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High Heat is better than last year, Still not great

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: February 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

While i was very dissapointed with last years high heat, this years version surprised me (and yes i do actually own it). Gameplay and graphics are much improved and the announcers voices were crisp and clean. I was also surprised to see that the rosters were also as up to date as they could be (i.e. Juan Gonzalez on Texas). This is also not an "arcade" style baseball game, stats are pretty accurate like real MLB is and you aren't hitting hr's every other ab. So all in all it's a pretty good game, 4 star rating for a lack of "franchise mode", but do you really want to keep playing after 162 games anyways? Buy it and i think you'll be surprised in a good way.

True to America's favorite past time

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 18
Date: February 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

High Heat 2002 was a "not very well crafted" baseball game with extraordinary gameplay that is so realistic that you almost feel as if you're witnessing the game first hand. Half of the statistics were horribly flawed and some(saves) were not even recorded. The commentary had major problems, the game froze from time to time during saving, some of the player movements were choppy, no create a player option, and the graphics were mediocre at best. I could go on and on with the problems of 2002, but one constant that could always be counted on was the incredible gameplay. Everything was realistic. If you played on Hall of Fame level, no matter how good of a player you were, you're players made mistakes and you could lose to anyone. Needless to say, I knew what was coming with this year's version of High Heat. This is hands down the best Baseball game ever made. All of the problems that plagued 2002 are gone. The stats are accurate and the gameplay is crisp. For some reason, the games take a bit longer to play than last years, but it may be because I'm still learning the new screens. There are still some problems with the commentary, but minor. The only real annoying problem so far is that the crowd cuts in and out at times, and it's distracting. Surprisingly, the gameplay has improved drastically over 2002. I didn't see how that was possible until I played 2003. The movements aren't real sudden and jerky anymore, and the speed of the throw depends on the position of the player throwing it, for example, if the short stop has to go toward third to catch a ground ball and make a quick throw to first, it may be off line and slow getting there because of the awkward throwing position. Also, when the infielders dive for a ground ball, they don't catch it every time, sometimes it ricochet's off of them and skips into the outfield. It's little things like this that make it such a great game. The pitcher/batter interface is beautiful, and the game is LOADED with options that allow you to customize it to your liking. That should minimize the amount of negative reviews from people who prefer a more arcade style game. There is even an option that lets you get rid of the simulation all together. So if you want to hit nothing but homeruns, you can. The most important aspect of a baseball game, in my opinion, is the speed of the runners as compared to the rest of the game. If you hit a ball into the gap, you will almost always get a double or triple, and if there's a runner on first, he will most likely score. It's the only game on the PS2 market that is realistic in that way. Triple Play and All star baseball are horrible in that aspect and hundreds more. After last year's disappointment's I doubt I will even give those two a shot. After High Heat 2003, who needs anything else? I rated it 4 stars because It is still not "perfect". It has to be perfect for a five star rating, and I must say that it is pretty darn close. One last thing I'd like to point out, when a fly ball is hit, take a close look at the landing cursor. A maltese Cross, perhaps? Being a firefighter myself, I'd like to believe that it's a tribute to all of the fallen heroes of 9/11. I don't know, you decide.

Great game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 15
Date: February 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I've been waiting for this one for a long time, and it was worth the wait. I'm writing this after owning the game for less than 24 hours, but so far I'm pretty happy with it.

If you've played High Heat before, I don't think you'll be disappointed. I was a hard-core High Heat 2001 addict on the PC but skipped the 2002 version on the PS2 because it was too lacking in features and skipped it on the PC because it was buggy. The controls on this one are very similar to the controls on the PC. The batter-pitcher interface is as good as ever, and that's always what made this game great.

The graphics aren't the most amazing ones that I've ever seen, but they do beat the old 2001 PC version. Players occasionally do weird things, like running in place when they hit the wall chasing a home-run ball. But the stadiums are passable versions of the real things, and the game play is so fun that I can forgive minor visual annoyances.

One thing that I really like about this version that wasn't in my old PC version is the ability to fine-tune things- you can adjust speed, power, hitting, etc. I want the game to be as much of a simulation as possible, so too many long balls irritate me. This lets you fix that. It also lets you do it in the middle of a game, which is nice when you're down by a few runs, you have men on base, and it would be really nice if someone hit a home run!

Some downsides to this version:

It has a fantasy draft, but, unlike the PC version, you can't select the teams you want to have participate in your league. I'm sure Bud Selig would be disappointed- there's no way to play a season without the Twins and Expos. I used to like to have two eight-team leagues- that gave you a good shot at having lots of star players on your team when you did the draft and you got to play against the stars more frequently, too. With all 30 teams, you get a one or two great players and a lot of middle-of-the-road players on each team, which is kind of boring. But that's a minor quibble- since the real versions of my favorite teams (the Cubs and the Mariners) are pretty good, I can enjoy playing them with the real rosters. And you can create a player, or make trades if you want to make a better team.

