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would be awesome except for one thing.......

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I would be giving this game a 5/5 if it were not for one problem this game is a very well made game it is feature packed and the feilding is flawless. Also they included many more teams such as negro league all stars and the best players of all time on one team. The 1 problem that really drags this game down is the batting system. When the pitcher throws it the icon completely dissapears and you have to guess where it will go. This may not seem like a big problem but when you strike out endless times you will understand. And you can't even change the batting system so there is my review it is all true and I hope it was helpfull.

The Best Game ever

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 45
Date: February 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a must get game. The ASB series has made a big improvement. This game has alot of features some of the are updatable rosters u can also make an expansion team.This game also has very good graphics. My Favorite part is the franchise they have added alot of stuff that the previous games did not have. This game brings u more involved with the ASB Franchise mode. U have to get this i already preorder mine

Realism reigns

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I had given up on trying to find a decent baseball game. Since 1993 or so, I would get my hopes up for a new baseball game, only to be disappointed by a lack of realism. That's where ASB 2004 excels. Most baseball games reward free-swinging as it's routinely easy to end up with 23 hits and 14 runs. ASB 2004 focuses on patience and baseball management skills. For example, depending on the count, you'll be thrown different types of pitches. Look for a 95mph fastball, a splitter or a nasty curve if you're behind 1-2. On the other end, if you're sitting at 2-0, look for a good pitch you can hit. Location of the pitch also affects how you hit it. If you connect on a high pitch, in on your hands, you'll pop it up. As a pitcher, you have to vary your pitches and location to get a strike out.

Both pitchers and hitters go through slumps. You can have a stretch where your leadoff man is in a 3 for 36 funk, or have a reliever who can't get anybody out. Your starting picther may stink so bad, that you'll have to send him to the bullpen and replace his spot in the rotation. Lots of other small effects: bunting (the red, white, blue banners) is seen on the stadiums for Opening Day and the Playoffs. After a Fourth of July game, fireworks could be seen behind the scoreboard. Even the outfield ads of each stadium are preserved (while the shapes and colors are there, the sponsors have been modified for legal reasons). During interleague play, your team may appear in their throwback uniforms. You even have a month of Spring Training to test your team out. Nice touches.

The off-field elements are terrific. Full roster customization. The computer will even approach you for trades, or alert you when another team is attempting to sneak someone through waivers. All-Star ballots, MVP, Cy Young, ROY, Gold Glove and "Golden Hammer" votes are updated, daily. Every stat you could ask for is catalogued (although I was a bit annoyed as seeing strikeouts listed as "SO" instead of "K"). Your stats are even compared along the MLB record holders and each individual franchise's records (play as your home team, develop a rookie and see his career numbers begin to add up in the record books). See how your season numbers rank among the team's all-time greats. Fun for trivia buffs, as some franchise records are impossible to break (for instance, I believe the Pirates' season record for wins by a pitcher is something like 80!!!)

Several hidden video clips and stadium tours. You can unlock interview clips from Buck O'Neil, Cal Ripken and Derek Jeter, discussing a variety of topics) -- Roughly 45 minutes of interview footage that may be lost on the casual video game fan. The announcing team of Tom Brennaman and Steve Lyons is decent. Lyons has some humorous comments, like after a called strike three: "the pitcher said: can I help you? Batter said: nope, just lookin'!" There's also a recurring trivia game that runs during the game. Tough questions...not the usual brainless "which team plays in New York" type of stuff. You can also play the trivia game on its own, if you're a diehard.

The batting interface can be difficult at first. You can switch to "easy" mode, which may solve your problems. After the first few games, be sure to ALWAYS turn off "Manager's Tips" and "Jeter's Tips". Aside from being annoying, these tips can pop up in the middle of a play and disrupt your controls. Also, I was a little bummed that each homerun trot/celebration is the same. I'd like to see Bernie Brewer zip down his slide, or see the train in Houston rumble along the wall.

This game excels at the franchise mode and playing every game. Contains lots of small subtle effects that can't be seen over the course of two games. If you have a lot of patience and time, this is your game. If you want homeruns and flash, look somewhere else. In real life, baseball makes for a stinky video game, so the realism is appreciated here. Not saying that it's a stinky game...if you like baseball, you'll dig it. A decent game that appreciates and understands baseball and its past.

THE KING!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Out of ALL the video games I've tried, this still SOMEHOW makes the best. I've tried MVP Baseball 2005, MLB 99, and All-Star Baseball 2002. CONS:

O.K. First this game is SOOOOOOOOO unrealistic, it hurts. There are VERY STUPID errors that should never happen. For example: When my fielder locks himself in position to get ready to catch the ball, sometimes you will think "Why doesn't he move his glove up? He better do it soon... OUCH!" The ball will either fly past him, or go off his noggen.

Second: There is also what I like to call it, a suction glove. When you hit a ball sometimes it will look like it will fly by him, but NOOOO, the fielder will just dive or stick his hand out &...WHAM! You are out!

Third- There is only ONE 1 button, the R1 button, that you use to dive, jump, and slide on defense, & that WILL get on your nerves. PROS:

The game is very easy to control, although you can't manually slide on offense, it's still very fun to play. The season mode is good, but it doesn't go as deep as some games, I'm sure. What I like the most about it is the pithing controls. Unlike MVP 2005, where you have to use a pitch meter, in this game all you have to do is select where you want to pitch, and let 'er Rip!

All & All, MVP may have better graphics and control, But this game RULES!!! & for this price, you would have to be crazy not to buy it. But if you're lookin for graphics, turn to MVP Baseball 2005.

