23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Baseball SIM Ever!, July 6, 2001
This review is from: Season Ticket Baseball (CD-ROM)
For hardcore simulation fans who also love Americas favorite pastime, Season Ticket Baseball is a must have. The game takes away the arcade game play that other titles bring to the table and replaces it with the day to day realism that a manager faces in the big leagues.
The game career mode is an endless amount of fun as you start your franchise by first picking a city, then using your yearly payroll to first hire your staff. Including a hitting coach, pitching coach and manager. But your staff also doesn't stop there. The minors are also a big part of your organization so you will also have to hire managers for your AAA, AA and A teams as well as a head scout. What's so great about the game is you just can't pick a manager. You have to actually offer a contract based on a yearly salary and length of service of your choice. You must choose wisely because other teams can be making offers to the same guys. The list of people to choose from is endless, each with their own characteristics that will effect your franchise and amount of success. Once you have your staff in place its time to draft your team for its first year of establishment. (If you don't want to draft you can use a default team or let the computer draft for you.) Players will have a starting salary and a contract length that you will have to agree too if you sign them. Once your team is ready it's time to start the season. As the manager you will sit on the bench and get to see what it's like to be a big league manager. Your decisions besides making the starting lineup and pitching rotation, will be positioning the defense as well as deciding when to steal, bunt, hit and run or even weather you want you pitcher to go right at a guy or pitch around him. Bottom line is you're in control for the complete game. (You may also simulate the game if you don't have the patience to micro manage it.)
What makes the game even better is once the day is over, you go from the bench to the office running the day to day operations as the GM. You'll have to deal with contract negotiations, trades and even the financials by setting ticket prices.
Bottom line is I can sit here and talk about it forever, which is actually what my buddies and me find us doing. The only aspect that might turn a couple of people off is the fact that real player's names are not used. However, I find this a plus because it gives it a lasting appeal.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best baseball sim in a long time, August 7, 2001
This review is from: Season Ticket Baseball (CD-ROM)
If you love baseball stats, and taking a managerial/owner viewpoint to the game, pick this up. You are the owner of a team, you set ticket prices, you design your stadium (or pick from the real ones), draft players, hire coaches and go. You can start from scratch or pick up a default team and go. Also, their is a feature that will allow you to download (for free!!!) all the teams from 1901 to 2000! Want to replay the 1973 season? Just download it and go! The league structure is customizeable, you can get rid of the DH, have one, two, or three divisions, and adjust the playoff format to your taste. Your team is the major league club along with AAA, AA, A players. Players can be injured, traded, signed as free agents, and released. You negotiate contracts with players and coaches as well as trades with your opponents. Career stats for each player are tracked and as they retire draft young stars! On the field play is not for the casual fan who wants to swing the bat, here you're managing the game, calling pitchouts, sending the runners, positioning the fielders, etc. Some might be disappointed with the game graphics but they should realize this is more a strategy game than one for the eye. But if indepth strategy is what you're looking for Season Ticket Baseball delivers!
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best Baseball GM Sim I've ever played, November 24, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Season Ticket Baseball (CD-ROM)
First, be aware that this is not a baseball sim like High Heat or MLB 2001. In fact, this game has no graphics, music, or sound whatsoever.
So what is it then? Simply put, this is a no-frills, text-driven, numbers-crunching game that allows you play General Manager: drafting players, signing free agents, and making trades as you attempt to build your team into a contender.
The depth and amount of control you're afforded is outstanding. Thanks to a handy (free) baseball database that you can download from the Internet, you're given access every MLB player and team from 1901 to 2000. Want to manage the 1927 Yankees? A few mouse clicks and you can do just that. Want to see if you can turn around the hapless '62 Mets? Presto. The entire 1962 major league setup is recreated for you, Marv Throneberry and all.
You can choose to sim through whole seasons or play individual games. If you decide to "play" rather than sim, you'll be treated to a text-driven, Strat-o-matic style game with no bells and whistles. Individual box scores of all games (whether played or simmed) can be printed out or exported to HTML.
Want more? In addition to box scores, news articles are auto-generated that can be read and exported to HTML ("Pedro Martinez Throws 2 Hitter" "Sammy Sosa Named Player of the Week"). Additionally, MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year awards are given out after every season. There's even a Hall of Fame!
Seasons can be played in repeat or career mode. In repeat mode, the players always stay the same. In career mode, players age; their abilities fade and they retire. Young players will blossom and develop over time. Best of all, this is the first game I've seen that remembers all statistics for every season you play. Click on a player's stats and you'll see his career numbers broken down season by season, team by team, just like on the back of a baseball card.
The statistical accuracy for this game is the best I've seen since Tony LaRussa Baseball 2. It's not perfect: big name stars sometimes underperform while other lesser known players occasionally overperform. But for the most part the stats are remarkably accurate.
Note that this game, unlike Tony LaRussa 2, does not allow you to edit player names and statistics directly. However, Season Ticket Baseball does ship with a third party (unsupported) player editor that allows you to do just that.
I could go on and on about how great the GM features are. You get to make trades, sign free agents, release players or send them packing to the minors, draft prospects, and even sign coaches. Thanks to the intelligent computer AI, wheeling and dealing is very realistic and often challenging.
So with all that's good, is there anything bad? Well, for one thing, if you buy this game, make sure you download the latest patch. Reportedly, out-of-the-box this game crashes a lot. However, since I installed the patch right away, I've had no problems.
Lastly, (and this is MOST IMPORTANT) the in-game text is often small, faint, and very hard to see. Remember, this game is totally text-driven so there are no graphics to tell you what's going on. If you have eyesight problems you may have difficulties playing this game. Make sure your monitor is at least 17 or 19 inches for the best results.
Overall, however, this is a great baseball simulation and I highly recommend it.
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