World Series Baseball 2K3

"Continues the 2k3 success, but......."

But what you ask? Well there are many things, but none too big to ruin it or too minute to not notice. My review will be broken into 5 categories: Presentation, Gameplay, Graphics, Sound and Replay Value(much like IGN, but without those annoying ads in between pages)

GRAPHICS- 9
Visually stunning, this game is top notch when it comes to the others on the market. The faces of the players move like they are chewing gum or sunflower seeds or something. Some of them are really terrific, but most of them are just downright generic. It seems as if they only put faces on the recognizable players but true baseball fans will realize that a scrub on their favorite team looks the same as a scrub on their best friend's favorite team. Inexcusable. Back to the good. Stadium models are terrific, and the little extras-apple going up in Shea, fireworks, train in Minute Maid Park, etc. make them a real joy to look at. They are filled with banners and advertisements for real companies(always an underrated thing in sports games IMO), flying birds, waving flags, and flowing water(although there is no one in the pool in Bank One). A thing about this game that disappoints me is the collision detection. When a ball goes over the wall for a homer and hits the grass, it disappears. I hate that. On to the animations-they are superb. Wall jumps and dives look great, as well as double play animations. Sliding animations are pretty standard, but look good nonetheless with the slight clipping problem. The ball goes into the glove like it should. The player models are the same as always, my only complaint is that Mo Vaughn didnt lose 100 pounds, he lost like 30. He is not fat enough. All players have their equipment on, guards and what not.
PRESENTATION-6.5
This is where the game needs serious adjustments. ''ESPN presentation!'' praises SEGA. I say, where? OOO, an opening SportsCenter movie. I could do without the music and SC logo. The menus are clearly evident of ESPN style, but does that add to the franchise experience? In game-ESPN logo in and out of replays, but who cares? The replays are terrible themselves. They start way too late in the play, so you will see the fielder on the ground, and see him throw the ball to first, but you will not see the ball go into the glove. Very annoying. Even the manual replays are bad. You can not move the cursor all the way to the wall, so you cant come even close to manually replaying wall jumps. What this game really needs is an ESPN Baseball 2Night or at least a recap or highlight reel. This would be outstanding. For now, the presentation will do fine, my score may be a little harsh, but this needs to improve.
GAMEPLAY-9.5
This is where SEGA Sports games get their name. World Series Baseball 2k3 is no exception. Excelling in every category of gameplay, there is little to gripe about. It simply plays like real baseball. There are not too many homers, even with the edition of the power button. I will start with the P/B interface. Everything you would want on the screen without too much crowding. For the pitcher: pitch selection(9 pitches at your disposal is too little IMO, each pitcher gets up to 5 or 6) and the name of your pitcher, with fatigue bar next to it. For the batter: hitting chart(hot and cold zones) and his name. Up in the righthand corner is the infield thing with the runner dots shown. The batter has a choice of using standard hitting(cursor and all), timed hitting(my favorite, all you have to do is time it) and power pro hitting requires you to charge up a meter(difficult, but I dont recommend it). Pitching involves using a ball icon(duh) that true baseball fans would turn off and a strike zone(another duh) which true baseball fans would turn off. Pitches come in a little slow, so it seems easier to hit with timed hitting, but you can always adjust it to faster. Fielding is great, not too hard, not too easy. The dive button is easy to use, and usually makes the right decision. I find that errors are a little too common, but to the right people-Mo Vaughn, Tony Womack, Jose Valentin. You will almost be guarenteed an error a game. The AI is very smart, almost too smart. They are more agressive on the basepaths and will capitalize on your mistakes. They will give out intentional walks when appropriate(man on second, one out or 2 outs, with no. 8 batter up, walk him to bring up pitcher). I will also tell you this- I have been picked off like 50 times! They are very quick, gone are the days of auto slide backs, here are the days of getting picked off for going too far on a lead, which are manual as well now. This may seem like the best aspect of the game, but it falls short to............
SOUND-10
Marvelous, beautiful, amazing, abbastanza bene. This is the best part of the game, and with a sports game, sound can be the most important feature. Where do I start? Commentating. Not too much. It is not overpowering the game. Ted Robinson is a fine play by play man, and rarely repeats himself, because he doesnt chime in unless neccessary. Rex Hudler(or ''Hud'') is a different story. He is great in color commentary, but you dont hear him often enough. Usually, I am so immersed in the game, I dont really notice it. Besides, I crank up the volume of the sound FX and the...crowd! Best. Crowd. Evar. From the Sausage! Pepperoni Pizza! guy to the humorous crowd comments, this is the most fun I have had listening to the crowd in a game ever. I have heard guys say ''Magglio, I can hit better than you'' and ''Brian you are trade bait'', I almost whiff every time because they come so loud and sudden. Another great thing about the crowd- they are smart. They cheer very loudly when the pitcher throws 2 strikes in a row, then quiets down when he throws a ball. It is a truly brilliant job done by SEGA but what is just as good is the.......
FRANCHISE(RELAY VALUE-9)
Everyone knows by now this company has the best franchises around when it comes to sports games. If you dont I am telling you now. I am only a few games into my season, so I cant tell you much, but it is very deep, deeper than NFL 2k3's which I played 6 seasons of. You must draft coaches to run your team first, once you've dont that you are free to roam. You can edit players, right in franchise mode which is very helpful. You can bring players up from the minors, make uneven trades, trades with cash, trades with minor leaguers. There is even a new loyalty rating that increases the chance a player will say ''Hell no, I love this team!'' If you want the full skinny on franchise go to IGN or something, but I havent gotten far enough in my franchise to evaluate the offseason. The thing that keeps this from getting a 10 is lack of online play. Oh well, maybe next year.

WSB 2k3 is clearly the best baseball game I have ever played, with its terrific combination of graphics, gameplay and sound as well as its unmatched franchise mode. All the little extras:broken bats, ejections, custom batting stances and HR trots(gotta love the Bonds stare or the Sammy hop!) make this a great game, and a true joy to play.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/17/03, Updated 03/17/03