All-Star Baseball 2002

"Ouch..."

I never thought that this would happen, I mean, seriously. The past Acclaim All-Star baseball games to hit the streets were great, great graphics (especially for the 64), gameplay, and number of options. But this one, it just disappointed me.

Graphics: 8/10

I have to admit, the graphics for this game were quite good, even though I bet they could've been better, considering this is the Nintendo Gamecube, and, after seeing Resident Evil, you notice Acclaim kinda lacked in this department. Before you say ''Well they aren't the same type of game'' I say ''Yeah, I know, it's just the point that Capcom seemed to harness the power of the Gamecube more.

Sound: 8/10

The sound was OK, there isn't much to say about ''sound'' for a baseball game, but it worked. The smack of the bat was good, the ball hitting the glove was good, the crowd noise was OK. Not to mention the commentary wasn't overly-annoying.

Gameplay: 3/10

This is where the game flew out of the window, I mean, jeez. The batting is hard, considering you only see the pitching cursor BEFORE and AFTER the pitch, I suggest using easy batting, and that takes all the fun out of the game. Among other flaws, there is the stupid game flaws. Such as the ball not even getting close to the player's glove, and they somehow catch it. The pitching is quite stupid, considering the number of pitches for each pitcher vary GREATLY, I personally think that's stupid! I know I sound stupid by saying this, but I found the menus quite hard to navigate, it took me a good 5 minutes to find the ''Start Season'' option.

Multi-player: 4/10

It's not like the multi player makes the gameplay any better, it just, makes the game worse times two!

Some peripherals: 1/10

This pretty much doesn't apply, but did they really need to make the game take up so much memory? The game just disappoints.

Controls: 2/10

Usually I'm a person that tends to pick up a game, and attempt to learn the controls that way. It doesn't work let me tell you that, it's hard to figure out how to run, bunt, steal, pick-off...everything that's important in the game of baseball, is hard to find out how to do in this game. Referring to the Instruction Manual to figure out the controls seemed to make me feel like a failure...

Rent or Buy:

Rent, if you dare to waste your precious $5, it's not much, let me tell you that, and if you buy it, shame on you!

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/01/02, Updated 02/08/03