Requires patience, but is overall above average
Written: Sep 26 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice graphics, innovative free agent system
Cons: Awkward Control
The Bottom Line: Baseball Stars II is a pretty fun NES game, definitely one of the better sports games this sytem has to offer.
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| C_A's Full Review: Baseball Stars II for Nintendo |
First, let me state that I have never in my life played the original version of Baseball Stars. I hear that game is extremely rare to find and buy, anyway. Anyway, Baseball Stars II was a game released by a company known as Romstar. In my first review of this game several months ago, I gave this game a low score due to the fact that A) the review was made during the time of the infamous “review contest and B) I had played the game for no more than an hour. This game is definitely more deserving of a score higher than five, that is for sure.
Graphics (8.5)
Remarkably, I have almost no complaints whatsoever about the graphics. Throughout the game there is nothing but solid graphics and designs. The fields are designed very nicely, as are the baseball players themselves. They have designs of each of the characters’ faces put into the game as well, which I found as a nice touch, seeing as how this game was released in the early 1990’s. Also, after hitting a homerun, sometimes you see an animation of the player running the bases holding his fist up in the air in triumph. Either you see that, or the name of the person plus the picture of his face. They even had shade for some areas of the ball park, like near the stands behind home plate. I saw that as a very nice touch.
There were few flaws in the graphics, but they are easily noticeable. For one thing, although it’s not important, the menu just has a blue background with the options on it. There’s nothing “snazzy” there, but it was ok. Also, the development team took about twenty seconds at the most developing the fans. They are all the same, and there are about 400 of them in the stands. They did, however create a second version of the fans, the ones that are in the shade. Another nice touch, I must say.
Well, overall I say the graphics in this game were pretty well done, especially for an NES game. I consider this the high point of the game, but not by much.
Sound (8)
This was another great area in the game. Let me start by saying that I really respected the music. All of the themes in this game were very entertaining and well made. I have not a damn problem with the music. They did a superior job.
Now, the sounds are a different story. They weren’t as great as the musical themes, but they were still good. The usual sounds applied to this game. There were sound tones according to the way the ball was pitched, whether it was fast, or slow and in the dirt. It also makes a “ding” sound when you make contact with the ball. And, like 90% of all the other baseball games of those days, it had the sound of the ball being launched into the air. You know what I mean. Watch a Looney Tunes episode and watch that coyote guy get launched into the air and then fall back down. It’s just like that.
Also, the sounds of the umpires making their calls were funny. You just hear them making something like a bleeping sound at different tones. “HOOOO!!” You would be surprised if I told you that he just attempted to say, “SAFE!” Oh, wait. Most umpires in real life sound like that, anyway. Nevermind.
To put the two together, the sound and music combine for a semi-great atmosphere for this game. It’s better than most baseball games I played on the NES, and I mean it.
Control (6)
The control factor is the most confusing and by far the worst portion of the game. Don’t get me wrong, now. I really like how fast-paced the defensive plays are, but sometimes your players don’t move at all or move toward the base and just stand there, acting like the towering pop-fly ball that was hit to within three feet of them could not be caught. Also, sometimes when a ball is hit into left or right field, the left/right fielder mysteriously disappears only to reappear near home plate after the batter has already bagged himself three damn bases. I hate that. It does happen frequently with me, too. About two or three times per game, I’d say.
The batting control for this game isn’t perfect, but it is good at best. I’m not quite sure if you can change the method of swinging, so I just hack away at the ball. It’s kind of hard to find out what pitch is coming your way; Of course, this is the way with most baseball games anyway, even in real life. So, I need to stop complaining before someone in the dark reaches of nowhere comes out and slaps me. {SLAP} …ow
Gameplay (7.5)
Baseball Stars II’s gameplay was very admirable, and at a higher standard than most baseball NES games. There were many attributes to this game that I wouldn’t find in others, which brings the score up quite a bit overall for this game.
One nice attribute is that you can create your own team. Sadly though, you cannot choose the name of your team, nor can you change the name of your players, so you’ll just have to stick with it. When you create a team, you are given a certain amount of cash to spend on either building up the attributes on your players. The seven attributes are batting, hitting, running, defense, luck, and prestige. You have to play quite a few games before your team is actually, er, how can I say this? “You have to play a few games before your team is actually worth a damn.” In other words, your team will royally suck for the first two to three games, because it’ll be 99% impossible to hit a homerun, and your only luck of winning is by good pitching and hitting groundballs through the infield barely.
A very nice addition to this game is what happens when you release or acquire a player. I think these were put in the game probably because they had a lot of space left on that NES cart. When you acquire a player, all it really is, is the owner and player at a news conference with the guy saying “I’LL DO MY BEST TO HELP THE TEAM,” or something like that. There’s nothing really special about that. However, when you release a player, it shows a scene where a baseball player is sitting on a sidewalk with a dog near him, with a notice saying “(insert name here} WAS RELEASED BY THE {insert team name here}” For reasons unknown, I thought that was damn cool.
Anyway, if you don’t create a team, then you can use one of the 12 already made teams, featuring already powered up players.
During the game, we have the basic things. “We pitch the ball, we hit the ball, we catch the ball, and we throw the ball.” If this quote was wrongly said then shoot me later. Anyway, about 99% of the time you can tell if it’s a homerun or not. If the ball goes inch by inch forward, chances are, that sucker’s going to be caught easily. If the ball is moving forwards in the field in the air quicker than it was pitched, then that baby is gone.
There was also a league play mode, which was confusing. You could choose how many teams you wanted the league (from two to six), with up to 25 games. Apparently, the schedule is “make your own damn schedule”. I got to choose what game I wanted to play, when I wanted to play it. I played about 15 games in league mode, and I still don’t understand how the system works. Oh well.
Overall, although the gameplay is a little odd, this game features a wide amount of fun; being only hindered just a tad by the controls.
Replay (8.5)
Some people may be reluctant to play this game more than once, for it is considered as one of those “old-school, crappy games”. But, after about 10 or so games you may get hooked to this game, wanting to play it every few hours or so. While typing this review, I had to play the game three more times. O_o
Overall (7.5)
Well, all I can say now is that I enjoyed this game. It had memorable music, fast-paced action, fairly nice graphics, and pretty good gameplay with few control problems. I would recommend that you buy it, but at a certain used video game store I see it’s selling for an amazingly steep fifteen dollars. You’re better off getting it from ebay.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
C_A
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Member: Celestial Avenger
Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 9 members
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