"Microsoft and Baseball.....Pure Americana"

Microsoft and baseball, two words that seem American as apple pie. On one hand is THE biggest software companies ever on the other a game played by Legends. It should seem fitting that That a company that sells millions of games every year would take the plunge and create a baseball game. Well, they did, in Microsoft Baseball 2001. Maybe next time they'll just eat some warm apple pie.

GRAPHICS

I usually leave graphics for later and really get down and concentrate on gameplay, that's a lot more important in my book. However, I really think that the graphics in this game should be looked at. Actually, I think they really shouldn't. MS01 is probably the ugliest sports game I have ever played in my entire life. Now don't get me wrong, when you first start up the game the Presentation is absolutely gorgeous. Menu's are clean, crisp, and very detailed. Everything is organized and just looks well down. The problem is that you don't get to play the actual game in the menus. What it seems like is that Microsoft wanted to make a game like Baseball Mogul, where the player simms through the games and makes managerial decisions. The moment you start a game you will know exactly what I mean. The players are flat and have no detail whatsoever. The only thing that is worse than how the players look, is how they look running. The stadiums look and feel like a child's creation from the Paintbrush program. One bright spot is that the stat boxes that pop up during the game look as good as the menus.

SOUND

Well I kind of felt bad ripping the game right off the bat, so I'm going to a part of the game I felt was very good. There is a bit of menu music and what is there sounds very well done. It's a nice little diddy that is forgettable, but not unenjoyable. The overall commentary is done by a single guy and keeps it simple. He basically just does the play by play. Personally I like this approach as you won't get annoyed for commentators to repeat over and over the same thing. As for the sound effects, I thought they were pretty well done. You can obviously tell a hard hit ball from a soft liner.

GAMEPLAY

Let's get right down to the nity gritty. I hate baseball games that have a little cursor, which this game does. You must before a pitch lands in the catcher's glove, move your cursor over to where the ball is going to go through the strike zone. I have never like this approach to hitting because you spend so much time moving a little picture around that you forget that you are playing a game for enjoyment.

Outside of the cursor, the game plays relatively solid. You can use a keyboard, joystick, or gamepad to do everything you need to do. The keyboard is a bit more tricky since it uses keys you wouldn't think would normally be used. Example is D is to swing and throw, S is to lead off or pick off. That is one positive though, the layout is very simple and all on the left side of the keyboard. You shouldn't find yourself overwhelmed with the layout.

Now if you do feel you want to try to baseball mogul approach, you may or more not be disappointed. The game uses a letter system for player's attributes. Once again my preference is to use numbers. What exactly does an A+ in Power mean? What would the difference be between Carlos Beltran and Barry Bonds be if one is an A and the other an A+…it's just really hard to tell. Since after a while, new created players and thrown into the mix, you'll have to base it off their ratings.

So what do you get for your efforts of playing baseball…..nothing. Most games for a long while have recognized that players tend to like to get something for playing their 162 game season outside of a congratulations screen. There are no unlockables in this game and no create a player….sorta. If you have commissioner mode on, then you can edit players to how you like…so you can kind of create a player.

OVERALL

This game doesn't absolutely nothing to create any type of fan base with it's terrible graphics and lackluster gameplay. There is no reason why anyone should think that they have a superior product of that season or to think of picking it up to see what the game felt like. Stick with current year ball games and avoid the horrible mistakes of the past.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/11/04