Ken Griffey Jr.'s Slugfest

"This Game is Okay"

Ken Griffey Jr's Slugfest is Nintendo's entry into the modern baseball video game market. How does it fare with other Game Boy Color games? Read my review to find out the answer to this question.

GRAPHICS--10/10

It's amazing what Nintendo did with the game in the graphics department. The field looks awesome. the players look excellent. There are even some cinematic animations, like after you hit a home run or sliding home just barely beating the tag at the plate. What I also found amazing is how many colors appear on the screen at the same time. Nintendo gave it an almost SNES quality of graphics. Overall, the graphics are excellent.

SOUND--4/10

The sound is a little bit sub-par. The music gets rather annoying after awhile. The "Bleep" when control goes to the nearest fielder to the ball needs to be eliminated. The game's renditions of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and the charge song are not interesting. Overall, the sounds are below par with the greater Game Boy games.

CONTROLS--6/10

The controls are a little bit loose. When the ball is hit and you're on defense, I had a hard time catching and fielding the ball. The controls when batting and pitching are arcade style, thus diminishing the realism of this game. Fortunatly, you can turn the "Auto-Field", or even "Manage Mode" on. Overall, the controls are okay.

GAME PLAY--8/10

The game play is very good. You not only get to choose from the standard "Exhibition", "Season" and "World Series" modes, you also get, for the first time on a handheld system, the "Home Run Derby" mode. This mode let's you and three other baseball fans to out-slug each other. The rosters are from the 1998 season, so you'll get Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, and other retired major leaguers, thus giving the game a nostalgic feel. It's too bad the okay controls get in the way of the game play. Overall, the game play is very good.

OVERALL--6/10

Ken Griffey Jr's Slugfest is a game you would have to try first before you buy it. It's an okay baseball video game, but could've been better.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/17/04