Customer Reviews

High Heat Major League Baseball 2002

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

In a word: bugs. Way too many of them. They range from minor irritations (the play-by-play announcer and color commentator talking simultaneously) to major league bobbles, like being kicked out of the game and back to the desktop for having the audacity to hit a fly ball to right field. All of this may be and should be fixed in a patch, but right now I'd advise anyone to hold off and save yourself a lot of frustration.

It's too bad. This could have been (and still might be, if the fixes come quickly) a great game. Game play is first rate when it works correctly, and the attention to the strategic details of the game is truly impresssive. Somebody(s) at 3DO clearly know and love baseball. But this year's version has clearly been rushed out of the bullpen without a proper warmup. Wait till the bugs are fixed.

I highly recommend this game for serious pc baseball players. I played the Triple Play series for 4 years, while EASPORTS has done nothing to improve their product, High Heat has done a great job improving graphics, maintaining an excellent stats interface. I have seen a lot of reviews about their system crashing and other bugs. I run a Athlon 900, 196RAM, and ATI-32MB All-in-Wonder card. The first time I installed the game and ran the update feature, and updated all my drivers nd the game would crash every time. I reinstalled my game without running the update and it runs fine. The only bug I have found so far is if you throw to first base on a pickoff move then press the throw button the first baseman will throw the ball to the catcher, if you press the throw button again(while the catcher has the ball and you don't press the D-pad) the game exits back to Windows. I find the difficulty the best part of the game. When I first started playing I played at the AAA level, after one season I moved up, and so on. I play at the All-Star or MVP levels, winning and losing is realistic and stats are realistic, no .500 avg and 100homers. Overall I highly recommend this game. If you play a custom league with draft you have access to the extra players.

Most of the reviews I've read say much the same thing, but I'm adding mine to re-inforce the point. I haven't had this for very long, but as far as gameplay is concerned, this absolutely destroys Triple Play. Incredibly realistic, seemingly true-to-life baseball action.

But of course this is my chance to gripe, so here goes...
1)Most importantly, about half the time, the game kicks me out to the desktop in the middle of a game, and this on a Dell Pentium III with a lot of features. Very annoying.
2)If you are playing with a Gravis Gamepad Pro, it won't work with driver v.4.4; I had to re-install back to driver v.4.3. More goofy than anything, but a gripe nonetheless.
3)Both the announcers (both play-by-play and stadium PA) and the music are choppy enough that I've had to turn them off, which is annoying because otherwise they seem very good.
4)The difference between the Triple AAA level and Pro level (the next toughest setting) is quite great when playing the computer. Even when I began playing on Triple AAA I could win 33-5 (when it didn't crash, of course), but on the Pro level it is a bit more difficult.
5)I have to turn off some of the graphic features; if I didn't, my bats, helmets, umpire faces, and a few other features were either solid white or grey. Strange.

A great game with too many problems to recommend totally; if they can give it a patch to keep from crashing so much, I'll give it five stars.

Right out of the box this game has a few problems. 1) I was playing the game and I hit the ball into the outfield when all of the sudden the outfield started to warp out and get all fuzzy. I called 3do and they said that it was a problem with my Nvidia geForce 2 ultra card. They had me turn off the AP texturing and it stopped. 2)The play by play is much better then last year, more forcefull and more accurate, however when the stadium announcer is talking and the play by play guys start to talk while the music starts to play what happens is it sounds like they are talking under water and then cuts out. I again called 3do and they told me to do some things and if that did not work try to download new sound card drivers (I have a pentium 4 1.5 ghz system, my drivers are new)It did not work 3) Its bottom of the 8th, the game is tied and I am at the plate with bases loaded and two outs, zzzzzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnngggggggggg, the game kicks me out and straight to my desk top. Another call to 3do and I get a Hhhmmmm. The game has bugs that should have been fixed prior to release and this is very aggrivating to me. Now if you can get through all of that and actually play the game you will be treated to a good game. Graphics are pretty good, and game play is fun. I also enjoyed some of the new features, you can visit the mound if your pitcher is having trouble, it rains, players argue with the umps and can get suspended. When a ball is popped up you see one of the players point to the sky, and game play is very rapid. So is it fun? Well yes it is, it is a very good game that could have been great and still may be when the problems I discussed are fixed. You can either buy this game and get angry as you have fun or you can wait until the bugs are squashed.

High Heat 2002 is, as far as I'm concerned, the second best pc game on the market.It's a very close second to HH2003. I love all the High Heat games, but 02 and 03 far outshine any of the Triple Play offerings. Triple Play is just OK,and their 2001 game gave me a lot of trouble. I still have it but I hardly ever bother playing it anymore. High Heat 2002 is definitely realistic and easy to play. I'm not a hardcore PC Gamer yet but I do know what the game of baseball is all about, having been a fan And a collector for about 45 years. This game is definitely a keeper.

