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The best sports game yet created!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 29 / 29
Date: September 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I love baseball, and I am a huge fan of it. And of course, I wanted a baseball game for my PS2. Now, don't get me wrong, there are many baseball games to choose from out there. You have MVP Baseball 2003, All-Star Baseball, and the just plain stupid MLB Slugfest by Midway. Honestly, I don't know who would like the Midway sports titles, but that's another story. My point is, stacked up against all of the other baseball, title World Series Baseball 2k3 is by far the best. Yes, this game does put gameplay way ahead of presentation, but does that matter? The graphics are passable, but the gameplay is out of this world! When I had All-Star Baseball 2003, the game was fun, but I rarely played, and when I did, I found myself quitting the game after maybe four or five innings. WSB 2k3 was playale for ages. I play probably two games a day now. I love it that much! It is another superb title from Sega Sports, and should be bought by any baseball lover. My Rating-9.1.

Very, very, very good

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: April 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Simply put, this is the best baseball game, and maybe the best sports game ever. Sega perfectly blended great gameplay, stellar graphics, and tons of extras to keep this addictive. Let me quickly compare the other 3 basball titles:

ASB - Probably the most realistic, but easily the most boring to actually play. Good graphics, and it's very in depth...too bad the batter/pitcher interface stinks. This game just isn't fun.

High Heat - I had this and returned it. The graphics are AWFUL, this game looks like it's from 1997. Game controls are cumbersome. There is nothing slick or sexy about this game, everything looks generic. Very intense franchise mode though, you manage all the way down through A ball. There's also a slider for every conceivable option, which is nice.

MVP - 2nd best game after WSB 2K3. Admittedly, it's pretty good, but WSB just has it beat in every category. I didn't like how you just swing at pitches, rather than aim your swing. The pitch meter (a la golf games) doesn't work well in a baseball context.

Then there's WSB 2K3. The graphics are amazing, and the player animations just make it better. Stadiums and fields were rendered to perfection, even city buildings near stadiums were captured perfectly. Player faces are almost photo-realistic. The gameplay itself is easy to understand, but not simple enough that it requires no skill. Scores usually reflect real games, with some pitcher dominated 2-1 games, some real exciting slug fests, and some that are in between. And you'll see all kinds of hits and outs and different plays, there's a TON of variation. The add-ons are sweet. ESPN is partnered with it so that the whole game has an ESPN broadcast/SportsCenter feel to it, complete with graphics and music. The franchise mode is great, with everything you can imagine. There's a home run challenge, and some on-line capabilities I haven't explored yet. Each team even has 4 retro and one alternate jersey, which I love...there's 5 old ballparks and HOF players to play with. Pretty good adjustability too with the sliders.

Look, this is the best baseball game for now, and I am an EA loyalist saying that. You could get MVP and be happy, but get WSB 2K3 and be ecstatic instead.

Happy with my decision....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: April 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Like many of my fellow Baseball fans, I wasnt sure what game to buy this year. But I finally made a decision based on various reviews and got WSB 2k3.

For me I need a game that is as realistic as possible stat wise and AI wise. The graphic arent that really important, but I dont want something that doesnt even make an attempt at looking..good.

But 2k3, was a pleasant surprise. The graphic are good, the stadiums are very impressive, the players are...ok. The frame rate that people have complained about soo much, I havent seen yet.

AS for the rest of the game. Well let me explain this. I am playing a season with the Indians, and I was playing my 3rd game against the "O's". It was 3-4 O's up, and come the 8th inning they put in their setup man, and then come the 9th they put in their closer. I was pleasantly surprised that the AI was smart enough to put in a closer and setup man in the correct situations.

ANother aspect I like, is the time off factor. Again since I am the Tribe, I have Elis Burks, and if you know him , ya know he cant play everygame. SO if you dare do so, he will go down on an injury or if you over play him he just wont be able to produce. That is just one little thing I really like about this game.

The game is EXTREMLY deep as in manager and stats. You control every aspect when it comes to your lineups and Minors, and contracts and everything else! it is really impressive

One thing I dont like is that the managers are fabricated, and you cant change the names. Like whats a game if you cant see Pinella freaking out and gettin thrown!

