MLB Slugfest 20-04

"One minor, tiny little problem that I have."

Ok, let me start by saying that this is an amazing game; probably the best baseball game on the market today. However, I do have a small problem, and I'll adress it before I go on to my review.

Ok, so I decide to buy a baseball game this year. So, I had heard good things about a game called ''slugfest''. I decided that this would be the game that I bought this year. SO, I'm walking through the aisles at Best Buy, and to my horror I see a picture of JIM EDMUNDS on the cover!!! Why oh why would anybody put him on the cover? He is the most arrogant, overated baseball player in the history of the sport. One time, I was watching a Cardinals vs. Phillies game on TV, (I watch Cardinal games when the Cubs are invoved in pennant races.) and Edmunds hits a bomb into the upper deck. Does he run around the bases? NO! he stands there, at the plate, watching the ball until it lands. Then does he round the bases? NO! THEN, he stares into the Philly dugout, just to show them up. I despise Jim Edmunds. But that didn't discourage me from buying it. I simply threw the Cover away and store the game in a blank DVD holder. It works. OK, onto the review!

GRAPHICS: 10/10
The Graphics are very nicely done. Most of the players look very similar to their real life counter-parts. (specifically Aramis Ramirez and Kerry Wood are both done extremely well.) I really can't think of anything to complain about here. The frame rate is good, with a few slow downs at moments, and it occasionally freezes up for a few seconds in between batters.

Sound: 10/10
The Sound in this game are excellent. Everything is extremely well done. You can hear the bat crack as you hit the ball, the audience screaming certain phrases (The audience will make you laugh.), etc. However what is REALLY well done is the announcing. Those 2 will have you laughing throughout the entire game. They also call a pretty good game, too. Overall, I would say this is the strong point of this game.

Gameplay: 9/10
It is worth noting that this game is not realistic at all. I'm sure you have heard this already, but you can perform ''hard tags'' and ''hard slides'' and basically kick the crap out of the opposing team. While I happen to find this fun, if you are looking for a true baseball experience, I wouldn't purchase this game. This is more of an arcade-type game. The NFL Blitz of baseball.

Each pitcher has 5 pitches + 1 special pitch that you can get from throwing a certain amount of strikes. Each pitch hs a modified version that you can throw by holding down he turbo button. ( fastballs are faster, breaking balls break more drastically, etc.) The controls are good and easy to learn. I was kind of dissapointed though, that i was playing as the Cubs in the NLCS. I was in game six and I was 5 outs from the World Series when Luis Castillo hit a foul ball down the left field line. When I took Moises Alou over towards the wall to catch it, Some fan batted the ball away from me. HOW REALISTIC IS THAT? Every fan knows to stay out of the way of a foul ball in that situation, right? (those last few sentances were a joke by the way, just incase you can't tell.)

Difficulty: Easy
This is an easy game to learn. The controls are well laid out, and you won't find yourself throwing to the wrong base as you did in ceratin other baseball sims. *cough* Triple play *cough*

One thing I don't like is how darn easy it is to hit. It seams like you can hit anything that is pitched so long as you have good timing. Thats a minor thing though.

Overall: (buy/rent) 9/10 (yes, I took a point off for having to put up with Jim Edmunds on the cover.)
I'm gonna say rent. There are 2 reasons for this:
1. Some may be looking for a more realistic game. This simply is not realistic.
2. MLB Slugfest 2005 will be out soon with the updated rosters, so you should probably wait on it, and just rent this game to hold you over.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/31/03