All-Star Baseball 2003

"A pretty good game, solid, man"

This is my first baseball game for the Game Cube and it's definitely something that grows on you. When first playing the game, you'll find it almost impossible to hit the ball, but give yourself some time to get used to it and you'll really appreciate the skill it takes to be good at this game. I was looking for a GC baseball game that leaned more toward a sim and not arcade type of gameplay, and I'm happy with my choice. However, if you like to hit lots of home runs you'll find plenty of that in this game too. After a few hours on the Rookie level you'll be smashing homers left and right. The difficulty levels in the game are:Rookie, Veteran,and AllStar(there is also a manage only option,if that's your bag). My main concerns with the game lie mostly with fielding the ball;basically if you're within a five foot radius of the ball you're gonna catch it. I just wished they'd spent a bit more time on the animations to make the fielder's catch the ball in their glove and not just have it disappear/reappear in their gloves. Also you'll notice things like a fielder on second base turning to home plate and throwing to first base. The diving in this game is weird too, a lot of times you'll be diving for a ball just before it hits the ground and your fielder will act like he's doing a belly splash and jump right over the ball. Two other minor complaints are when sliding into a base you'll be safe by a good second, only to be called out;the other is the apparent inability to climb the fence to rob homers(though in the manual it says you can do this by pressing the Z button?)If you can look past a few flaws like this and you like baseball, this is probably the Game Cube baseball game for you.

Graphics:8/ Nice graphics, the above mentioned animations are the only problems.

Sound and music:8/ Good enough, not too important in a baseball game. Commentator Steve Lyons will get on your nerves from time to time.

Gameplay:8/ The most important part of any game is, well, the gameplay. Solid gameplay, WILL take a little getting used to though.

Replay:9/ Finally a good baseball game with a franchise mode. You can also play home run derby(all current stadiums, fictional, and a few oldies too), a trivia game, and buy packs of cards to unlock cheats.

Personal Swerve Rating:8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/28/02, Updated 07/28/02