All-Star Baseball 2004 Review

Remember back on the N64 when All-Star Baseball was amazing? Every aspect about it was based on the real game, but was still fun. Now, the All-Star Baseball series is terrible. Ever since they made the jump to the next-gen university, they just haven’t seemed to be on track with other games. Can the 2004 version offer a new hope to this franchise or will it stink up the market even more?

Graphically, All-Star Baseball is not bad, but its not good either. The faces on the players aren’t nearly as detailed as MVP. The character models aren’t really lifelike either, seeing as some of the fattest players, David Wells for example, look thin. Game play animations aren’t bad, but the framerate slows a bit when it happens. There are broken bats, diving catches, and HR saving leaps. Overall, just barely above average.

Sound is average as well. Commentary is terribly annoying and extremely repetitive during the game, in-game sounds are good though. The sound of broken wood and smash of the ball against the bat is great. People yell when the ball heads for the fence or a spectacular play is made and boo when you screw up. All that the game is missing is the batter entrance music for all the batters.

Overall, this is the most realistic game around. You have visits to the mound, warming people up in the bullpen, pitcher fatigue, and dancing mascots. Game play is kind of difficult on the offensive end. Batting is difficult to master due to the batting cursor you need to line up with the pitch which is hard. Base running with the use of the Land R triggers. Defensively, the game is fairly simple, with only a couple buttons that are needed in playing it.

Creativity is kind of the game’s strong point. No other baseball game has the mound visits and warming up in the bullpen. There are the teams’ future stadiums in the game which can actually be used in franchise mode or for play in the normal game. Also, there are teams from the past that bring back stars like Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Ted Williams.

Combined with a good development team and bad ideas, All-Star Baseball is only an average game compared to MVP. Sure it may be the most realistic, but sometimes a game can be too real and that just doesn’t work. You may enjoy this game for its features, but you won’t play it long, if you play MVP soon there after.