All Star Baseball 2004

1. Zone and Timed-Hitting modes are broken (i.e."too many pop ups"). Myth. In ASB there are a variety of hits. I see hits down the line, Texas-leaguers, foul-backs, broken-bat hits, lined-hits and grounders to all fields. I have to question people complaining about not getting enough hit variety. One tip I'd like to offer is: Press the X button to activate the power swing on Timed or Zone-hitting (at least once per at bat). You'll notice more hits lined to all fields, unlike on contact hitting, where hits are mostly up the middle.

2. Pitch speeds are too fast. Truth. You make adjustments. There's no shame in starting the game on Rookie level, where you're given more leeway to make solid contact, and working your way up. The timed-hitting mode is a great way to adjust to the realistic speed of the pitches. A batting-practice mode is also included in the game.

3. The pace is too slow. Half-truth. Then this game is simply not for you. If you find baseball boring on TV or radio, you probably won't like ASB since it's almost a dead-on simulation of a real baseball game. The on-field presentation is terrific. The players, the stadiums and the umpires are all lifelike. Sometimes you have to pinch and tell yourself it's not the real thing. The announcing game is the most detailed out of all the console baseball games. Thom Brennaman and Steve Lyons go into at least one deep conversation about a recent MLB topic per game. Overall, this is as close to a simulated broadcast you're going to get in a videogame.

4. Too many homeruns. Half-truth. It really depends on your skill-level. Obviously, on lower difficulty levels (Rookie, timed-hitting), the higher the amount of homers occur. On higher difficulty levels (All-Star, cursor-hitting), homers are less frequent. I get a realistic amount (1-3) in one game on zone hitting on All-Star difficulty.

5. Base-running controls are hard. Myth. It's actually quite easy. To move one base-runner, you hold the advance button Y (or to retreat hold B) and then press the base button on the gamepad (eg.Right=firstbase-runner). To move all base-runners, you press the L-trigger to advance, R to retreat. I'll admit it took me a few games to get use to this system.

6. Franchise mode has a few kinks in it. Truth. There's a trading bug that can cause some frustration. For example, if you trade two players for three players (i.e.you get more players in return), the third player disappears from the game. Because there's no list for excess players, the CPU removes the traded player. One tip obviously is to save the game before making any major trades. Another tip is to free-up space on the active roster (by sending down players to the minors) before making the trade. Another bug is the "position-integrity"bug. The rule is that you must have all the positions on your team filled, including backup corner/middle infielders, or else you'll be frozen on the GM-setup page. The solution is to find a way to fill that position, whether it's through a minor league call-up, free agency or trade.

7. Fielding is difficult. Myth. As an experienced gamer, I find it plays just like any other baseball game. One thing useful is future throws. You press the base you want to throw to before picking up the ball. Consequently, doubleplays are pretty easy to turn. There's an issue with aligning the fielder with the ball indicator (the circle thingy that shows where the ball is going to land). Sometimes you have to place the fielder in front of the indicator instead of in the middle (I suppose it all depends on the trajectory of the ball hit). For the most part, fielding is pretty straightforward.

8. Pitching is too easy. Half-truth. The pitching system simply comes down to selecting the pitch-type, picking a spot on the strike zone and pressing a button. The ball goes correctly to the spot where you targeted the cursor. One complaint is that the aim is too accurate. Pitchers with good control like Zito and Maddux will hit their spots very frequently. But when they begin to tire, they lose a bit of accuracy. When their fatigue meter is nearly depleted, they'll start to hang pitches down the middle of the strikezone. There's also the option to turn off the pitching-cursor to make pitching more challenging.

9. There are glitches in this game. Truth. Baseball is a complex sport with a lot of gray areas concerning the rules and the intricate physics of the game. So, it shouldn't be surprising to see something bizarre occur in a baseball videogame (since we sometimes see them in real life!). In ASB, fielders will suddenly pick up a ball 10ft away from them without budging. This may be related to a vacuum effect that fielders seem to have. The CPU AI plays a good game but they occasionally throw to the wrong base. Hitters will appear to hit balls out of the catcher's mitt. I've seen other really strange things (that probably belong on the TwilightZone) but these flaws normally don't affect the outcome of a game.

10. The game is loaded with fun extras. Absolute truth. It includes a home run derby, scenario mode, schoolyard-pickup mode, stadium tours, a quiz game, player interviews (BuckO'Neill,CalRipken,DerekJeter), an All-TimeLegends roster (Ruth,Cobb,etc), a NegroLeague roster (Satchel,Josh,etc), create-a-player mode, and a franchise mode which includes an in-depth expansion option, where you get to choose from one of 25-30 cities vying for an MLB team. You're definitely getting bang for your buck.

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Maybe spending only a week is too short to adjust to the way you need to control the tilt and position of the batting cursor at the same time, but it just seemed too much to me. You should be able to handle where the ball goes by timing your swing, but that's just me.

The only other area that I had a complaint with was the announcers. It really started to get repetitive about every 5th inning.

The high points are graphics and simulation. Unless you understand the concept of the Rule 5 draft, don't even try and turn it on. It's a little difficult for the common fan to understand, and the way that it's encorporated is a little difficult as well.

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