Best All Star Baseball 2003 Deals

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List Price: $24.95
Sale Price: $14.99
Today's Bonus: 40% Off

After being severely disappointed in World Series Baseball on the Dreamcast, I was pretty reluctant to shell out fifty bucks for the first generation of baseball games on the Xbox. If this describes how any of you are feeling, disregard it and buy this game ASAP.

All I can say is that ASB 2003 is the most realistic baseball game I have ever played on any system. Having played baseball all the way up to the Division I college level, I was always upset with the realism in most games. Games with 4 or 5 home runs every inning just don't happen!

First off, the batting interface is going to frustrate a lot of people, and you should be prepared for a lot of early strikeouts. If you want the arcade-style game where every hit is a monster home run, don't bother picking this one up. But, simply put, you're not supposed to know what pitch the pitcher is throwing, it kind of takes all the sport out of it. The addition of the easy batting feature is a nice way to get the timing down, but the game really rewards you when you turn it off. Trying to guess the pitches and their locations is exactly what you would do in a real game and it's about time it became such an integral part of a video game.

On the defensive side, the pitcher really has to move pitches around the strike zone to do well. You can't just blow everyone away with the fastball. Plus, I noticed that the strike zone isn't always the same....some umps call the outside corner a lot more, just like they do for Tom Glavine in the real world.

Fielding is excellent this time out, and it's a quantum leap ahead of the World Series Baseball franchise, though you can choose auto-fielding if you want. The assisted fielding option is another good starter method until you get used to the control scheme.

All in all, I see no reason not to give this game 5 stars. Granted, there are some AI issues (The computer has baserunning problems from time to time, and there are NO pickoff attempts by the computer on the easy difficulty levels), but they really don't affect the gameplay all that much. And, the gameplay is, in my mind, the true mark of whether or not a sports game is "good". Add that to the sheer beauty and realism of the player and stadium models, and you get one heck of a baseball game....at least until World Series Baseball comes out in May.

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I've owned the All-Star Baseball series since it first came out for the N64. I've continued to buy the new games and have loved it year after year. When I bought and X-Box, my first choice for a baseball game to buy was naturally All-Star Baseball 2003. The graphics were outstanding. Flawless fields and player models. The backgrounds and crowd were just mediocore though. Gameplay is overall pretty smooth, but there are several glitches. For instince, I hit a ball over the wall and it soared far over the OF's glove for a CATCH! And another time I slid into third base and was called out even though the 3B never even attempted to put a tag down. Expansion and franchise modes will keep you busy for hours. You will probably find yourself playing these modes more than any of the others. The developers focused this game mainly on franchise mode and didn't spend enough time on it's exhibition mode. You can't set the number of innings and you can't save exhibition rosters. It's create-a-player mode isn't available in exhibition mode and even in Franchise mode there are only 4 TOTAL faces to choose from for your player (no Latino or Japaneese). Little things like that can just ruin a great game. This a a game you should rent before you buy, even if you are a hardcore baseball gaming fan.

Best Deals for All Star Baseball 2003

This is a pretty good baseball release from Acclaim. Not as good as World Series Baseball 2K2 for Dreamcast. If you're on

a budget, I might advise waiting until a few more games get released to see which one is the best.

Pros

1. Good, but not great, graphics.

2. Nice franchise mode, even has an expansion alternative. Imagine the New Orleans Midnight playing in the Louisiana Superdome?

3. Keeps track of stats & generates end of season awards.

4. Fielder mobility and control is good.

5. Pitching control is good. You've got a good chance to get guys out if you mix up your pitches and locations.

Cons

1. Fielders make a lot more errors than in actual MLB games.

2. Hitting can be tricky. The cursor just doesn't move as

quickly as it needs to.

3. Franchise mode has a salary cap in points rather than dollars. Additionally, negotiating with a player doesn't happen it's take it or leave it.

4. There's a distinct lack of control when a game is just starting. There may be a way to change the lineup & pitcher, however in a week of playing...I still haven't figured it out!

Again, this is a pretty good game. I've had it for a week and I'm still not bored. However, this one clearly would have benefitted from a little more testing.

Honest reviews on All Star Baseball 2003

Graphics are pretty good. There are some artifacts, but I am on a 53" TV. Some of the artifacts are things like the players holding the ball on the outside of their glove when picking up a grounder or the detail image of the ball leaving the players hand is static, not dependent on where the player throws the ball. Even with these shortcomings, the graphics are nice. Some of the faces on the players look life-like. Jason Giambi (in NYY penstripes) looks great. The crowds have been scanned in also. So although I hate to see people sitting in the stands wearing Braves hats (especially when my Astros are playing someone like the Cubs, who would be wearing a Braves cap at that game?) at least Acclaim went far enough to make it look more real. Compared to the baseball games I have seen on the PS2 this is a superior graphic version.

