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All-Star Baseball 2002 for GameCube Videos >>
Summary THIS IS THE BEST BB GAME ON ANY COMPUTER EVER!! ASB delivers a realistic baseball experience, without all the fluff. That can be good and bad, because of the blandness the game offers for the most part (besides visuals) - but if you want an accurate, challenging, strategic simulation of Major League Baseball, this is the way to go As with all baseball games, ASB's main gameplay focuses on hitting and pitching especially, with baserunning and fielding following.Sound Sound effects are really unimportant in baseball, but ASB's are soild. The crack of the bat is authentic, and the crowd sounds are real and react they way they should - if the home team hits a home run they go crazy, and if it's the visitors they boo loudly. In some places homers are presented with a local theme, like trains cho-chooing at Enron Field in Houston. However, most of the time a homer is a no-fanfare experience besides the cheering or jeering crowd. In terms of FX, that's really all their is.The PBP is as solid as you'll get. Bob Brenly (D'backs manager now) and Thom Brenneman, who called Diamondbacks games from 1998-2000, before Brenly got the manager job, call an excellent game in real life, and do it here. While they are a bit more dry in this game than in real life, they call the game very well, with little repetition - though sometimes Brenneman will call the play before it happens (humorous). Brenly on occasion will comment about a pitcher's pitches losing steam or not breaking as much as they did prior, and even has a personal touch to some of the superstars at-bats. They call the game, shut up, wait for the next play, call it, shut up, etc. None of the annoying silliness of TPB - instead you get a solidly called game of baseball, that is pretty close to the real thing. Overall, All-Star Baseball 2002 isn't perfect, but still darn good. It presents an adequate challenge; just throwing and swinging won't help, you need to use strategy and smart decisions or you'll get killed by your opponent. It's a sim in every stretch of the word; one that will satisfy the hardcore baseball junkies everywhere. It may not appeal to a casual fan because of it's difficulty and challenge, but ASB 2002 is the most solid game of baseball for any system ever made. Gameplay The pitching side of things is nothing new truthfully, but still a lot of fun, as well as realistic. A lot of pitchers claim up to six different pitches; from a splitter to a 2 or 4 seam fastball, along with offspeed stuff like sliders & curveballs. This allows for more mixing up of throws, which in turn results in a lot less chances for the CPU or humanopponent to know what's coming. While pitchers like Randy Johnson only have 3 pitches (of course, he's a pure power pitcher), other players like Mike Mussina of the Yankees have all 6. Besides mixing up the pitches, mixing up the location is a definite need. If you don't learn where to place multiple fastballs, eventually all the hitters will be able to guess your throw and do some damage in a hurry.The realism shows in later innings; your slider, which may be disgustingly effective in the first 5 or so innings, will start to stop breaking as well and start hanging over the plate. As the pitcher, you will need to learn how to adjust to that as well or you will get burned by the Sheffields, Sosas, and McGwires of the game. Adjusting could mean more high and tight fastballs, or different offspeed stuff to keep the batters off-balance, but in any case you must adjust to win. That's the beauty of ASB's interface when it comes to pitching; just like real life adjustments need to be made in order to win. And because pitching will ultimately decide wins and losses, you'll need to learn the ropes more than ever. You WILL fear the big hitters in the late innings in this game. The CPU even adjusts to you; in late innings it will bring in pinch hitters that match up better against your handedness with the ball. Quite impressive. And your bullpen is equally important; you MUST warm up pitchers and get them prepared for coming in, or they will get plastered when they start throwing for real. Batting is equally solid, if difficult. You have two ways to bat - either with the Easy batting (no cursor) mode or regular (cursor) mode. Oddly, the Easy mode is more difficult; all you seem to hit is singles and very few home runs. With regular hitting; things ease up a bit. Weird as it may sound. Aim the cursor at the ball to make the best contact; OR change the cursor to power hitting mode and swing for the fences. The better hitters or powerhitters will have larger cursors than the less talented batters (especially pitchers) so making contact is a little easier. It does have quite a bit of challenge; you won't be racking up 30 hits a game playing ASB. Instead you'll work for your hits and bases. Simply put it's a lot more realistic, because the better hitters get more hits, something that I've