All-Star Baseball 2001

"Is it possible I bought the same game twice by mistake?"

Is this a sick joke? What is Acclaim trying to pull here. This game is exactly the same as All-Star Baseball 2000. Except for Hall of Fame players and an updated roster and schedule, this game offers nothing new from All-Star Baseball 2000.

Visuals: 9
The visuals are very nice. They look pretty much exactly the same as All-Star Baseball 2000, but they are more polished and refined as they should be. The shadows are still there, the crown still looks like vomit (I've gotten used to it), and the beautifully detailed umpires still have that zero turning radius we've come to know and love.

Sound: 7
Acclaim is trying to ruin this game series, I see. They are whittling away anything that makes it good until it becomes mere eye candy. The announcers are even less quiet in this one and I don't think I've ever heard the color commentator speak once during the actual game. When they do talk, they say the same repetitive stuff throughout the nine (or whatever you set it at) innings of baseball fun. The bat still makes a nice crack when you hit the ball, ad the home run animations are quite a sight.

Ingenuity: 7
Ah, Acclaim finally did something to redeem themselves of last year's blunders. Oh, if only this were true. The Hall of Fame team gets old rather quickly and it's just not fun playing with the best of the best when you can whoop anyone. Other than that, they didn't really put anything that new into the game other than an updated roster and schedule.

Replay: 7
Baseball simulators as real as this one get boring over the years. Although it's fun to play an individual game, a season is hard to get through due to their length. If you have the patience and time to play 162+ games, you won't mind at all, but for those with time on our hands, play with shorter innings/seasons, or just play part of a season and start over. It doesn't matter, the game itself doesn't get boring, just the seasons.

The shock of the un-customizable create a player has passed, but the anger remains. The game is better than last year's game, but not by that much. Get this if you are a die-hard baseball fan only. Casual gamers might be largely disappointed. Personally, I fall in between the two categories. I'm not a hard core gamer, but I love baseball, so I just get the game and play until I get sick of it. I usually don't finish a season, but I have enough fun for what the game costs, and I'm sure anyone else will too.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/17/01, Updated 06/17/01