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REVIEW: All-Star Baseball 2004 featuring Derek Jeter

Opinions vary but for me, All-Star Baseball 2003 was last year’s deepest baseball sim.

Oh, it didn’t have the prettiest graphics. And it didn’t have the most dazzling special effects or the deepest cache of voice acting.

But it was the deepest sim.

Last year, ASB2003 was the only PS2 baseball game to offer a franchise mode. The games that didn’t scoffed at the concept. “Baseball is 181 games long in a single season,” they criticized. “Who’s going to play more games than that?”

They missed the point. For many gamers, the glory come in playing through a single season and earning your way to the World Series; it comes in making the team you control a true legend — a franchise that is able to ride through the highs and lows, retirements and rookies, to be consistently successful over a number of years.

I mean, let’s be honest — how many people play through all 181 games in a single season, anyway? Let’s say you control the Angels or the Twins. Sure, you’ll want to play Oakland and the Yankees and other really interesting matchups. But are you likely to play every Brewer game? Probably not. You’re gonna “sim” past the games that don’t really interest you and play the opponents you really want to play.

Sure, you could argue that you could always play a second season with a different team. But what fun is that? Seriously! You’re missing some of the best parts of baseball that way … namely, the off-season.

Jarrod Washburn of the Angels becomes eligible for arbitration and wants a crapload of money. Do you meet his demand or take it to arbitration and try to lowball him so you can sign a free agent third baseman you desperately need in the season ahead?

Or maybe you have an aging Brad Radke of the Twins, whose contract is up. Do you spend large to let him finish is career in the ’Dome, or do you trade him (or let him go) so you can invest in younger, fresher arms?

This was something you could only wrestle with, on PS2, if you played ABS 2003. And if anyone’s wondering if Acclaim made the right call, just witness how many of this year’s baseball titles now feature a franchise mode!

So how much of an improvement is ASB 2004? Try, “significantly better” in almost every respect.

ASB 2004 still doesn’t have the sharpest, prettiest graphics of this year’s crop of baseball titles, but it is a marked improvement over last year’s too-slick, assembly-line-feel graphics. This year, in the front office modes, the graphics have a grainy, old-film-stock feel that create an atmosphere that is respectful to the history of baseball. In-game, each major league stadium is immediately recognizable. And the controls are easier than last year’s outing, displaying a more natural feel.

The game is also more challenging than before — even on “Easy” mode. Part of the reason is the batting interface, which is reminiscent of last year’s but with a slightly different look. The main thing that’ll freak you out is how fast the pitches come in. A 98-mph fastball is gonna burn by you, as difficult to hit as in real life. But, oh, the payoff if you do connect on the sweet spot! Home run, baby!

There’s tons of ways to customize the gameplay experience beyond simple “rookie, veteran and all-star” difficulty levels. Need help with fielding? You can have it all done for you, only help you a bit, or control it all yourself. Same goes for several other gameplay aspects. It’s truly a challenge to win your first game in ASB2004, even if you’re an ASB 2003 vet!

And remember that lovely franchise mode? Well, it’s back and better than ever. Instead of a 20-year cap, this year’s ASB allows you to manage your franchise through 30 amazing seasons. While it’s a 50-percent improvement, I still maintain there should be no limit on the number of seasons. If someone is obsessive enough to want to sim their way through 100 seasons, why should the game engine get in the way?

A far more realistic rookie draft, arbitration, free agency period and spring training mode are the highlights of the improved off-season aspect of the franchise mode. The only real complaint here is that, once again, ASB 2004 simplifies the minor league system by offering you management over a “high minors” and “low minors” roster. Anyone worth their baseball salt knows that most major league clubs have at least three minor league levels — A, double A and triple A. Get it right, Acclaim!

Another complaint is that while ASB 2004 goes to considerable lengths to get the major leagues right, their minor league rosters are almost entirely fictional. For example, one of the top minor leaguers in the Twins system is local St. Paul boy, Joe Mauer. He’s nowhere to be found in ASB 2004! Get it right, Acclaim! I mean, sure, in franchise mode you’ll get to a fictionalized roster soon enough, possibly within five or 10 seasons, but you could at least START with the right names and ratings!

Of course, if you have your PS2 hooked up with a network adapter and an Internet connection, you can download regular roster updates but getting the minor leagues this wrong is just sloppy; are we rushing things out on PS2 the way they do in the PC world already? Yeesh!

But my biggest complaint in franchise mode comes in what’s NOT included. You have no control over such management-geek activities as setting ticket prices, making stadium improvements, negotiating broadcast rights or, best of all, the political process of securing a new stadium deal, either from the town you’re in, or trying to gain league approval for moving a franchise to a more fiscally-rewarding city. Yeouch! Did I say that? Hey, in real life I would want anyone who moved the Twins to be used as Saddam Hussein’s personal human shield, but in a game, it could add a huge level of depth to the gameplay experience, especially the effect on ticket sales if you start romancing other cities, or are playing your last couple lame-duck seasons in your old venue. Do you play bargain ball or still spend to win a pennant in a city that’s saying “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!”? Now THAT would be cool.

Still, those complaints aside, the franchise mode is still the coolest out there on PS2. To get any deeper, you’d need a PC…

Speaking of depth, deal with this:

*75 stadiums, both current and historic
*200 uniforms, both current and historic
*20 unlockable teams
*Over 110 retired legends of baseball, including Negro League stars
*A rare in-game save function, for when emergencies call you away from a game you haven’t finished and can’t, right away. No more “shut it off and have to play the first five innings over again!”
*Over 30 video clips, including not only Derek Jeter interviews but interviews with other living legends of baseball, including Negro League stars.
*Trivia games, baseball card collecting and more.

One missing feature is online gameplay; the only online option in ASB 2004 are those downloaded roster updates. A sad oversight but not a fatal flaw, considering the amazing depth throughout the rest of the game’s features.

The “old film stock” feel of the game’s front end and numerous clips and baseball legends and inclusion of the Negro Leagues all add up to one conclusion — Acclaim is making more than a game, they’re a company that absolutely loves baseball.

Sure, EA may have sharper graphics. Midway may offer snazzy arcade-style special effects. Sega may have online play and deeper voice acting.

But, once again, no other game offers a deeper, more satisfying SIMULATION of America’s oldest pastime.

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Tags: All-Star Baseball 2004

Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Aug 3rd, 2003 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.

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