All-Star Baseball 2004

"Not quite a Grand Slam but a solid hit"

I have been a loyal fan of the All-Star Baseball series since its debut on the N64 but I hadn't played it since the last version on that dead system. I recently bought a GameCube and this was one of my first purchases. Was it worth the wait?

Graphics: 8 This has always been one of the strong suits of the series. The stadiums look fantastic but the players don't look as much like their real life counterparts as a game like World Series 2k1 on the DC did. There is no game I have played that beat that one for looks, although the game play was mediocre. All-Stars player models are pretty darn good overall. I felt the animations were excellent. Some of the batting stances don't match but they do for the premier players. The overall game looks fuzzy to me somewhat. I do use S-video on my TV and it still looks fuzzy. I'm new to GameCube so perhaps thats normal from reviews I've read for many games.

Sound: 9 I think the sounds of the ballpark and the game of baseball are very well done. The announcers are superb but not always spot-on. The option of a Spanish broadcast is a nice touch. Its hard to beat the theme from ''The Natural'' in the menu section.

Gameplay: 6 The menus are very complete and easy to navigate once you get used to them. As far as the actual baseball experience goes there are ups and downs. I've noticed some bugs like the ''lazy'' outfielder syndrome which appeared in the first N64 edition where the outfielder doesn't chase the ball allowing all runners to score and the batter an inside-the-park homer. I think for the most part the auto fielding is very good. The assist and manual fielding can be a pain. I don't care for the future throw thing but it works reasonably. The pitching interface is excellent but the batting is only average but to be fair I need some practice. I like the fact you can set the batting to different levels. The stealing I find to be near impossible. The CPU seems unbeatable to run on. Baserunning otherwise is fine.

Bells & Whistles: 10 Unbelieveable! Every facet of the game can be tweaked. Don't like the ratings Acclaim gave your favorite players and teams? Well, go and change them all. Give everybody A+ if you wish. Its not realistic but thats your decision. The card collecting is great fun and there is so much to unlock. I had goosebumps when I unlocked players like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Josh Gibson, Satchell Paige, Rogers Hornsby etc, etc. and could play them against modern or others old-time teams. All the different stadiums to choose from is breathtaking. Playing in ''old'' Yankee Stadium was a thrill. The franchise and season modes are very impressive. Your roll as GM gives you every option under the sun. I can't believe all the tiers of the minors you have. Other modes like the pick-up game, batting practice, Homer Derby are all wonderful. I can't say enough about all the extras, although the cheats you can unlock don't do anything for me like paper, stickball oveweight mode etc.. The only downer is that the Expansion mode can be buggy according to many accounts I have read but not enough for me to downgrade my score.

Buy or rent? Unless you feel like waiting till May to play some of the other games this is the game to buy. Even casual fans will want to own this game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/24/03, Updated 03/24/03