All-Star Baseball 2003

Pros • Intricate batting system • Numerous modes of play	Cons • Intricate batting system • The franchise mode is a bit hard to come to grips with • The visuals, although nice, are not up to the EA's Triple Play franchise
Bottom Line Excellent addition to the PS2 sports line-up. The game includes enough features to fill Veteran's Stadium, and super in-game commentary. Spring is in the air; with it comes the sweet smell of freshly cut grass and the crack of wood on leather. Nothing says spring like baseball. Knowing this, software publishers often schedule their hardball releases to coincide with the season's opening day. True to form, Acclaim's All-Star Baseball 2003 has just hit retail shelves. An excellent game with very few flaws, All-Star Baseball is just the thing for those rainy days when you can't be at the stadium.

This is one heck of a game. All-Star Baseball 2003 comes stuffed with more options than Barry Bond's contract. New to the game is a top-notch franchise mode. You can play Steinbrenner (or any other big-league owner) for up to 20 seasons--managing your team, following careers, retiring players, bringing up rookies, and all the other owner stuff. It's great fun--almost RPG-like--to watch rookies blossom, peak, and then retire...taking their batting titles, Cy-Young awards, and MVP trophies with them. On the down side, it's a bit more than most people will want to bite off. The detail is delicious, but time consuming.

Fear not, All-Star Baseball also has the casual player covered. Single season, exhibition, home-run derby, multiplayer, and even a trivia game are included. The single season play is similar to franchise mode, but without the numbing statistics. That's not a bad thing. None of the action-type ball games can hold a candle to statistic based titles such as Strat-o-Matic or Out of the Park Baseball, so why criticize one over the others?

Exhibition mode lets you pit any team against another. Of course the game includes all the league teams, both 2001 All-Star teams, and a gaggle of all-time greats that includes the best third baseman of all time, Mike Schmidt. Better still, you can create your own players. Can you say Roy Hobbs? Sure you can.

Multiplayer is a blast, perhaps more fun than the single player game. Two can play without a Multitap, and four with. There's just something indescribably sweet about whacking your little brother's best pitches out of the park.

It may, however, take a bit of practice to get to that whacking stage. As with previous editions of the series, the mechanics of batting are somewhat complex. So too are the fielding and strategy options involved. Nevertheless, the game can be mastered in a few sittings, and once you have the hang of it you'll be glad you took the time to learn All-Star Baseball's nuances.

This is a pretty game, second only to Electronic Arts' Triple Play. The facial expressions are spot on, the runners are fluid, and details--such as players' personal trinkets/clothing accessories--are exact. Even better are the announcers' voice-overs. The play by play is smooth, and the between batter banter natural. Sometimes it feels more like watching a game on ESPN than playing a videogame.

But a videogame it is, and a darn good one at that. Acclaim's All-Star Baseball 2003 may be the best baseball game on the PlayStation Deuce. The game is detailed, richly absorbing, beautiful, and fun. No doubt, the batting mechanics are complex and the franchise mode a bit hard to get a handle on, but this is console baseball at its best. You like spring? You like baseball? You'll like Acclaim's All-Star Baseball 2003.

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