lot worse than spend time with Cricket: Jae’s Really Peculiar Game.
Cricket: Jae’s Really Peculiar Game Hits Xbox with a Touch of JRPG Magic – https://www.thexboxhub.com/cricket-jaes-really-peculiar-game-hits-xbox-with-a-touch-of-jrpg-magic/
Buy this Really Peculiar Game from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/cricket-jaes-really-peculiar-game/9n9v3x852nhg
