Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey, Jr.

"Going Going Gone!!!"

Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball is the most enjoyable baseball game that I have ever come across. Although being a reasonably old game it's gameplay has kept me coming back to play another game despite having newer baseball games with better graphics.

MUSIC: 7

This is a baseball game so the music doesn't make the game. The music could've been better but the one part where the game is really let down is the commentary. The commentary is very repetitive and can become tedious. If you have a CD Player or radio nearby this will quickly become your favored type of music while playing the game.

STORY: N/A

It's a baseball game. The only story is trying to take your team to the World Series.

GAMEPLAY: 10

This is where Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball shines. Everything from trading players to try and create the team that will take you to the World Series, to signing free agents to experiment with a young team, the gameplay offers many different options that means this game can never be the same.

You can choose between a Pennant Race (26 or 28 games), a half season (82 games) or the full whack of 162 games. During the season you can experiment with different Bullpens and Lineups to try and find the one you believe will take you to the World Series.

There are many different options in the game and you can always find something to amuse you.

GRAPHICS:

Being a N64 game the graphics fade into the background compared to the Playstation 2, GameCube and XBox. You cannot recognize the players from the way they look although the numbers are clear so you will know who they are anyway. Ken Griffey Jr. is the only player partially recognizable and this isn't rare seeing he is the player on the game.

The batting and pitching styles leave a lot to be desired with only 5 batting styles and around 5 pitching styles which could definitely be improved. The graphics aren't the great but that isn't what makes the game so fun so after a while you will forget about them.

REPLAYABILITY

This game has kept many people interested despite the fact that it is fairly old now. It has an innovative batting style that involves you moving a cursor to where the ball is and that will keep you interested.

In short you will find yourself, despite owning a Playstation 2 coming back to play this game year after year.

BUY/RENT

If you asked me this a couple of years ago I would've said rent first. Nowadays you can buy the game for around $10 so you may as well go and buy the game before it disappears off the face of the Earth.

Ken Griffey Jr. might quite possibly be the second best baseball series ever made because of its gameplay, second only to the All Star Baseball series.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/30/02, Updated 09/30/02