The home run derby was more fun in the PC version because it kept high scores; you could always try to set a new personal best. This one doesn't, which is too bad. I also miss the old stadiums in the PC version- I LOVED playing in the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field, among other places. It also lacks the depth- no minor leagues, for example, but that's probably too much to ask for a console game, and I can live without it.

In summary, this game isn't EVERYTHING that I'd want a baseball game to be, but it's pretty darn close. And they got the stuff that matters right, which makes it a highly enjoyable game. I'm anxiously awaiting the PC version, too- if it is stable and includes the things that were omitted from this version, it could be the perfect baseball game!

It's nice to see Curt Schilling on the cover, too- a great player and a class act- some of the proceeds from the game even go to ALS.

High Heat Baseball 2003 Hits A Grand Slam

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 19
Date: February 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

After playing this game for the first time, I loved it. The gameplay is great, the stadiums are great, and the players are fantastic.

High Heat beats out it's competitors by far. I have yet to play All-star b-ball, but it's better than triple play and MLB.

Triple Play is immpossable to hit a ground ball and get on base. It's either a home run, and out, or a double. Also in TP, You can not get a double play if your life depended on it. I spent 3 hours trying to figure out how to throw the ball. And it's immoissable to pitch. If you want to throw that ball hard, there's a 99.99 chance out of a hundred that it';; be a ball.

MLB has really lost it. The graphics are horrible, the gameplay bad, and it has a lot of glitchs. In MLB if you throw a ball, they never swing. In HH they might swing or they might not.

There are 3 downsides to HH, though.

One is that If you dive for a ball, the guy takes a year to get up and throw it, almost giving them a single.

The next one is roster management. I wish that they had an option whether or not the trades could be fair.

Third, is the rosters themselves. They are so out of date that it's scary, but it's not that hard to fix. You only need to make one or two moves.

Everything about HH is perfect and well-done, exept for those 3 things. If you want to have fun and live a realistic season, play High Heat. If you want a slaughter fest, play Triple Play. If you want lowsy graphics, play MLB. But all in all, I'd go with High Heat.

Thoughts after playing a seasoný.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: April 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Okay, first off, I didn't glance at this game; I immersed myself in this game. Please ignore those reviewers who played a game or two and said this game was great. I played approximately 10 exhibition games, a twenty game season with playoffs, created players, and explored all the various game modes, and played quite a few 2 player games. This game really seems to capture the essence of baseball. Notice I used the word "seems". When looking at this game in depth, this game has no long-term playability.

First off, the graphics are terrible. I mean really, really terrible. It's almost like they transported the player graphics from Super Nintendo land. The feel of baseball is almost deadened after looking at the super cheap animations. Of course in most sports games, graphics shouldn't matter. This is baseball though - the ambience, the look of the grass, the feel of the crowd, the skyline, all contribute to good game. This hampers it.

I would gladly sacrifice graphics for a good game. At first, I thought it did. After a few exhibition games, I felt like they finally reached the holy pantheon of sporting games, to be seated next to Madden 97 and the original NHL for the PC, NBA 2K and NFL2K for the Dreamcast, Lakers vs. Celtics for the Genesis, and Baseball Simulation 2000 (yes, 2000, even though it was released in the 80s) for the original NES. My hopes quickly faded.

The games' pitching-batter interface is very polished, and definitely is the game. Unfortunately, it's full of glitches. In one camera angle, the high and low pitches are distinct, but outside and inside pitches are awful. In another angle, the exact opposite occurs. Why not have an angle that can show both? In two others angles, it's just plain impossible to judge anything. Curveballs are a plain joke, and couldn't even fool Jeremy Burnitz, while sliders and change-ups are just plain evil to hitters.

Don't get me started on the Home run contest. I hit ten home runs on ten pitches with Shinjo. With Barry Bonds, the only way not to hit a home run is to not make contact.

In terms of long-term play, I started off in pro level, and after steady improvement, I easily mastered it and progressed into all-star level. All of sudden, my team was chalked full of Jose Cansecos and Dave Kingmans. Even though I averaged three to four runs a game, almost all my runs were off home runs, the vast majority being solo shots. Troy Glaus drove in more than half my runs. For the very few times I got a single, the next at-bat resulted in a double play. This type of game would bore any true baseball fan to death.

