World Series Baseball 2K3

"A real in depth baseball game."

So far this year in the 2003 baseball season I have played All Star Baseball 2003, and World Series Baseball 2k3, and WSB2k3 by far wins my vote. Just a fantastic baseball sim, but there are some major flaws that just get to me.

Commentary: Alright...this is something I would think by 2003 they would have fixed, the announcers just don't have much to say, the play by play announcer doesn't get too old, nor does ''Hud'' but ''Huds''' color commentary is just too vague. One thing I liked about All Star Baseball 2003s' commentary is that the announcers actually held in depth, interesting conversations just like in real life. In WSB they say maybe a couple words and that's it for their line. Hopefully next year they will add a little more commentary, along with some interesting conversations. I'm not quite sure if it's my game or a bug, but it seems sometimes they start to say something and it skips out of context into another commentary line, or the PA announcer will say a name of a player that isn't even coming up to bat. At times the announcers can be very smart, especially at the beginning of a game in franchise mode, if you've lost 4 games in a row, Ted Robinson will ask Rex Hudler ''what he thinks of the Cardinals chances are against a certain team.'' Hud will then continue by saying something like ''Well the Cardinals have lost 4 in a row, and they may need to step it up a notch before hitting the 5 loss colum, they will need to rely on Albert Pujols on this one''.

Graphics: Not too bad, but could be better. Some of the players have in depth details, and you can really notice that it's the player that you are playing, such as Scott Rolen, or Ken Griffy Jr. There are others though that have the same faces as the others. For example Eli Marrero has the same face as Jim Edmonds. Aside from the details of players the crowd is fairly convincing, and so are the parks. I just wish you could see the ball once it lands when you hit a homerun.

Gameplay: Pretty decent gameplay, but there are some things that just get to me. The pitching game is fantastic, every pitcher has his real life assortment of pitches, and you have to find a way to work with them. You can also have an active bullpen for when your pitchers get fatigued. One other thing that I liked more about All Star Baseball 2003 was the mound visits, the mound visits added more of a real life aspect to the game. One thing that really gets to me about the pitching game is that if you try to walk someone unintenionally they will swing at it. So in the end of a season my pitchers only have a total of about 10 walks each. Now to the batting game...ugh. Well you have a choice here, your batting game can be really easy or really hard, which means you are either going to win big time, or lose big time. There is standard hitting which gives you a cursor and you have to line it up with where the ball is going to be pitched. There is a problem with this though, you can have a pitch preview on or you can't, if you don't you have to find where the heck the ball is coming at from just looking at the pitch which is VERY difficult, or you can have pitch preview on which will show you almost EXACTLY where the pitch is going to be throw before the ball even leaves the pitchers hand, and unless you hit it to a fielder it is very easy to get runs. This is a baseball sim here people, lets make the scores semi real, I can't stand when I win 3 games in a row with a score above 10. There are also other hitting modes that you can try out, Timing mode, in which you just time the ball just right before you swing, I find this one also too easy, and power mode, which you have a power meter on the bottom of the screen, and right before the pitcher releases his ball you charge up the meter with either your power or contact button, I find this way too hard, in All Star Baseball 2004 it would show you where the ball was going to be just before you swung, it gave you enough time to get there, but not too much time. BTW where the heck is the batting practice mode!?

Franchise: This franchise mode is by far the best in any baseball game that I have ever played. It is real in depth. I chose my home town team the St. Louis Cardinals, and as of now i'm about midway through the season. You can break MLB records, or send players into the hall of fame once they are retired. Also the trade system works very well, the AI is smart enough not to give away good players on a very bad trade. You can have alot of fun in trade mode, and you will probably be using it alot with pitchers. They also have a news column where you can look at what other teams are trying to do to advance their team, other teams injuries, trades, and exciting news worth things like shutouts, perfect games, milestones, etc. etc. Something that would have been very cool is if they actually had a sports reel after the game inside a news room, they wouldn't necessarly have to have live commentary, text would have been fine, but it would have added a big real life aspect into the game. Also in your season you do get to play an All Star Game which is really neat, but they didn't throw in a Home Run derby unlike All Star Baseball 2003, which kind of dissapointed me.

Sound: The sound is pretty good also, one thing I like the most is the crowd, they really get into the games, they get VERY loud and cheerful if you are 3-2 in the count, which other games lack, it just doesn't seem like the crowd gets into it enough in other games, but in WSB it really feels like a real baseball game. The crowd will also shout obnoxious remarks at players, for example if you are playing an away game and Mark Grace steps up to plate you will hear a player shout ''Mark, you sure aren't graceful.'' this really adds a laugh, and some realism into the game.

Out of both All Star Baseball 2003, and World Series Baseball 2k3, I recommend WSB 2K3, Each game lacks something that the other may have, but the World Series Baseball has a more in depth franchise, which is what I really look for in a sports game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/04/03