Customer Reviews

All Star Baseball 2004

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have played All-Star Baseball since N64 and this is by far the best to date. After the terrible 2002 and the improved-but-rough 2003 installments, this one is a pleasant surprise!

Gameplay:
The best feature is the much, much deeper FRANCHISE MODE, which follows the option/waiver rule--you can't just move players up and down the major and minor as you please-if a player has no more option left, you have to pass him through waiver, and likely some other teams will pick him up. You can also control the 40-man roster, trading block (let other teams know who you are interested in trading), sign long-term contract DURING the season, decide on coaching, scouting budgets, and high-and-low minor leagues.

In-game features:
The main gameplay is pretty much the same as 2003, but many details has been inproved.
INSTANT REPLAY: TV-like angles with more than a dozen to choose from and whenever you want, even to see if a check-swing has gone too far!
CHECK-SWING, REALISTIC ERRORS, EJECTION, CATCHER STOPS THE HITTER FROM CHARGING THE MOUNT, and OFF-THE-LINE THROWS: They probably learned quite a bit from High Heat Baseball, but it looks so much better.
MOUNT VISIT: Shows the condition of your pitcher (rattled, fatigued, etc.) and the coach's suggestion.
BETTER A.I.: It's much harder to get a triple because the CPU finally has learned not to throw everything to the second base from the outfield. CPU's pitching has also become tougher and it's possible to draw lots of walk if you are patient.
BETTER GRAPHIC: It's no Slugfest, but overall it's much cleaner and some faces are really life-like. Also the batter's head will follow the ball in the HR replay.
FASTER PACE: Again, don't expect the pace like Slugfest, but this is much finer gameplay.

Few things to complain about:
SLIGHTLY OLD LINEUP: I wish they could have waited for a month so they could at least include Matsui. If anyone can find Kevin Miller please tell me!
SOUND: Very minimum crowd noise and effect. The commentary is somewhat dry and repetitive. But VERY GOOD voices of the umpires (they are different).
ONLY ONE BATTING/HITTING CAMERA: There are simply no option to change this.
CPU Hitting: is a bit weak and too selective in general.
BASE STEALING: Too easy, as long as the pitcher does not use slide move. And many never do.
EJECTION: You can choose to pitch "bean ball" (usually above the neck) and that pretty much means ejection. But there are quite a few time I pressed the button (R1) by mistake--because R1 was the button to get a closer look at the runner on first for previous All-Star games--and was ejected in the first inning and had to start over. Also if you pitch very inside just twice, it's an ejection. Your hitter might also get hot too easy after being hit, and that also result in ejection. I think it's too sensitive.
LOOK ALIKE: Most players are not so different from each other in the batting box or pitching mount, but so do many other games. And you don't get the ritual dance of Nomar!

OK, I'm a huge baseball fan, and a Red Sox fan, so here goes...

Not a bad effort. For a benchmark, I use my favorites: Earl Weaver Baseball for the Amiga, and World Series '95 for the Genesis. First off, the graphics are OK, not great. I have to admit that the graphics for World Series 2K2 for the Dreamcast were as good, if not better. However, the strategy is far superior. I love the mound visits, the defensive changes, and the fact that you have to warm up your pitchers. There are a few minor glitches, however. I've hit a few balls that were caught in foul territory, yet I was able to run my baserunners around the bags because the fielder just hung on to the ball. Oh well. Also, there are a lot of pop-up outs. Note to Acclaim -- cut down on the infield flies. They don't happen 6 times a game. Plus, as a Red Sox fan, it's near sacriledge to assign David Ortiz the number 27. That's Carlton Fisk's! You may have heard of him -- he's a Hall of Famer.
So far, I've played some very realistic games. A 10-8 win, a 7 -4 loss, a 3-2 win. Nice, old fashioned nail-biters. The GM features are well done, and are a nice added dimension. Also, it's nice to be able to strike out opposing batters for once. In most games, the computer never swings at balls, and never misses at strikes. However, batting is very difficult on the normal level. Pitches come in extremely fast, and it's difficult to adjust. I guess it will come in time, though. I was surprised that Fenway has the Monster seats, yet Kevin Millar is nowhere to be found.
I wish there was one option that I haven't seen since Earl Weaver for the Amiga -- the ability to DESIGN YOUR OWN STADIUM. I wish a game would allow for this. Maybe someday, before I'm old and gray. All in all, 4 out of 5. Not perfect, but pretty darn good, and I'm a stickler. I traded in Zelda for this, because Zelda was too 'kiddie', and I was itching for some longball. I haven't been dissappointed.

