Baseball Stars Color

"Very Standard Stuff"

I've always wondered what it would be like to do a review of a game I did not feel strongly about either way. Well, here it goes. Baseball stars is exactly what you expect. A solid game of portable baseball with no frills. There are no licensed franchises. There are no real players. The teams (of which there are quite a few) can be easily broken down into speedy teams, good pitching teams, good hitting teams, and the normal balanced and unbalanced offerings. The options are very basic and completely no frills.

Game play - For what its worth I did not try 2 player mode (which might be fun). Overall gameplay is pretty similar to the old RBI baseball series on the original Nintendo. Curveball pitchers cant do a double curve in mid air but other wise they are still way more vexing than fastballers. Walks are pretty much non-existent. As for Hitting, you can move in the batters box even mid-pitch and hitting is pretty much all timing. Better hitters have longer bats etc. Before you start each game you have the option of choosing your teams players and bench - each player is given a ''conditioning'' icon to tell you what kind of mood they are in. It is never clearly explained how you should choose between a .320 hitter with 20 hrs but who is in a bad mood and a .265 hitter with 12 hrs but who is happy. I just always tried to get as many of those half faced japanese smilies as I could. I just love that zany stuff. There is a bit of a learning curve (particularly in terms of base running), and it will take an even longer time for you to learn the dimensions of the outfield. SInce there are only 2 stadiums in the game (outside and indoors) it might not take as long as some games. The base running is initially frustrating. Computer AI in fielding is awesome but its pitching and hitting are pretty lame so its not very hard to win once you get it right. Very forgettable but does the trick. Overall gameplay is a solid 6.

Control - As I said baserunning is a problem. Fielding can also work you for the longest time. Hitting and Pitching are very easy immediately. I knock 2 points off for fielding and 2 for baserunning. There will be numerous times where you will hit a pop fly and your runner on first will be half way to 3rd before you realize he has moved. Again this gets a 6.

Graphics - Almost exactly the same as the original NES stuff. Big head baseball would be a good name. There are definitely many titles with better graphics but again, this gets the job done. There are also some character animations each time a new batter gets up to play. Unfortunately these animations are repetitive and seem to apply to all characters - as a result they do nothing o differentiate the characters on your team.

Extras - This is such a scaled down game that as you might expect, the extras are totally forgettable. Yes there are teams to unlock but given that there is nothing much to differentiate the teams, do you really care? Same goes for unlockable players. There are 4 teams and a bunch of special players to unlock. Bottom line though, if you are not in the mood for a portable game of baseball, you won't play just to experience the joy of unlocking yet another ''speedy'' team... etc. I'd give these features a 2.

Overall - Once you get into the groove with this game you will have an enjoyable, decent baseball game. There's not a lot of competition on this platform in terms of Baseball games - so if that is what you want, here you go. In fact, the game will most likely provide you with something like 10-15 hours of really quality enjoyment. It would be an excellent purchase for a family vacation or an extended (say a week) road trip. Just don't expect too much. Once you have played through a season once or twice its unlikely you will revisit it. And that is why it gets a 5.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/15/03, Updated 06/15/03