That's the best way I can describe it, just a good solid game. As for the laundry list of problems described by one reviewer, I have to agree with the choppy play by play announcing. Something obviously is wrong with the game itself in that area, but I'm over it. As for the other problems he had, they seem computer related. This game DEMANDS a pretty decent operating system to work up to 100%. Im running Pentium 4 1.6 with a Geforce 3, and it works pretty well, but some effects just dont seem perfect.

The realistic graphics are a real attraction to this game. Also, the game play (hitting and pitching ) are simple, keeping the game fun. I pitched in NCAA Division I, and I can tell you the ball comes off the bat as real as I've ever seen in a video game. Overall, if your looking for a damn good baseball game for your computer, go for this one. Its also got "create your own players" capability which is always a good thing. Take care and enjoy.

I think this game is the best baseball game every made. I almost didn't buy it because alot of people had problems with it. But i haven't had much problems at all. I have a PIII 600 with 192MB ram and a Voodoo 3500 and it works just fine.... The game plays alot like last years game but it is a little harder and the graphics look alot better. Plus i down loaded all the stadium updates and the sound updates to make it super cool. There are so many add-ons on the internet, you can customize the game to your likin... I love the game and play it all the time. Just hope it'll work on your computer.

This game is great. It is perfect for those of us that like the gameplay but also the stratigic part. You can manage your minor league teams from AAA, AA, and A!!! This is a realistic twist to a baseball game and is especially important in a career mode. And by the way, you can play a career mode for 60,000 seasons!! Just remember to save often because, yes, it does have some bugs. So, all in all a good game and great for the simulation type players.

I can't believe 3do would put out a game that has one major problem: Several computer owners with high end video cards cause the game to crash in mid game. Like other users the game just stops in the middle of the game. The game was working great with my Matrox 2 card but I was hopping to make the game look a little better so invested about ... for a new video card (3di Radeon 32). After installing the new card and running the game it crashes. I do give the game 2 stars because it looks great when it runs put without a patch this game is useless! As of May 2 a patch has not been released and 3do still has not answered any of my e-mails for tech support.

High Heat Baseball is my favorite PC game of all time. In this annual baseball series, my favorite is the 2001 edition, which I think got most everything just right for the fun factor (after the patches, of course). However, I must admit that the 2002 edition disappointed me. I hear the 2003 edition is just the same thing pretty much, so I would probably not like it, either. Why don't I like the 2002 version?

First, the graphics. The 2002 colors are much too gray/dusty (I couldn't believe how much more pleasant the 2001 edition looked after I returned to it; it is like a bright cheerful day compared to the fogginess of 2002. Plus, the players all look and MOVE like zombies, despite of or perhaps because of the higher polygon count. They are all tall and stiff; I hate that stiff-armed animated walk after a base on balls, I cringe at the batter animation when a foul ball is hit. The worst graphical horror is when the game is played on a "bright" day and the players wear the short sleeve uniforms; the arms look wrinkled and quite hideous, and coupled with the already stiff animation, definitely makes the players look like zombies. Don't believe me? Play 2001 and 2002 back-to-back, and you will see. Yeah, sure, the newer stadiums look cool and the billboards flash and some of the newer animations do look neat, but I still prefer the cleaner, more simplistic graphics of the 2001 edition overall.

Next, the batter interface. I hate it. I rarely strike-out more then 10 per game in 2001, but I don't understand the 2002 strike zone, and I rarely strike out LESS than 10. Balls which look much too low are called strikes. The pitching animation looks rather jerky/uneven/not so realistic. This makes judging the ball path harder. (I tried the batting practice session, too...the horror!! Pitching animation did NOT match at all where the ball was released; it was therefore impossible to figure out where the ball was coming from!) Grr. Plus, that dumb whoosh sound as the ball comes closer ALWAYS throws off my timing. The WORST thing, however, is the much increased difficulty in checking your swing. Once you start swinging, you better make sure you make contact because you are unlikely to check in time unless you have uncanny reflexes.

Next, the sound. Overall, it is better, and I like the rock soundtrack and the 2 commentators. BUT, they cut each other off a lot, especially if the stadium announcer is on, so a lot of times what they say doesn't make much sense and is way too choppy. And I hate the hecklers because sooner or later, the game locks on one heckler who will repeat the same taunt in an endless loop until you turn it off. Stupid bug. The patch didn't fix it, either.

Now, don't get me wrong, overall this is still a decent baseball game, but there are enough small details which frustrate me that I prefer the earlier edition. One last thing...2002 lets me upgrade my 2001 roster into the new version, so I did. Brought them into AAA league, which was where they came from in the 2001 version. And they proceeded to demolish the competition 96-2 in the first game. Hm. Barely struck out, despite being at bat, oh, 100+ times. But I struck out like mad in the pro league. Needless to say, the game is not too balanced moving from AAA to pro. But there you go...

The 2002 edition may have more glitz and glamour overall and more neat downloaded files, but I think I'll stick with my tried-and-loved 2001 edition of High Heat.