All Star Baseball 2003
Reviews
| Sports games have been around for a long time on consoles, dating back
to the Atari. Over the years, they have evolved in all areas. Basketball
games began to have better ai that plays great defense and real ball
physics. Football games have more detailed models and individual players run
their routes just like they do in real life. Baseball games, however, just
didn't cut it. Sure, there were a few that were ok, but none until now.
Welcome, baseball fans, to the first baseball game worthy of your hard
earned cash! Graphics-9/10 The graphics in ASB2K3 finally look like they are on a next-gen system. Gone are the ugly player faces and incorrect stances/windups. You can now tell who someone is just by his face! The only gripe with the graphics is, is that with all the effort making the graphics great is all aspects, the players throwing still look a little bit odd. Also, some of the players don't really look like their real life counterparts at all. But this is just nitpicking. No slowdown during gameplay and the models are impressive. Stadiums look so real you'll think you have seats behind home plate! Gameplay-10/10 Incredible. Awesome. Spectacular. Outstanding. What other words to describe this. Pitchers have the pitches they use in real life and they all move realistically. They move to the plate realistically also. You'll be fooled when looking for a fastball but you get the change-up. The bat hitting the ball is very real. The cursor batting system is very well, as it adds that strategic sense that baseball has. High Heat just has you swing, which is not what baseball is all about. You need to know location, the pitch, how the pitch moves, etc. You can always turn it off, though. We've got all the modes you can think of, even Franchise. 20 seasons of building a dynasty and making Hall of Famers out of scrubs. Even the bats break when batting! Sound-9/10 Commentary is quite good and doesn't get that stale. The only gripe is that sometimes everyone is quiet, saying nothing at all. You hear the crowd cheering when the game is close, and booing when the visiting slugger blasts one deep into the starlit night. It's all here, and it's all real. Extras-10/10 You've got cards to collect. Homerun Derby lets you take your slugger and go for the longball. Trivia lets you and a friend duke it out and see who really is the baseball mastermind. You can build a dynasty in Franchise mode, something High Heat is missing, practice your batting, or just play a simple exhibition game. Replay Value/Lasting Appeal- 10/10 You'll want to play this game for a long time. A word of caution, however. This game is not for those who are looking for arcade style baseball. This is total sim. Games take around 45 minutes to an hour. You see it all. Pitchers coming from the pen, mascots dancing on the dugout, ejections, stepping out of the box, everything. Players are dominant just as in real life. Clemens will blow the heater right by you while Randy Johnson will strike fear in your eyes when you step into the box. This isn't Triple Play, homeruns are not every other at bat. This isn't World Series Baseball, the game has effort put into it. It isn't a cheap knock off of baseball, it's the real thing. Final word: If one line could be said to describe ASB2003, it would be what Sammy Sosa said for High Heat Baseball. ''It's So REEEEEAAAALLL!'' |
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| Reviewer's Score: 10 / 10 | ||