seen the opposite of way too often in other baseball games. The cursor can be a pain, because the ball comes so fast you may not have time to adjust, but hey, that's real baseball for you. Bunting is especially helpful (and practically required) in ASB for squeezes, and really benefits your scoring. If you have a runner on third with 1 or no outs, lay down a bunt and run for home and you'll score with ease (due to dumb fielding & baserunning of the CPU). Unless they call for the intentional walk, which happens often. If it can set up a DP, the CPU pitcher will walk you if the game is on the line. In short, All-Star Baseball 2002's hitting mode is as realistic as it gets, along with pitching. It's other areas, fielding and baserunning, are what knock down the score a tad. Fielding is not too bad, but has some major flaws. If you use Auto, you lose control of throwing the ball as well (similar to Griffey baseball on SNES, my personal favorite baseball game ever). This can be annoying, because of the CPU's dumb choices at times. For instance, the pitcher hits a little looper to right, and the fielder picks it up. The pitcher isn't even half way to the bag, but the darn RF throws it to second. If the player had control instead of the CPU, that would have practially been a ground ball out. Other times, the CPU fielders will throw to second on a bunt for a double play, or walk away from the ball to run to their bases, letting it slither through the infield. In the outfield, they let balls they could catch bounce off the walls, resuting in extra base hits sometimes, or unneeded runs scored. It happens rarely (and not as bad as Griffey's fielders from that game) but when it does it can be costly. On the manual side, things are better. There is a little blue cursor which hints you as to where the ball is landing; helpful because the camera angles can throw you off and force you to make unnecessary mistakes. Thankfully, throwing the ball is as simple as pressing the corresponding button on the pad as you'd see on the diamond; X goes to home, O goes to first, etc. That makes it easier to know what button does what, in this instance. It's the baserunning that really hurts. It's awful and badly assigned in terms of controls. In order to advance your runner from 3rd to home, you have to press Left + Triangle to do it. It's a pain because you have to basically press the d-pad in the direction of the base you are currently on, and press the advance button. If you want to advance all runners, press L1, which is easier to do (and the smart way when you only have 1 runner on). However the runners are simply stupid. If you have a man on third with one out, the runner will just sit there, even if you hit a single up the middle, forcing a press of L1 to advance the runner home; sometimes too late and resulting in an out. It is something you can get used to, but it's annoying. The CPU makes equally dumb choices, resulting in few extra base hits, besides a homer. The baserunning needs serious work. 2003 maybe? Would you like to Comment? Join VideoGameReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member. Summary Best game on Gamecube!Sound Sound is a little off here and there. Sometimes there's a ball hit to the shortstop and the announcer says it's hit to left field. Doesn't really take away from the experience though.Gameplay The game plays just like baseball. The batting/pitching interface is awesome, especially if playing against a friend. You tilt the curser to aim where the ball will be hit which comes in handy if you get a runner on third. Just hit a deep fly to the outfield, tag up and score! The fielding a much improved over the PS2 version as is the CPU baserunning.Would you like to Comment? Join VideoGameReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member. Rating Reviewed By Chris SaratogaFrom Jeneau, Alaska Review Date 03/30/2002 Overall Rating  5 of 5 Rate this review? Summary Over all, ASB 2003 is the best baseball game i have ever played. The graphics are amazing, the players look for real. The fields and other accesories look great. The commentary, sound and music is nearly perfect. The game play is endless, there is a lot to play and many things to beat. The game is not easy and is very challenging to beat even in Rookie mode. The season mode, franchise and expansion modes are very detailed, realistic and extremely fun. To get a more descriptive review of each category check the rest of my review.Sound the sound of the game is what really has a couple flaws. The sound is still great but it could have been a bit better. What really pisses me off about the sound is the fact that the opening song fits better for a Star Wars game then for a baseball game. Why couldnt Acclaim have used some rap or rock music like courtside, NBA2k2, Jeremy McGrath Pro BMX2 and even NBA Live 2000 used. The music really just forces me to press the mute button on my control while setting up the game. The in game music is extroadinary though. The bat breaking and the sounds