asamanh's Full Review: All-Star Baseball 2002 for GameCube
First of all I would just like to say that I have been a great baseball fan all my life. To me hitting, pitching, catching, stealing bases and scoring runs is a lot of what baseball is about. I know a good amount of people think that baseball is boring sport and the people who play need a certain amount of patience. That is true, but that is what makes the game of baseball great. Not just the hitting and fielding but the decisions you make. Such as when to bring up the pinch hitter and when to take the pitcher out and who to put in. All-star baseball 2002 has all of these features.
Technicalities:
The graphics in All-star baseball 2002 are exactly what you would expect. Much better than Nintendo 64 and about the same as PS2 (Playstation 2). Like usual the players have the faces that the actual faces have in real life which includes the goatees and beards. The stadiums look exactly like they do in real life. The fences and walls are all in correct placement along with light and advertisements (of course this is also an advertisement for Acclaim).
I really enjoy the sound in this game. Like most games it has announcers just for the "real" feeling of being there. I think the announcing in the game is much better any of the other baseball games I have played. In most games the announcers talk in just about every other play. In this game they talk on every play and give a detailed analysis on just about every play.
When you are playing the game you can hear the play walk, run, slide, dive, pitch and hit. That is typical of a baseball game. Most games have those and All-star baseball 2002 is not an exception. It is no better and no worse than the other games. Overall I think the sound is very good and it really makes the game feel much more realistic.
As a big baseball fan I feel the gameplay in this game is thrilling. The sound of hard it fly out of the ballpark but then the center fielder comes out of nowhere and makes a jumping catch robbing Barry Bonds of a homerun. Like the recent baseball games it has the 3D-hitting feature. This is the feature that allows you to move your batting cursor to point in any direction. With this you can tell your batter what side of the field to hit the ball and weather you want a grounder, a fly ball, or just a little hit into center field. This is also helpful if you want to tag up from third. Just point the cursor all the way up and let it fly. To use the cursor you need to move the yellow joystick in which direction you want to go. Other features include the ability to guess what pitch the pitcher is going to pitch and where he is going to pitch it.
All-star baseball 2002 is made for serious baseball fans and that is what I am. It is not like some of those games that change the way you play baseball and try and make it more exciting. To me there is no way you could make baseball more exciting. I would like to see some bench clearing brawls mind you but that is all part of the game. I am yet to find out if it is possible to have one of those in All-star baseball 2002.
The different types of games you can play include season, exhibition, and homerun derby. In season you can choose from many different schedule types. You can choose 162 with interleague play, 162 without, 82 game, 23 game, and then the choices of 3 or 5 game round robins. I prefer to go with the original, 162 game with interleague play.
This game has all your regular features as well. You can create-a-player, have a draft pick and manage your team instead of play (thatŐs pretty fun too). Overall (disagreeing with the other opinions) I think All-star baseball 2002 is a great baseball game for great fans. I would recommend especially if you have enjoyed All-star baseball in the past.
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