Gladiator Kricket

If nothing else, mobile games can be mightily educational.

Who knew that - rather than originating from England's green and pleasant land - cricket was actually first played by the Romans, with competitors facing off against lions, and balls shrouded in flames?

It's almost as shocking a revelation as the news that the Eurovision Song Contest began life in Pete Waterman's garden, as a cheap way for the pop impresario to divest himself from Sinitta's unused back catalogue.

Gladiator Kricket could be described as a game designed to honour the roots of England's third (or fourth) most popular sport.

Or it could be called 'freaking nuts'. Either way, it's not without merit.

That's because it intentionally keeps things simple.

Strip away the fictitious setting and what's on offer is a game that focuses on your ability to hit sweet shot after sweet shot.

Batting is the solitary role on offer in Gladiator Kricket, with the idea being to hit a set points target from a limited number of balls.

As you can't move from the spot, the one and only factor that determines both the direction of your shots and just how far they fly is your timing.

The cleaner the hit (instigated by tapping the '5' key), the farther the ball will travel, with runs automatically added to your total in groups of one, two, and three, or if you reach or fly past the boundaries, four and six.

If that all sounds fairly run-of-the-mill, Gladiator Kricket does attempt to deviate from the traditional cricketing path when it comes to rules.

Balls that have been set alight, for instance, can kill you if you mistime your swing, while being bowled out will see you set upon with a hammer and reduced – quite literally – to dust.

Play for any length of time, however, and you'll more than likely wonder why this approach wasn't extended in other areas to lend Gladiator Kricket a greater level of distinction and identity.

Fielders – or, more precisely, slaves – that drop a catch are cruelly disposed of with an arrow, but the animation that results is a token gesture, given that the player does return to the field in time for the next ball.

If there was some way of targeting the opposition, or bringing about their downfall in a typically barbarous manner, then a subtle but smart strategic layer might successfully lift Gladiator Kricket above its unashamedly modest take on the sport.

Still, by sticking rigidly to its formula from start to finish, the game plays out its intended role as a time filler admirably.

Gladiator Kricket thus earns the rare accolade of being a sports sim that's both entirely logical and utterly ridiculous all at the same time.