Right off the bat, Smashtastic is not a new Cricket mobile game. In fact, I have literally been playing it for more than half a decade. That’s a long time to hold onto a mobile game. However, we recently reviewed both Retro Bowl and Retro Goal and received such a positive reception from our readers that we decided to dig into the archives and review some of our favourite mobile sports game.
This led me straight to Smashtastic, as it’s probably the mobile game I’ve poured the most hours into over the years.
What drives me to Smashtastic Cricket is the arcade style of gameplay. There are a lot of Cricket games in the app store (A LOT), but many of them tend to take themselves too seriously. They opt for style and graphics over fun and whimsy.
What Smashtastic does so well is provide that wholesome arcade style of gameplay, while giving you a solid batting simulator underneath. Additionally, the game is smart enough to increase the difficulty of the gameplay as you perform better.
Let’s dig into this a little more and find out why Smashtastic is our go to Cricket mobile game. Here is our Smashtastic Review.
Smashtastic Gameplay & Controls
I’ll kick things off with HOW to play, before running you through what you can play.
Smashtastic Cricket has a very simple control mechanism. Essentially, you just swipe your finger in the direction you’d like to hit it. If you want to hit it along the ground, you swipe short and slow. If you’d like to try and nail a 6, you’ll need to swipe fast and long. It’s the simplicity of the controls that make it a joy to play. In addition, you can swipe anywhere along the screen, without being restricted to a ‘faux’ thumbstick in the bottom left or right corner. This is something I very much enjoy.
Prior to facing a delivery, you’ll be told what type of bowler you’re about to face. I.e. pace, medium, or spin. In the bottom right corner of the screen you’re presented with the oppositions fielding positions. Here, you’ll be able to decide what shots are safe and which are fraught with danger. This is an element of modern, high performing console games such as Cricket 19 (and soon to be Cricket 22), which I feel could be greatly improved. In Smashtastic Cricket, these little touches really add to the experience.
Prior to each ball, and in addition to the bowler description, you’ll be shown your current “Stamina”. This is a very important stat. Your Stamina will dictate your odds of getting out. If your Stamina is in the green, your player is unlikely to make a false stroke. If it’s in the orange, or god forbid – the red, your player is vulnerable to getting out. Balancing your stamina bar, while maintaining a high run-rate, is the key to your success. You can do this by blocking a ball, or getting off strike. Hitting big 6’s and 4’s will drain your stamina the fastest.
The quality of your batter and your ability to make high scores is dependent on how you level up your skills. We’ll explain this more in the next section.
Unlike other Cricket arcade games, you are still playing with a second batsmen. Although, you don’t get to control your other team members. All this means for you is that you’ll be turning over the strike at the end of the over or if you score a 1 or a 3. Sometimes your teammate might not be able to do the same for you, so this can impact your ability to score throughout the innings. This is something you should be wary of.
Smashtastic Career Options
Smashtastic Cricket only has the one gameplay option – career mode.
Career mode starts you off as a batsmen with very few attributes. As a result of your attributes being low, your ability to make runs and hit good, safe shots is limited.
The attributes available are: Hitting, Power, Fitness & Spirit.
After scoring runs in a game, you will earn Experience Points which allow you to level up your attributes.
You earn experience for: Runs Scored, Smash Bonus, Victory Bonus & Mr Cricket XP.
Naturally, the better you perform, the more experience you’ll receive. Each time your level increases, you’ll be rewarded by upgrading one of your attributes by +1. You’ll also receive extra rewards for making it to 50, 100, 150, 200 etc. It won’t take long before your batter will be smashing 6’s all over the park!
Your career will begin by choosing one of 8 Australian best T20 teams. These teams are more or less parodies of the Australian Big Bash comps. Australian domestic teams are the only ones available. After you choose your domestic team, you will then select your international team.
You can choose from Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka or the West Indies.
You begin by playing solely for your domestic side in the Big Smash League. As you progress, and your skills and scoring becomes stronger, you’ll be selected for International duties. These will includes World Series & World Cup fixtures. By winning tournaments you will receive big boosts to your experience, helping you level your stats up faster.
Is Smashtastic Free?
Smashtastic absolutely provides a free option. The free option has ads as well as a cap on the number of seasons your career can run. Smashtastic Cricket offers a paid option, Beastmode, which will set you back $3.99. The Beastmode upgrade will unlock the following features:
- Career is extended to 20 seasons
- Unlocks World Cup in all careers
- +20% XP Bonus from every game
- +10 to all Skill Points for all careers
- Removes all ads from the game
I purchased the Beastmode option and I can say it was absolutely worth it. Not having ads, and being able to play through 20 seasons was a great reward. You’ll likely find that 20 seasons will last you quite some time. On my most recent playthrough, my career has spanned for 2-3 months.
Final Thoughts
Smashtastic Cricket is without a doubt the best arcade Cricket game available on mobile devices. The game is cheap, easy to play and will provide you with weeks, if not months, of entertainment. You can find Smashtastic Cricket in both the App Store & Google Play.
