From the same company that produced Pokerama, which got recently acquired by Ubisoft, comes Howzat, a new browser-based multiplayer online cricket game that aims to put the “social” back into Cricket games. After opening beta late last year, the online game has already built up a small but rapidly growing fanbase. With social games taking the world by storm in recent years, it is not surprising that the creators of Howzat fashioned the game to connect to Facebook and to allow players to keep track of their scores and challenge online friends.

Howzat combines both player-controlled batting and bowling with a team management system, and this is what makes it stand out from other cricket games. Players are able to build their own team and customise according to their playing style – from the colours of the difference parts of their kit, to their skills as a bowler, batsmen, or fielder with the use of experience points.

Howzat Game Mechanics

Game Ventures did an excellent job at simplifying the usually complex game of cricket into something that is easily understood and grasped by even those unfamiliar with the game. The team management features are simple enough: win experience points by completing games and these can be used to strengthen the various attributes of your players. You are given complete control over the customization of the players; from their names, to their skill level, as well as style of bowling and which hand they will use to bat or bowl.

The mechanics of batting is pretty simple and easy to understand, but perfecting it is another thing altogether. Whether or not you will successfully hit the ball will depend on the direction of where you choose to swing, as well as the accuracy of timing in which you swing. The game is pretty forgiving here, but for new players who do not have much experience with the controls, it can take a while before you are ready to challenge the more hardcore players. Thankfully, there is a practice mode provided where you can practice your batting until you are ready to play against others.

What caught my attention was the bowling. Howzat implements a very interesting and unique method of bowling that offers detailed but comprehensive bowling options. Simply pick where you want to bowl to and then select the spin and speed of the ball on a rather innovative circular gauge. It gives just enough controls to make bowling fun, but not too much that the player is overwhelmed by its complexity.

Fielding is done automatically with little customization other than for five seconds to choose between three different formations between innings – the rest are done by the players on field in accordance to their skill level previously allocated using experience points. The introduction of more field customizations such as wind direction and more field formations that would greatly improve gameplay during bowling and batting and make the game much more challenging.

How Social is Howzat?

In terms of social gaming, , Howzat has yet to fully bring out the “social” aspect of gaming. There is definitely a lot more that can be done, but considering how new the game is, the team has has an impressive job thus far. Currently, there is little interactions between opponents during matches simply because there is very little time to say much of, well, anything. Gameplay moves too fast to allow for long extended conversation, leaving room only for the occasional comment hastily typed between bowling or batting.

Howzat also has yet to implement many features that would fully utilize Facebook Connect. For now, posting your score on your Facebook wall is all you can do. The game lobby leaves players wanting, lacking features that enables players to directly converse with Facebook friends and to keep track of them. Improvements in these areas would definitely invite more users to try out Howzat. However, considering that Howzat is still only in beta phase, it has enough features to keep players playing for now.

The makers behind Howzat have taken an interesting approach, by making the game standalone, rather than purely a Facebook game. While we understand that this strategy helps in integrating with many social networks, there are some minor kinks that we realized. For example, Howzat’s method of registration can result in a friend’s username not necessarily being their Facebook username, making it confusing if players intend to play the game with Facebook friends. Also, there are little other things that one can do other than to play one-on-one matches. The addition of tournaments and competitions will give players incentive to stay playing Howzat for a longer time in the long run. So far, Howzat has already confirmed the introduction of more customizations and virtual goods as well as privileges and game enhancing items later on, but until they do so, Howzat remains a single-match multiplayer game.

Final Verdict

Altogether, Howzat is a pretty interesting game and one that stands out among other social games available. The gameplay is appealing enough and captivating enough to keep the cricket enthusiast busy for hours. We are confident that the Game Ventures team will be improving the social-ness of the game and till then, we’ll be keep our eyes and ears peeled for more interesting updates.