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IF YOU HAVE HH2002, DON'T BOTHER WITH THIS ONE!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 13
Date: February 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I enjoyed last years game but there's so little difference with this years that it's not worth the money. I'll take it back today. The players are on the teams they were on last year. The big trades that happened aren't in this game. There's no franchise mode, only season mode and they even botched that. It has the 2001 season schedule, not this years. So if it has the players on the wrong teams and the wrong schedule, why bother? As much as I wish Kenny Lofton was still on the Tribe, it just isn't right.
The graphics are a little better than they were but still not as good as All Star Baseball or even Triple Play. I don't even care about the graphics I just want this years' schedule because I like to play the game that is scheduled in real life to be played that day. Good bye, high heat.

Problem with Disc quality

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: July 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

We purchased this game in high anticipation...and found that our PS2 system could not recognize/read the CD. We returned it for a replacement at a major retailer and the replacement CD had the same problem. I think there is a quality issue with 3DO's manufacturing process and I fear purchasing any more of their products because it is so hard to return games. Fortunately, the store agreed to give us a store credit to buy something else when we returned the second copy. Major bummer!!

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.

And the Difference Is?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I see no difference between 2002 and 2003.

Graphics ruin the game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: August 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I was about to buy this game until I actually played it at the store. The graphics were worse in this then in MLB 99 for the PS1. The gameplay was however pretty good and realistic. But insted of wasting 50 bucks on this buy Triple Play 2002 its a 100 times better.

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.

Could be so much better...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

High Heat 2003 gets its 3 stars only because it's the best baseball sim out there - by default. I really can't understand what the developers have been doing for the past year, since 2003 looks almost exactly like 2002.

Cons:

Graphics! I don't need the latest 3D graphics, but please, make some improvements. An animated crowd would be nice, as would more realistically rendered players. And please, don't allow players to walk through each other!

Scouting Reports. I know that scouts aren't always accurate in real life either, but at least they don't appear absolutely random. I'd like to use this feature of the game, but frankly it's unusable in its present form.

Windows. When you manage a team, you need lots of information at your fingertips. Thankfully, HH2003 provides. Even so, I'd like to see it allow multiple windows. It's a pain to spend so much time navigating between screens.

Pros:

Despite it's problems, High Heat is still the best baseball sim out there. It remains pretty true to the game and the stats are fairly accurate representations of real life, although HH2003 seems to be a slight step back in those terms. The biggest reason I bought this game was because it did fix most of the bugs of 2002, and allowed me to play it on Windows XP.

If you enjoy 2002, and it works, don't bother with 2003 unless you really want updated rosters.

Pretty Good

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: June 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The best American baseball game I've played. I haven't played the other baseball titles for PS2, but it sounds like TP hasn't changed much, AS2003 sounds not bad. I have to say to the game makers again, check out some of the Japanese baseball games like World Stadium or even RBI baseball from the old school. Anyways:

Pros:

Pretty good gameplay.

Defence and baserunning are easy to control.

Graphics also good.

The tuning options are great, so anyone can completely customize their game. For example, if Ichiro is getting thrown out on too many grounders you can either make throwing speed lower or runner speed higher.

Staduims look good.

Cons:

When batting, the ball is a little difficult to pick up. Mayby they should use a ball cursor like TP baseball.

If there is a blooper over the infield and the shortstop dives for it and misses, the outfielder is also moving in that direction and sometimes misses the ball. This is a bad problem which should've been fixed during the PSX games.

No franchise mode.

If you're playing against the computer, sometimes the pitches get too predictable. For example, if I'm throwing a lot of balls, it's too hard to throw strikes. This fewature is a good idea, but after getting behind in the count 2-0, throwing a strike thats not grooved is quite hard.

After an out and the infielders throw the ball around the horn, their throwing motion looks really weird like they're sissys or something.

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.

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.

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