Game play is pretty good. The controls are intuitive and offer a good range of play. You can know very little and still play a game with little effort. As you play more, you learn the finer points of drag bunts, widening lead-offs for runners, and superior batting. This game is not like most other console baseball games I have played meaning it's no homerun fever. I am pretty impressed with the pitching mechanics: choosing pitches and controlling them without the knowledge of the other player is a key to low scoring and good games (it's called "tension" Triple Play programmers please take note!) Acclaim's mechanics in this area are great; choose the pitch type and pick a location. During the windup you can then move the pitch in the zone via "ghost" mode: you can't see where you are exactly moving it, but neither can the batter. To give the pitcher a little more knowledge of how much he has moved the pitch, Acclaim has defaulted the vibration in the control pad to on. As you move the pitch out of the zone, the vibration increases; move it back in the zone it disappears. Greater distance outside the zone is a greater vibration. You can turn this feature off, but why? Set the pitch up way inside (vibration begins) and as you windup, move it a little into the zone (where the vibration suddenly stops.) Great idea, great execution. Batting is good too. The batters can "guess" what the pitcher is going to throw and if correct and if making contact, then the batter really gets a great hit. Guess wrong but hit the ball and you get things like broken bat singles (yes, the bat breaks and ball and bat are in play,) pop-ups and dribblers. You can also ignore guessing the pitch and focus on just hitting. You can control the angle of the bat: thus if you want a pop fly you can control that easily by pitching the bat angle. Need a grounder, pitch the bat the other way. This can help when you want a sacrifice fly to score a guy from 3rd or want to hit a screaming line drive down the 3rd base path. You also, as a batter, have two types of batting zones: a larger zone that encompasses the whole batting surface of the bat and a "sweet-spot" zone, which is smaller. Making contact in the sweet spot will generally produce a base hit; so with the stronger batters, like Helton, you might fly it out and with finesse batter like Ichiro, you might produce a line drive single. Controlling the players in the field is not yet my best skill; fortunately for me, ASB 2003 allows you to turn on some computer help. This puts the guys into general motion during a hit and allows a little easier novice play. There are also some cool features in controlling the players in the field: using the triggers will allow you to move both the infield and outfield to play depths. Have a guy on first? Move the infield to double play depth. Jeff bagwell up? Put on the "Bagwell Shift" and move the infield and outfield to an extreme right field shade. Barry Bonds up? Move those outfielders to deep, deep positions. You can adjust all this on the fly and it works well.

Outside of game play there are some pretty cool features in the ASB 2003. You can play Quick games, Exhibition games, and League games. There is also a batting practice session. During BP you can choose a left-handed batter who only throws four-seam fastballs, or you can choose a right-handed knuckballer. The choices are pretty deep in this area. You can also play Home Run Derby. Now here is the kicker: you can choose players from the "Legends of Cooperstown" collection. That means you could have Ernie Banks, Reggie Jackson, or Nolan Ryan on your side. Wow! I played Home Run derby last night and my national league team was as follows: Jeff Bagwell (Astro,) Lance Berkman (Astro,) Moises Alou (former Astro, now Cub,) and Joe Morgan (former Astro inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Red.) Joe Morgan is huge...and looks menacing. Acclaim has also taken a cue to put "players cards" into this game. As you accomplish stuff on the field you can earn points: retire the side and earn a single point (so unless you quit, you will eventually get a point each inning as you finish getting the other team out.) Retire the side with all strikeouts and get 5 points. Etc. These points accumulate and you can buy packs of Donnerus cards: each pack has 6 cards. You can trade them too, so I assume if you have a memory pack you could take them to other geeks' houses and trade away.

Overall, I think this is a pretty good game. I think I am going to get a lot of play out of it and at ... for ASB 2003, that's what you want.

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...Isn't that the best way to play multiplayer, so the other person can't see where your throwing the ball. It is also great that you are not always hitting cheap home runs.The hard batting system makes hitting a challenge just like in the big leagues.Who wants to hit a homer every at bat? how realistic is that.If you like home runs go to a home run derby.

I especially like the fact that there are broken bats in this game for the first time ever that I have seen. It just adds to the fantastic realism of this game.

I have heard people complaining about how the umpire does not shout out "strikes" or "balls". For one thing if you've ever been to a real baseball game the umpire does not shout out "ball". About the strikes I'm just not sure what could have happened.

Aside from that last fact if you buy this game you will be able to continually play unlike one reviewer said. This is a game with major league graphics and great fun with "hard to use at first controls".Overall this is a game that Acclaim may have hit a home run with.