Customer Reviews

Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have played many baseball games over the years...Hardball...the Triple Play series; High Heat 2001 is by far the best in it's field (so to speak). After the initial frustration of learning to time the pitcher and actually hit the baseball I have learned to love this game. Instead of hitting 25 home runs a game as in Triple Play, you have to actually develop the skill of trying to out guess the pitcher and of being patient at the plate just like the Major Leagues. The graphics and playability are awesome, from pass balls to bad throws, errors, hitting the cuttoff man, placing the bunt...and so on, this is real baseball. The general manager options of developing a farm team and making roster moves makes this game a total baseball experience. So, if your team is struggling, just edit a few of your hitter's abilities and averages and the next thing you know you will be fighting for a pennant. Baseball simulation lovers don't miss this one, get it today!

The first baseball computer game I ever owned was "HardBall!" for the Mac. Black and white, two teams, cheezy as all get-out, but I loved it. I played a whole season once, 162 games, tracking home run stats, with those two teams.

Since then, I never owned a baseball game... until now. And man, Sammy Sosa's High Heat 2001 is one hell of a game. The depth and breadth of the game is incredible, from the accuracy of the team rosters to the inclusion of the newest ballparks to the trading model... *gasp for breath* ...it goes on and on.

To the folks below: If you computer is crashing, it's not the game, because SSHHBB2001(for short) has never crashed on me. Try a clean reinstall of your system. Any true gamer knows that the real heart of any game is how the game PLAYS. Graphics mean absolutely diddly.

And anyway, SSHHBB2001 has great graphics! Players faces are mapped onto their bodies, they run, throw and bat realistically, different batters' stances are accurately depicted, the stadiums are accurate down to the advertising and the color of the infield dirt... what game were you playing?

And as far as the gameplay goes, SSHHBB2001 has wonderful gameplay. You can play as pitcher, batter, pitcher and batter, or manager. There are myriad options for customizing your game, making management decisions, etc etc... Plus the game offers X different modes: Exhibition mode to play a single game matching any two teams, Season mode to play a whole season, career mode to (theoretically) play as long as you can, creating your own stats, Hall of Fame, on and on and on. There are also batting practice and Home Run Derby modes. Man, I've had this game a week and I already know my girlfriend will kill herself for buying it for me. :)

Bottom line: Great graphics. Stellar gameplay. Incredible depth, plus infinite tweaking available in the tune.txt file. This game has it all, and I suspect I'll be playing it even more than I played HardBall!.

I'd read all the reviews of High Heat 2001 and was expecting great things. I've not been disappointed. This is the best PC baseball game available. The graphics are good and the game play is great. Hitting is a challenge as it should be and feels good. When you knock the cover off of it, you can feel it. There is a wide range of stats tracked although I have noticed a couple of errors in my season stats ( my #2 batter has had more AB's than the lead off man which is impossible ;) ). I'm guessing the stat errors I see are from returning to a saved game. Most likely there has been a patch for this for a while but I will confess I haven't looked as the game is very sastifying "as is". In spite of any beef I might have about stat tracking or other very minor unmentioned flaws, this game is head and shoulders above the rest of the baseball games available and I would recommend it to anybody who likes baseball.

if you want an exciting baseball game where every other batter clubs one out this game is probably not for you. the graphics leave much to be desired, and the commentary is sub par. However, any true baseball fan will fall in love with this game. this is the first game i have ever played that actually does justice to the sport. if you hit it to the wall you will get a double. if you tag from third on a fly to the outfield you wil usually score, if you are on second base "scoring position" and you get an outfield hit you usually score. High Heat 2K1 gets right all of the little things that rarely are implimented correctly in baseball sims. simply put this is a great game for baseball fans.

I don't usually play sports games, but I am a baseball fan and I played the previous two games in this series. All I have to say is that I have played hundreds of games in career mode, guiding the Tribe through several seasons, and I've never gotten bored with it. The pitcher-batter interface is the key to the game; there is a steep learning curve to successful hitting, I found, but after many games I have topped out at being a pretty good hitter (my team usually leads the league in offense). However, I am still susceptible to being shut down by good pitchers, and even though the computer's pitching is sometimes predictable, a well-timed changeup is still a devastating out pitch. Another aspect that keeps me playing is the career mode, where I can manage three levels of minor-league teams, draft rookies every year, and invest a lot of emotional capital in new players I have developed myself. There are lots of good details included in the game as well, such as a batting-practice interface for working on your hitting, a mid-season all-star game, trading with other teams, customizable leagues and seasons, and a head-to-head-with-another-present-human mode which is quite fun (and easy to set up if you both have Sidewinder Gamepads, my preferred peripheral for this game).