So my offense stagnated, but I won approximately half my games on all-star level. Then I noticed something. Mostly all the games I played were one run games. Out of these, the games were decided in the last two innings. All of them. No matter how much I altered the simulation level, the game would massage the abilities to make it a close score. Any true baseball fan, like me, would be revolted. Part of baseball consists of 12-1 games along with the 3-2 games. Closers proved worthless. To test my hypothesis, I chose to play the Angels versus the Yankees in the playoffs. In every game that I was leading going into the eighth, my pitchers couldn't throw any strike except right down the middle, and all the Yankees became the re-incarnation of Barry Bonds. Even though I could easily strike out Bernie Williams in the second inning, I would give up walk upon walk to Alfonso Soriano. Of course, constantly walking Alfonso is not just a minor glitch; it's release-stopping bug! While losing, Troy Percival would be pitch like Byun Hung Kim in the World Series. After he gives up the lead, he'd pitch just like Pedro. This type of things flies in the face of actual simulation and just plain ruins the game. I found myself not trying to score in the fifth and sixth inning so I can have a chance of winning.

So, the earlier innings are a waste, and the offense is boring as heck, the computer's AI sacrifice's the very notion of simulation, the graphics are terrible, and it's full of annoying glitches. Why would anyone want to play this game? A baseball game is made to be played for a long time, and this doesn't come close. The only thing that redeems is it is that it's still pretty good in two player. Of course, try to get a friend to come over and play a whole season - good luck.

Baseball is the hardest game to simulate, and this game just could measure up. I wasted some serious cash on this, so I hope you don't.

best baseball for PS2

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: February 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

HH 2003 has much improved graphics and an updated roster over 2002. given the High Heat legacy, it plays well giving a good mix of walks vs. strikeouts...

in addition to the general difficulty setting (rookie, pro, allstar, mvp) the game also allows you to adjust a general setting to make the game either more 'arcade' or 'simulation'. when you slide the setting to towards more simulation, a players stats become much bigger factors in whether you make contact hitting or whether you're hitting the corners for strikes.

from an arcade game perspective, it's a very good game but from a simulation, the season mode is a bit of a let down. while the game allows for trades, it will always let you make a trade so you can easily build that super team of all the best players. there is no franchise mode so if the season ends, that's it... no building a dynasty -- there are no college or minor league players in the game (there are some free agents and you can also create your own players). allstar games, playoffs, homerun derbies are all available from the main screen.

all in all it's a fine baseball game, and IMHO, the best available for the PS2 in its representation of pitching vs. batting.

I have a feeling....this will be the best one, ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 19 / 34
Date: January 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

You might as well pre-order this baby, because I believe it will be the King of the baseball simulation video games....of all time! I've read what this game will feature: tons of stat categories, much improved graphics - including detailed stadiums, with smooth ball player animations to go with it - the razor sharp gameplay of this series will return, as expected! High Heat 2002 for PS2 seriously lacked in the grapics/animation category, but this season looks to be what the serious baseball gamer has been waiting for....I only hope that the players and pitches/throws can be controlled with the joystick instead of the dreaded limitation of controlling everything ONLY with the D pad....that wasn't fun. Overall, I believe this will be the best one ever in this genre of video games! Get yours here! And, GO OAKLAND ATHLETICS....who needs that bum, Jason Giambi, anyways!!!! Peace.

Quite possibly the best MLB sim ever made!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 12
Date: March 31, 2002
Author: Amazon User

First off, let me say it, this game rules. Second, to EA: Your constant dragging...baseball games have forced me to go with the 'ol 3DO, who's games aren't as detailed but still manage to satisfy even the most tough to please gamer. It obviously seems that the folks at EA don't care about satisfying baseball fans, they care about graphics. High Heat has changed my outlook entirely on baseball games. I never thought a baseball game could grip me like this after exposure to EA's mediocre imitation of last year. It honestly made me think I could never love or enjoy a baseball game again. But I was wrong, 3DO did a masterful representation of TV baseball with the cool pitcher camera angle. The scorecard on screen looks like Fox's, and the players actually have different stances and have differnet swings unlike Triple Play. The graphics aren't the best, but they are pretty crisp and straightfoward, and it really doesn't matter, because gameplay is what I find influences most baseball fans 9/10, and this has perfect gameplay. I played a demo of it, and I knew I had to have it right away. So here I am now, playing during all waking hours and loving it, do yourselves a favor, pick this up along with your baseball magazines and cards. 3DO should be commended because of it's effort to please the baseball fan and purist when EA and Acclaim wouldn't.