of an actual game are perfect. In Shea stadium the occasional plane flying over head can be heard. The only thing missing ts the crowd sound. The crowd was made too silent, they should be more lively. Over all the sound gets a 3.Gameplay The gameplay for ASB2003 is amazing. The modes are totally amazing. There is season, series, expansion, franchise, a trading card game, batting practice, home run derby, a player draft, a create a player and even a trivia game to test your baseball knowledge! It is impossible to get tired of the game. As for in game, the game is amazing. The players bat stances are like in real life. The pitchers throw pitches they are infamous for throwing in real life. The controls seem complicated but they are easy to get accustomed to especially if you have played any of the earlier versions of the game. Anything can be done in the game that can be done in real baseball. What really is amazing is that the game is acctually challenging. It takes concentration and reflexes to hit the ball, like in real baseball!! Diving and jumping up for balls is hard to master but in the end it is worth it. The Gamecube pad and stick is very sensitive so when playing tap and dont push forward too much. The gameplay definitley deserves a 5.Would you like to Comment? Join VideoGameReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member. Summary Don't belive the gamespot review. Actually better than the ps2 version. Players actually look larger and far more animations.Sound Pretty average. Commentary is timely and consistent with action. Occasionaly, you get repeats but it is not annoying. Haven't seen great commentary or play by play in any product on any console.Gameplay This ranks up there with the best in gameplay. A little quirkie at times but gives you a good sense of how baseball really plays. The hitting is not easy to master much like real baseball you only have .72 seconds to make contact. Evem in rookie mode it will take some practice to become proficient. Comes in a close second to game play to high heat on the PS2. Head & Shoulders over Triple Play on the PS2.Would you like to Comment? Join VideoGameReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member. Summary This game is not even close to 2001 for n64. I am waiting for 2003, and I pray that it is better.Sound Very good.....but I have to admit that sound isn't high on my priorities...I look for gameplay and this game just doesn't have it.Gameplay The Good1) Same classic batting interace. Create a player. The Bad 1) The defense. The camera angles are terrible it is very hard to pick up where the ball is going. (Although it is usually hit right to someone) The best part of 2001 for n64 was the range that the shortstops could show and then make a throw to first from their kness....not happenin here. 2) Double plays...I would say that the computer will turn on average 7 dp's on you per game. 3)Very hard to strike the computer out. Pedro should be able to put up 13-15 K's per game. Not here....maybe 6 if you are lucky. Would you like to Comment? Join VideoGameReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member. Summary This was a terrible game. I have played world series baseball for dreamcast which I thought was mediocre at best. Well, this game has managed to one-down it. It is aweful in many respects. Please for yur own good do not buy this game. I rented it for a week and took it back after two night. BORING and INNACCURATE would be the two best words to describe this game. Commentating way off most of the time. Hitting way behind and everyone looks the same in size and sature. All in all just dont play it. I dont know if I am epecting too much from baseball, but I do remember a time when they're were some desent baseball games which actually were my favorite genre of game.Sound horrible.Gameplay badWould you like to Comment? Join VideoGameReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member. Summary If your looking for a baseball game with good and easy gameplay, graphics, and lots of areas to explore, WAIT, this game isn't it. I played this with my best friend and I was very disappointed. In my opinion, if I would have bought this I would have felt like I wasted my money. But who knows, if your a baseball fan, unlike me, you may like it.Sound Not much to say here, announcing sounded real, and all the names were sayed, some including stats, but some of the statements were repeated after a while.Gameplay Baseball is baseball. You pitch, you field, you bat, there's your game summed up right there. Learning the main controls of the game is real easy, but learning the little things like stealing bases, sliding, etc., could take hours. The controller set-up is just like one on Nintendo 64. This really surprised me, being that it was a different system.Would you like to Comment? Join VideoGameReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
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3.71 of 5
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