There are a few downsides ... the minor leagues are initially stocked with made-up players, and not real minor-leaguers. The graphics are good but not great (I'm not complaining -- they're perfectly fine for me -- I'm just noting that other baseball games have slicker visuals). Base-stealing and defense are reasonably well-executed, although I still make terrible errors on both counts sometimes (partly from brain spasms on my part but not totally -- I think the interface for these aspects could still be improved).

Overall, however, this is by far the best implementation of a baseball simulation I've ever played.

I was one of the biggest advocates of EA's Triple Play series. After the letdown of Triple Play 2000 and 2001, (They haven't made a good one since 1998) I began to be turned off by PC Baseball games. Until, I found HH 2000.

And this game, HH 2001, is even better than its predesessor. The graphics are gorgeous. The AI is the most intelligent I have ever seen in a baseball game. The physics are pinpoint accurate. Outfielders can't throw laser beams from the wall to the catcher in 2 seconds. The pitcher/batter interface is the BEST of any game. And, perhaps the greatest gameplay feature that it has over all other games:

YOU CAN ACTUALLY DRAW WALKS WHILE BATTING. --This may not sound like much, but believe me, it makes the game so much more realistic.

The player editor is a great feature, letting you tweak players abilities (for instance, if you leave it the way it is, Mike Sweeney would be a career .270 hitter...we all know he's better than that!) :-) You can guide your franchise through an infinite amount of seasons. I have one of my teams in the year 2087 right now.

There are so many features that this game offers but I can't talk about all of them in this limited space. But, if you love baseball, you'll absolutely fall in love with this game. Buy it now if you haven't already.

This game, although it has a few minor flaws, is easily the best sports sim on the market right now, and ranks up there with classics such as Earl Weaver Baseball, Front Page Sports Football and Madden.

The game play, especially the batter/pitcher matchup are almost perfect. The ability to move fielders and make plays is excellent. And, the all around feel is like playing in a real game.

Minor stat errors and a fairly poor minor league system take a way from the game a little but, but these items can easily be fixed with 3rd party applications available on the internet on High Heat user sites.

If you have a fast connection, online play is worth triple the price you pay for this game! There is nothing like playing an actual person in a tight game. Online player rankings are also available and used for this game.

Although EA's Triple Play has fancier graphics, the gameplay and realisticness of High Heat makes Triple Play seem like the old Atari basball from the 1970's.

This is my 1st High Heat game and I have had it for only 3 days and I love it. This game is great for someone who wants to be a manager and not really play the game. (I don't have a joystick so I haven't been able to play the game.) But the GM mode and the minor leagues allow you to do all of the things that a manager would do like manage rosters and develop players in the minors. I had Triple Play 2000 and it was terrible compared to this game.

WOW!!!!

Play for as long as you want! really..... Great game! Good downloads, patches ,ect.....

looks, feels, sounds like the real thing. The fact that you can make your own players, make the HOF, be on the DL for over a year....well it is just like the real thing, I know I said that already but this is the FIRST AND LAST game you will every need. an the idea that I can play many many many many.......ect, seasons ....well nothing else is needed!

If you ever wanted a baseball game on the PC, this is the obvious choice. This game has great graphics, but more importantly, it is very realistic. Unlike other games you often throw balls and walk batters in this game, which is just like the Majors. You can do everything from exibition games, seasons or just a good ol' Home Run Derby. The physics of the game are very realistic as well, and the controls are superb. Works very well with keyboard or the Microsoft Sidewinder. You can even do a fantasy draft and draft your very own team, play in any stadium you wish and more. Another great feature is the patch updates available from the 3D0 website. I patched the game from the End of 1999 Rosters to the beginning of 2000 Rosters, so my players, teams and stats are always up to date. Soon after the 2000 season I'm sure they will release another roster update, which is something most baseball games on the PC never see. Highly reccomended, easily the best baseball game ever made for the PC.