All-Star Baseball 2003

"A Review for a 2003 Game Written in 2005."

In my opinion the All Star Baseball series is the best current baseball series out there. It became my favorite in 2003, the year this game came out, because of the new features and the improvements to the old ones. I have played High Heat and MVP this year I don't think they quite compare to this game. Why write a review for a 2003 baseball game in 2005? Well, All Star Baseball 2005 was unfortunately the last game of the series because the makers of the game, Acclaim, went out of business. Because this series has come to a stop, nobody looking for a new baseball game is going to hear anything about All Star Baseball anymore. I am here to show at least 1 or 2 people how great of a series All Star Baseball is, or was, so that they can try it out for themselves and enjoy it. It's better late than never. If you are like most people, and don't want to buy a baseball game with outdated rosters, you can go online and get them updated, or you can just take the time and update them yourself and have some fun in the Create-A-Player mode. It could be time consuming, but if you think logically, I'm sure you could save about $40 more by buying an older game and updating its rosters than buying a brand new game. This could especially be handy with a game like All Star Baseball because the modes are the same as newer games so you wouldn't be missing out on much.

Gameplay – 9/10
This is the best part of the game, as it should be. Like I stated earlier, there were many changes between the 2002 and the 2003 version. The best feature in All Star Baseball 2003 is the Franchise Mode. In the Franchise mode you can create your own team and play as many seasons as you want with that team. The contracts on some of your players may run out during this time and it is your job as manager to deal with this problem along with many others. You can trade players, bring up players from the minors, send players down to the minors, and do just about anything else that a real manager can do. Other than the franchise mode there is an Expansion Mode which you start your team from scratch with a draft. Most of the other modes can be found in other games so Franchise and Expansion are basically the only things that stand out. However, they stand out enough to make this a great and unique game. The reason that this section did not get a 10/10 is because sometimes I found that the franchise mode can get confusing and complicated. I'll admit, I am an average baseball fan, but I do not know all about how the managing of the game works and what happens at the end of every season and how to please players and everything. As an average fan, I watch the game and am not concerned about everything that goes on “behind the scenes.” It was quite confusing for me the first time but then I got used to it and it turned out that this video game taught me a lot about the game of baseball itself. Oh! And I almost forgot, there is a cool trivia game that you can play against someone to see who knows more about current or classic baseball. It's pretty fun actually, I've played it for a good while at parties and stuff.

Graphics – 8/10
The graphics in this game are pretty good. By now they are sort of outdated but not too badly. All of the stadiums are nicely done and look very realistic. Most of the players closely resemble the actual people. There are many realistic things that happen throughout games. For example, when a visiting team hits a home run at the Cubs stadium, Wrigley Field, the fans will throw the ball back into play. This is a tradition in Chicago. There are also many other things like this, I would say at least one for every team. There is also a video that plays on the main menu that shows many short highlights including a few historic events, so that's pretty cool I guess.

Sound – 8/10
In the sound department there are many good points and a few bad ones. I'll start with the good. Sound effects are superb. The sounds of the ball hitting the mitt, the cracking of the bat, and all other sound effects are awesome and sound real. The announcers are great for the most part. 95% of the time they are right which isn't really good for when they should be right 100% of the time, but that doesn't affect the game at all really. It could actually be pretty fun sometimes picking out their mistakes. Also, sometimes they say things that don't make much sense. For example, I was playing earlier today and on the 3rd pitch of the game I hear them say, “That was one of the best pitches I've seen all night!!!” I have also noticed that sometimes sounds are lagged. For example, you may hit the ball and then 1-2 seconds later you might hear the bat hit it. I've only noticed this about four or five times and I've had this game for a few years.

Replay Value – 10/10
This is an awesome game and as I said earlier the Franchise and Expansion modes keep your team going for a maximum of twenty years. If you do the math that is 3,240 games. Well granted you won't become that addicted, but if you do, it's always there for you. This is a great game for parties because you can play baseball and then play games of trivia. There is also home run derby to play against your friends if you wish.

It is a shame that Acclaim went out of business and such an amazing series had to come to an end. All Star Baseball will soon be replaced with all of the new baseball games coming out, but it should not be forgotten. As I said earlier, the purpose of this review is to get a few more people to jump on the All Star Baseball bandwagon even though it recently got rear-ended by a Semi and skidded on the wet street onto the tracks only to be hit by a Metra train. You can definitely find this game for under $10 almost anywhere so I recommend you give it a try.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/28/05