"All Star Baseball Hits A Home Run"

Introduction-
All Star Baseball is the next generation baseball game available on all platforms (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube). Derek Jeter is the cover boy for this game.

Graphics 9/10-
The graphics in this game are beautiful. The character models are very well done and the stadiums are very realistic. The only true flaws in the graphics are 1) Despite some good tries, some of the character models DO NOT even resemble the real life counterparts!!!! I had Chipper Jones on my team and I couldn't even tell it was him. Secondly, what is up with companies still having cardboard fans?? With the power of the Xbox, the fans ''should'' look better than this. Everything else is top notch. Even down to the check swing.

Sound 6/10
The Good: The batting is superb. Especially when you break your bat. It sounds like a real broken bat.
The Bad: The crowd sounds monotone. Imagine the most boring crowd and that is what you have!!
The Ugly: God I haven’t heard such god awful commentating since NBA Live 2001/2002. They repeat the same things over and over. Then try not playing the game and let it sit. You will hear the same 3 conversations over and over. It gets real repetitive. Of course, you will be playing the game, so that aspect won’t matter. However, even in-game commentating is horrible. The commentating brought the Sound score down.

Features 9/10
Last year’s baseball games didn’t feature a Franchise mode. Luckily it was included this year. Any sports game that lacks a deep franchise mode shouldn’t be released. You have exhibition, season, franchise and exclusive to All Star Baseball is expansion mode. This is where you create a custom team and then do an expansion draft. Then your team is added to the league of your choice (American or National). There is also batting practice and Home Run Derby. And just like in Madden 2002, you can buy baseball cards with points you earn during the game. Things such as striking out the side or getting a double play will earn you points. Unfortunately, these cards DON’T increase stats or negatively affect the opposite team like Madden. Franchise mode spans 20 big league seasons.

Gameplay 9/10
This is where the game shines. Not to say it doesn’t have its share of flaws, which will be covered later. You pick your team and hit the diamond. Batting is simple enough. Line up the cursor to the ball and swing. I am not that advanced, so I use the easy Batting option. This lets you swing without the cursor. Pitching is easy enough. Pick a pitch and throw it. Same as batting, there is an easy pitching mode that lets you pick the ball placement and see the strike zone. This isn’t a home run happy game either. While I do have a few home runs, I am playing on rookie. I have played games where you can hit inside the park home runs. You can also manage your bullpen. Say Tom Glavine is getting tired, go to the manage bullpen screen and put some pitchers in warm-ups. They warm up until you make that call to the bullpen for them to come out. I thought that was a pretty cool feature. Using the L and R triggers for all runners or L and R triggers plus directional button for individual runners does base running. Fielding has 3 options. Manual-which is user controlled, Assist-which assists the user and Auto-which is CPU controlled. Now, let’s look at the flaws. Foul balls. If you hit a foul ball you have to wait until it it’s the stands or is caught before you go back to batting. That is a pain when a ball is on the upper deck, yet you have to wait until it drops to continue. Trading. Last time I checked, baseball was the only sport that DIDN’T have a salary cap. I may be wrong. However, in this game you do have a cap. It hasn’t impacted me yet, but it will probably catch up to me at the end of the season when it comes time to sign free agents or resign existing teammates. I detest that. Trading is CPU evaluated and they will deny you. However, creating a player and making him super high easily overcomes that. All your stats are graded on a letter system. You can easily make a grade “A” player and then trade him away for a prospective trade. Also, you can’t offer two for one in a trade AND you can’t sign free agents without giving a player up. Inexcusable. I try to sign a free agent and it tells me that uneven trades aren’t allowed….Uneven trades….I am not trying to trade, I AM TRYING TO SIGN A FREE AGENT $%^&*!!!!! Excuse my French!!! Also, I tried trading two players for one player and I got the same screen. Oh well. Those flaws don’t really detract from the overall game. And another thing, you have to play a game before you can start trading. That kinda sucks too, but whatever

Overall 8/10
This game, while having a few flaws, is the game to own. I did a comparison (actually Xbox Magazine did it and I read it…LOL) of the 3 big Baseball games (Triple Play, All Star Baseball and High Heat) and All Star Baseball appealed the most. No game is perfect and this game is no exception

Rent or Buy-
I would buy the game if you are looking to purchase a good quality baseball game. However, if you are torn between the big three, rent them first to make your own informed decision.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/05/02, Updated 03/05/02