All-Star Baseball 2004 User Reviews

Jooka
from Kyoto, , Japan

Jul 10, 2003

General/Summary: Lets cut the cherade people , This game flat out sucks. The gameplay is by far the worse imaginable for any next gen baseball game on the market. And that says allot because every game currently out there sucks in its own way. The poor gameplay in ASB has been true even in last years version, yet for some unGodly reason Acclaim has a legion of followers who have convinced themselves that the Gameplay is the best ever. So Given that the Gameplay was horrible to begin with lets examine why this years version is not worth the dollar value in terms of improvements from last year.
Gameplay: What can I say about Gameplay that hasn't already been said? I expected allot more out of this game when I bought it for the Xbox last year, but all I got were dissapointments and this year the ASB Franchise decided to shift in reverse and produce a game that was even worse than last years. It was clear from the first moment I played 2003 that the Batting sucked. It was impossible to chase a pitch with the cursor and the pitch speed was unbearible. It took me maybe 2 days of hard labor to learn that the only way to get a hit was to guess on every pitch and location before pitcher even began to wind up. It felt more like trying to catch a speeding bullet than to hit a fastball. But nevertheless after learning the system you could pull off wins by guessing correctly, But It still didn't feel like baseball to me.
Fast forward to 2004. The Gameplay Is the same from 2003 except Acclaim shuffled some aspects around to give the impression that they Made a new game. But it's so obvious that this game feels like last year's. The only thing they did was change the buttons around so you have to adjust to the "New" Game by learning the different layout for the same Game you played last year. How Brilliant is that. Next They truly messed up the fielding. You will get motion sickness when the ball gets hit, the outfield camera zooms in and out making your stomache ache. Also last year it was easy to get to any ball, but this year fielders play like they're stuck in quick sand and you have to mercilessly watch as that hanging pop up falls to the ground as your Fielder desperatley trys to get to it. Acclaim are a bunch of Sadistic bastards if you ask me. The people that like this game are those S&M freaks who enjoy being abused by their master Acclaim. Also Whoop dee doo, Acclam added new Glitches to that awesome Arsenal of glitches they had In 2003. The New Gem I speak of is the one when you hit a foul ball on a 0-2 pitch and your batter is instantly retired and you seem him leave the plate. I couldn't help but laugh at this pathetic error acclaim made. It's sad but it's true. And it happens so often.

As far as all the bonus features, Scenario mode, negro leagues, dvd footage, yadda yadda yadda. This is all just filler to make this game seem worth it. Scenario mode is the most odd idea. This is supposed to be a Baseball game. Not a freaking action game where you go on missions to unlock certain things.

Graphics: Graphics are slitghtly better than last years, but still are not Top notch qaulity and definately not meeting the standards of what an Xbox game should be. They're still making games that look like they should be on the N64 and putting them on the Xbox. This is true in many other games and It is sad sad sad.

Sound: Sound, I dunno didn't really pay much attention to the sound.

All-Star Baseball 2004

User Reviews

Series

All-Star Baseball Series