This new and improved All-Star Baseball 2004 game is slightly better than 2003. The gameplay has gotten better, the pitching is pretty much the same, the hitting is a lot more realistic and the new different gameplay selections are great.

A new feature to this game is: Scenario Mode, which is where you play a certain part of a game like Mariano Rivera on the mound in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded and no outs and your objective is to retire the inning without the opposing team scoring any runs. Like all of the previous All-Star games, you have CREATE-A-PLAYER. This updated feature is so much better than any other one in the previous games. You have over 300 faces to choose from, a lot more batting stances and also when you work on your player's ability points, there is no limit. Remember in 2003 where you only could use 20 points? Well, in this game, there is no limit so you can make your character the best in the game. Tip: Don't give your player all A+'s becase the game will freeze near the end.

The best new feature to this game, which I love is the In-Game Save capability. So if you're playing a game during your season, you can save where you left off during the game, so when you re-load your season, it'll bring you right back to where you were. GREAT! In Season mode, a lot of different things have been added. In the General Manager's offive, there is a numerous amount of things you can do from: trading players, high minors and low minors rosters, disabled list, trading block (you recieve trade offers from other teams for the player you select), and Player Editor. What is Player Editor? Instead of just editing your created player, you can edit anyone in the major leagues as far as ability points, looks, batting stances, etc. For pitchers you change their pitches selection to your favorites. But, don't make it too easy and have all of your team A+. It makes it too easy.

There is a couple things that have gone down or haven't been improved too much. One is the pitching. Yes, it is a lot easier to hit the ball because it has slowed down since 2003. But, it is a lot more diffucult to get strikeouts when pitching. It makes your pitching stats more realistic to real pitchers today. But the cathces still has some flaws in it. Not as often, but you see it happen sometimes where there is a pop-up and the ball is ten feet to the side of your fielder and he still catches it. Things like that.

Overall, this a fantastic game. Many things have been improved, things have been created for better and funner gameplay and it worked. This game is definitely a must buy.

This is a great game, but really only one I'd recommend for those who pay attention to detail and can appreciate the "little things", like commentator accuracy, player/stadium authenticity, etc. HOWEVER, don't get this game if you're looking for something you can just jump into and be competitive right away. It's fairly difficult to get your bearings and learn the controls, even if you've mastered past baseball games. Some controls come naturally, but actions like chasing down a fly ball, diving or jumping for a ball, etc, are difficult. As for hitting, you'd be better off getting used to disappointment for a while. Learning the pitch timing isn't so bad, but in an attempt to be more authentic, you pretty much have to guess where the pitch is going, even in rookie mode. They do have an "easy hit" mode where all you have to worry about is the timing, but then all you do is give the opposing team little pop flies and grounders that they'll automatically field without an error. And as for errors, you can forget about the computer getting an error that often. It happens once in a while, but not enough to be realistic. Overall, it's a great looking/feeling/sounding game- just don't expect to rent it and have it mastered without adding up some late fees.

What a game very good graphics and the future stadiums look good.
I enjoy playing this game even though Im a Red Sox fan . Good game well done !!!!

I went out and bought this game the day it came out. I was looking for the PS2 version of it but the store i went to only had it for gamecube. It is way better then any other baseball title coming out this year. It has great graphics, gameplay, and controls. It has both franchise and expansion modes with many options not found in other games such as minor leagues, contract extensions, and budgeting. the only problem with this game is the amount of space you need. To save a franchise you need at least 240 blocks of memory. not many memory cards have this many blocks.When i bought it i had to buy the memory card 251 to save my franchise. So you should definately by this game but either get it for PS2 or xbox, or make sure you have a lot of room on your memory card.