Not much better than HH 2002

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: May 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I don't doubt that this may be the best baseball game for PS2 and standing alone I would have given the game 4 stars, but compared to last year there is little improvement. High Heat 2002 was a great game for its game play, but had horrible graphics and some kinks to work out. 3DO did little to improve the game. There are some improvements from last year however, most noticable is the improved look of the players, 3DO added a little more detail. The stadium graphics have improved slightly, but still terrible. The best thing about the game is that the overall game play remains the same, so the game is still very fun. However, the kinks are still present. The worst is the shifting of camera angles when you are trying to catch a fly ball. As the camera angle shifts the direction you are moving the player shifts so it takes you off the ball or you just may lose sight of the area you are running to. Also a huge flaw in the game is that that camera angle doesn't shift when the ball is thrown past a man, it maintains a close zoom on the ball so you cannot see any of your players no matter how far or close they are to the ball. You may throw it to first for an easy out and the ball gets past the first baseman; you no longer can see the first baseman, so you cannot direct him to the ball, the runner usually ends up scoring or getting to third. The last major flaw with the game is that during the playoffs the game switches from a calender mode to a tourament layout. This is unrealistic because you could win your series in 4 straight while you wait for the other bracket to play 7 games, and your pitchers do not get any rest in the 5 days off. The only pitcher that is ready to go is the pitcher that would have pitched in game 5. And the other pitchers still need the full 5 man rotation to get fully rested. And again, there is NO FRANCHISE MODE. Team sport games should not be on the market without a franchise mode. 3DO would be far ahead of the competition if they can incorporate a franchise mode using the Minor Leagues. And how about some type of celebration after you win the World Series (there is absolutely nothing). Also when a player dives, it takes him 5 seconds to get up (which is way too much time). Also the dive and jump button are both the same button (triangle), so you may want to jump but computer causes you to dive, and then you have to sit on the ground for 5 seconds before you can get up and recover the ball. 3DO needs to seperate the two movements. I really don't understand why 3DO did not fix these flaws since they were in High Heat 2002. The game this year has players in the dug outs, but they are still figures that don't add to the game. After a player scores,he still walk over to the dug out and then disappear. He doesn't enter the dug out, he just diappears. Hey 3DO, how difficult is if for them to walk down stairs to a bunch of their teammates and slap their hands or get angry and throw a bat or just sit down? The game still keeps excellent statistics, but they are very difficult to navigate through. For example, you cannot simultaneously see the person with the highest batting average and the team the person plays on. This goes for nearly all the stats, the team name is not fixed as you scroll horizontally so it is hidden as you check out the stats.
However, this game is far from bad. The game play is still terrific and realistic. You can now adjust the game to whether you would like more of a realistic or arcade feel. So it is attractive to both type of gamers. I like realism so my review is based on my perspective. The pitching is realistic and you must select carefully where to place balls with certain players. Players also have hot streaks and droughts just like in real life. Also a player can perform better or worse than what is expected, which is also attractive about the game. The game remains to be realistic and fun to play, but I expect that a software company can improve on its titles annually. 3DO dropped the ball with improvements and this game is far from perfect. I would still recommend the game if you are looking for a baseball game, however I would rent it first to see if you like it.

With this one, I can see myself playing a whole season.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: March 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I've already read a bunch of reviews on the pros and cons of this game. Here's some comments I'd like to make that may or may not have been overlooked.

I'm used to the All-Star Baseball series and that means I'm used to never drawing a walk. The pitchers in those games never threw a 3-2 ball...at least that's what I remember...someone may correct me. With this game, you'll see that happen more often and it's very refreshing. The other difference is that when you throw a ball, the computer sometimes swings at it to get the strike. I rarely saw that in ASB 2002. ASB might be different. All in all, I found the pitching interface to be a lot of fun.

The gameplay is great and you can finish a game in a little over 1/2 hour. I just went through eight games yesterday in about 5 hours. (It was the weekend...things are slow.) And most of the games were very fun because they weren't high scoring. In many of the games, you're only up or down by a few runs, which keeps you on your toes. I know people think that the graphics aren't the best, but graphics aren't necessary for lasting effect...it's gameplay, and this game has it.

One of the things I don't like are the limited rosters. I think there's only 750 total players in the game. Do you get a 40-man roster in the post-season? Time will tell...I practically just bought the game and didn't make it that far.
Also, it doesn't have a franchise mode, like ASB 2003. Although, I'm not sure if this is a drawback, because by the time you finish a couple of seasons, you'll probably be sick of the game. I guess this is only good if your seasons are shorter.

What I'd really like to see in next year's games would be the ability to make your own leagues and schedules. I always wanted to group the Phillies, Yankees, Orioles, Mets, and Red Sox into one division. It'd also be nice to contract some teams I don't like.

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