"For a PC sports game it is excellent..."

OPENING STATEMENT
From my experiences with PC sports games, nearly all suck. The only series I have had good results with on the computer, was the NBA Live series from EA. Then, while at my friends house, we began a season in Grand Slam. Grand Slam, although not great, may have changed my attitude towards PC games forever.

GAMEPLAY--9
The gameplay is basically the same as in any other baseball game. And yes, you can control your fielders. It also has all of the usual suspects mode wise. Grand Slam’s hitting interface is among the best I’ve seen. Pitching is also the greatest ever. If this game was only on a console, it may get the calling of best sports game ever. The interfaces are not as easy to describe as you think.

The Season Mode is where this game really shines. This is the kind of Season Mode ever game should have. I’d buy the game just for this mode. The games themselves are pretty fun. But it is the general manager type things that make this game really shine. First of all, you have a minor league system that you can trade and call-up players from. This is just great. Plus, the computer controlled teams suggest trades, not just your own. This is the complete package.

GRAPHICS--8
For its time, in the years just before the menace known as the Nintendo 64 came out, Grand Slam’s graphics were excellent. Grand Slam was one of the last two dimensional PC games released. As, to my knowledge, 3D cards were only beginning to become useful. Every sprite is extremely detailed and excellently drawn. The stadiums I was especially impressed with, because, in its era, stadiums never looked different from one another. That is easily the most impressive graphical feature in this game. One error in the graphics that I did notice is that, when your pitcher, or the opposing pitcher, is throwing a curve ball, the ball appeared a little bit lopsided. This can make it very easy for a human player to detect curve balls and adjust to them. Which can be good or bad depending on how you think about it.

MUSIC--N/A
SOUND--6
Unfortunately, in some stupid decision I really detest, there is no music included in Grand Slam. Why, I do not know. But, it really detracts from the game. The sound effects though mark the start of Grand Slam’s rating averageness. They are completely average in every possible way. The crack of the bats, the swoosh of player striking out swinging, the ever-resonant “Strike Three!!!” of the home plate umpire, all are only slightly above average. The sound also is a little bit grainy, but nothing too major.

CONTROL--2
And this would be the reason Grand Slam does not get a higher overall score. Controlling PC sports games is never easy. Grand Slam controls like a typical computer sports game, which is to its credit, no more horrible than any other game. But Grand Slam certainly does not make that problem easier. Pressing keys on the keyboards and clicking the mouse just does not fit sports games well. Swinging the bat is very hard to time perfectly with the set-up that is used.

FUN--9
In spite of the horrendous control, Grand Slam is still fun. The main reason is the spectacular Season Mode, which you read about above. Without those options and features, I can guarantee that Grand Slam would rate substantially lower in this category. Other than the Season Mode, however, I did not find the other modes that fun or useful. But, if you can find Grand Slam, you can probably find it fairly cheap due to the fact that it is a fairly old sports game. And that certainly is worth the price of admission.

CHALLENGE--MEDIUM
Grand Slam takes you a while to get used to, but once you get used to it the game is not overly difficult. Especially if you can get the hang of the PC controlling, you will not find Grand Slam too difficult. But, even if you are excellent at Grand Slam you will not win every game in a season, like you can in some other games (for example Major League Baseball featuring Ken Griffey Jr.).

REPLAY VALUE--MEDIUM TO HIGH
The fact that you can have four seasons going at once raises the replay value substantially. I do really wish that you could trade players between the seasons, but, unfortunately, that could make the game too easy. So, I guess it may be for the best that it was not included. But, the Season Mode you could easily play through at least four times, perhaps even more than that.

PROS
*Minor league players.
*Computer suggests deals.
*Excellent fielding and pitching interface.

CONS
*Hitting not quite as good as defense.
*Graphics are none to impressive.
*The crowd can begin to sound staticy.

CLOSING STATEMENT
As I said before, this is one of the greatest sports games on the computer ever created. It certainly has its problems, but it is is still a game worth picking up, especially at the price you should be able to find it nowadays.

OVERALL--7

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/14/01, Updated 07/18/01