This game is way too much like the previous game ASB 2003. The only great thing about this game is that the music rules, the options are practically infinite, and you can save during a game (AWESOME!!!!) But they really need to make this game better than the previous so that buyers will want to look forward to this game

Game play is GREAT, graphics, stadiums top notch. And beyond that you can play specials such as scenerio mode. This mode puts you in real game situations from the previous REAL season with the same line up, the same everything. You're facing Randy Johnson in the 9th with one out and you're down by 9 runs, go to it. Beyond the game play, they have included 3-d stadium tours of all the parks, many from the past and renderings from plans for Future shea, Fenway, etc. You can have "pickup" fun games where you choose from a Major Leaguers who are just standing around and play at a farm field, urban playground and more. The announcing is top notch with Tom Brennaman and Steve Lyons. The announcing is absolutely dead on right. I buy the new version the minute it comes out each year and play it to death. Buy it for the excellent game play, then be surprised by all the terrific extras. After a while I even unlocked real video interviews with players from the old Negro Leagues. Love this game.

I got this game for Christmas (2003) so I have had almost 3 months to play with it and get used to it. The fact that I've had so long to experiment with this game is significant, because if I had written this review right after I received the game (as it appears some of the other reviewers did) I might not have given this game such a high score.

This game is very challenging, definitely. It is not like other baseball games which are unrealistically easy to play. This is not the type of game in which you will be hitting home runs with 170 pound shortstops.

In the long run, however, it is a much more realistic game. The pitches are especially neat. While some games only allow pitchers to have the basic "fastball," "change," "curve," "slider," etc., this game has more specific pitches. Examples are circle change, 2 seam fastball, 4 seam fastball, knuckle curve, slurve, etc.

This game is more realistic from a hitting perspective as well. At first, you will find hitting very difficult. Do not be frustrated; you will eventually improve. I suggest looking only at the strike zone, not at the ball when it is pitched. There is an option allowing the placement of the pitch to be shown, and that helps a lot. That being said, this feature by no means makes hitting easy. Unlike other games, where you just have to get the timing of the pitch down in order to hit, this game requires you to get the timing and the placement down (all in a matter of 2 or so seconds). Ultimately this a more realistic way of approaching hitting. To some it may not be as much fun as the home run filled games you can have in other games, but to baseball fans, this game will be rewarding.

I have to say that baseball purists, actual fans of the game, might appreciate this game more than a kid who justs wants to play a little baseball. Getting used to the game takes a little (not too much, but a little) practice. The game is definitely geared towards the knowledgable fan. It keeps track of stats that most people don't pay attention to, like OPS and OBP. This attention to detail is very much appreciated.

This game also has plenty of side features you can entertain yourself with. Like many sports games nowadays, this game has scenarios. They are enjoyable, giving you specific tasks in game situations to accomplish. Another neat aspect is the fact that you can unlock other teams, most of whom are made up of legend players. Therefore, it is possible to play with Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige, Ted Williams, et al.

I would recommend this game to baseball fans who have a little patience to learn the game. If you take the time to master the game (and this shouldn't take too long) you will be rewarded with a rich and entertaining game.

this game is decent .........nice graphics...cool franhise mode...i play it over and over even though its more than 6 years old...the only thing i dont like are the player ratings....they have a letter grade for the overall rating...and then they have ratings for their individual attributes like power and defense and running ability...this causes a problem because players with an overal rating of C- can have a power rating of A+ and hit 60 homers in a season....that doesnt make sense to me....anyhow the rookie draft is cool...players will go from C ratings to A ratings over a course of 4-5 years if they have the potential...they will be in the minor leagues or your farm team and you can track them over the years...just like in real life...or sometimes you get a player who is really good right out of high school or college and you bring them up next year and they are rated at a B+ or A-...but this rarely happens...i had one player on a CPU team get drafted and the next year he was an A+ .........he was awesome.....everything else is pretty standard the stadiums are realistic ...they dont have the nationals expansion team yet but its only 2004....overall like i said its a decent game homerun derby and all that good stuff...the batting takes some time to get used to but its not overly hard....if u had the last version (2003) its an upgrade but not neccesarily a better game...they both have their adv and disadv....personally i like the older game better but the newer game has the rookie draft so its all about what you like....