Overrated

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: May 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game the day it was release in great anticipation of a great baseball game. I was sorely disappointed. Unless you have the reflexes of Mr. Miagi from Karate Kid, you can't get a hit. Even when you switch it to easy batting, you can't get a quality hit for anything. It has great features, and neat things to play around on, but the gameplay is for the birds. Go out and buy High Heat 2004 or even better MVP 2004. They are much better.

has it all

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

im a franchise mode junkie, and love raising home-grown top prospects. This game has it all including the top 50 prospects ratings in the minor leagues. great graphics, gameplay. and the backround music is the greatest baseball music of all time!!! THA THEME SONG FROM THE BASEBALL MOVIE CLASSIC "THE NATURAL" o man it gave me chills. the game has it all, roster updates, pick up game which is like sandlot ball. its best baseball game to date, best asb ever. highly recommended!!!

This is the WORST baseball game I ever played!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I like to listen to peoples opinion but how did other reviewers give this game 5 stars? This is absolutely the worst baseball game if not the worst game period that I have ever played. The only positive thing about this game is that it is loaded with options, but other than that, it shoots straight downhill from there.

First off, from the start the computer will always be better and faster than you no matter what level you choose to play (i.e. rookie, allstar, veteran). When the computer is fielding the ball it seems that the players move at turbo speed and 90% of the time they'll catch your hit no matter where it goes. On the other hand when you're fielding, your players seem to move at the pace of a toddler in the field. Also, when you actually get hold of the ball, your player seems to have to go through an entire motion before he receives your button command as to where he needs to throw the ball, it takes a good 1.5 seconds just to toss it to a base and you'll rarely ever get a double play that you should have gotten. It's so frustrating, you may be able to catch 3 out of ten hits if you're lucky. Team grading averages mean nothing in this game. I tried to like this game, believe me, I even tried playing as an all-star team against one of the worst teams in the league, but they still beat me 10 runs to 1.

Batting is horrible in this game. You do get four choices for batting options but none of them seem to use batting skill but more of pure luck than anything. The classic seem to work best, it's a horizontal oval icon on the screen which makes batting a little easier but never able to master. Zone batting is useless where it incorporates the batter tilting the analog stick to measure the angle you want to hit the ball. Normal is a small icon you can see on the screen where you can pretty much aim the ball where you want to hit it. It doesn't seem to work well because the icon has to be almost dead-set on the ball when it reaches you that you have just a fraction of a second to actually move the icon where the ball is and also swing. Easy just requires you to swing at whatever pitch comes your way but most of the time your player, no matter how good he is in real life, just pops it up in the air only to be caught by the unbeatable opposing 'robot' players.

I wont get much more into this game, I just wanted to cover the basics and warn others not to buy this game. Believe me, it's a total waste of money and this is coming from a die-hard baseball fan. If you want a great baseball game, look for World Series baseball 2K3, it should have everything you need to satisfy all your baseball cravings. As for this game, Acclaim needs to scrap the entire engine and start from scratch if they hope to be a contender in next years baseball game competition.

Terrible Gameplay

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I can best describe All Star Baseball 2004 with the following:A baseball game that cares more about features than gameplay and graphics.The graphics are okay.The batting cursor stinks.The fielding and pitching are okay,but the batting is so bad it takes all the glory away.All Star Baseball 2002 and 2003 had much better batting cursors,although I hate all batting cusors. Here's how I score this game. Batting: 2.5 Pitching:7.5 Fielding: 10 A.I.:8 Features:Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many! This is where All Star succeeds!There's a Career mode,Expansion mode,there are pickup games,there is trivia,there are hall of fame players,there are stadium tours,there are unlockable old negro leage and major leage stadiums and more!I never tried any of these features but unlockable stadiums will mean lots of replay value.10!I haven't paid attention to the sound but people say that it is from The Natural and that it is good.10? If you want really good gameplay,get MVP Baseball 2003.If you want features,there's a baseball game called All Star Baseball 2004.

Bad reviews?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is awaesome. Don't listen to the other revies that calim that its impossible to make double plays and the computer dominates gameplay. If you read the instructions you'll understand everything. This game is loaded with extras and the best gameplay modes I've ever seen. Pick up games are awesome and the franchise mode is so realistic its crazy. This game IS baseball. The veteran hitting is hard at first,....some might say impossible, but trust me if you play a lot of video games or have any hand eye coordination at all youll get the hang of it with some practice. ENJOY!

Quantum Leap Ahead

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

After Triple Play 2002 ended up a coaster, the case a leveler for a wobbly table, I was reluctant to get back into the baseball mode for fear that electronic baseball peaked with Intellivision. As Steve Lyons and Thom Brenneman introduced Dave Roberts and my Dodgers stepped into the batters box at PNC Park, I was already giddy. The Smashmouth lead-in (second only to GT3 in excellence) and the game set-up are the elements of baseball even Bud Selig can't take away.

Sadly, Kip Wells three-hit me through eight innings, but K-Brown, Guillermo Mota, and Eric Gagne were able to match. After 11 innings, one run per team was scored.(I'm glad to hear I'm not the only person having a hard time swinging the bat.) I'll spend a bit of time in the batting cages, but in the meanwhile it is a treat and a tribute to the game to watch two teams demo a three game series out. I feel almost like the 10-year-old who watched Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey lock up Blue Heaven's infield for the first time.

Thank you, Acclaim, for bringing respectability back to baseball.

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