Oh well. I like the game and I think I really made a good choice. If you are a guy who likes stats, and baseball played "correctly" I would get this game

Best all-around baseball game this year

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: April 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

World Series 2k3 has the best gameplay I've seen since Triple Play 2001 (the only good version of Triple Play). A friend and I sampled WS2k3 and EA's MVP. While MVP has a challenging (and fun) pitching interface, World Series has the best all-around gameplay.

Some features that World Series has, and MVP doesn't:

-WS has a timed hitting mode, which, for me, is the most realistic way to hit. You don't have to guess where the ball is going to be pitched (and if the pitch is anywhere else, [you'll miss]), you just time your swing and try to go with the pitch.
(Also, you can turn off all the interface graphics for both pitching and hitting, so you don't have to play a cat-and-mouse game with the cursors, like you're playing Missle Command, or something.)
-WS has manual leadoffs.
-WS has manual dives (I may be wrong, but I don't think MVP has manual dives).
-Realistic fielding. The fielding in MVP is atrocious.

One word of warning:
Even if you're new to the game, the normal pitching velocity is very slow and hard to time. You need to adjust the pitch speed to "Very Fast". Very fast is actually easier to hit and seems more realistic than "Normal" or "Fast".

WSB Coming Out on top

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: February 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've had a chance to play it and I'm lost for words. This is by far the best baseball game ever produced. It has incredible graphics and gameplay, including a deep franchise mode which will keep you busy all year long. The AI has improved deeply the games are much more realistic and fun. They've added new retro players and ballparks, including uniforms. This game is #1 and belongs in your home.

World Series 2k3- The Early Verdict

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: February 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Early word coming out of the Gamers Convention is this year's title is already making strides to improve on last year's release. Some of the things that are going to be improved are being able to change the swing of the batter from a normal swing to a power swing, sort of the way that we were able to do on the old Genesis titles. There will be five old school ball parks, one of the really cool things for us retro folks is that every team is going to have a choice of five different uniforms to wear during any game, preseason, season, or career. My guess is the uniforms will be the home, road, alternate, retro home and retro road or even two seperate retros from different time eras.
A lot of the people I talked to were disappointed about last year's AI when it came to changing your pitcher....have no fear this year you will have to warm up your pitcher therefore bringing a more strategic angle on managing in late inning situations. Once again as in last year's titles you will have the chance to take your franshise through an UNLIMITED number of seasons and this year you will be able to fire your manager during any time...even in the middle of the season if he gets you off to a 3-21 start.
The other thing that was supposed to be new for this game is more numerous individual and team rewards after each season building on last years few awards that you were rewarded at the end of the season. The early scoops on this game sound much better than both MVP Baseball '03 (EA's new title), all star baseball 2004, or HH 2004. As far as the gameplay and detail. Just gotta wait until it comes out now to update this review which is based solely on knowledge leaked out by the sega sports team.

No question - this game is the best out there...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: April 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Thankfully I rented High Heat, which many say is the best game out there. There is simply no competition - World Series 2K3 blows this title away in every respect.

As someone who was driven away from baseball games by the bazooka home runs and intelligence-insulting ease of Triple Play a few years back, I can honestly say that World Series 2K3 is the game we've been waiting for since Tony Larousa on SEGA. The graphics are fantastic, the gameplay is smooth, and the Franchise/stat tracking is solid. Finally there's a baseball game with the same realism of Madden.

When the only thing you'd change about a game is its use of the analog stick over the directional pad, you've got a game you can stick with. You won't be disappointed with this purchase.

Good, but not perfect

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: April 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Well i was very excited when i got wsb 2k3. It has a deep franchise mode, complete rosters, excellent stat keeping, and challenging gameplay. The problem is that once you figure out how to hit and field well, you end up with all these games in the teens(the score). You then switch it over to a harder level and you can't win. There isn't a happy medium. Another thing I noticed is that some of the graphics are a little unrealistic. The ground doesn't always look real, the background seems to shake like it has parkensense disease, and sometimes the faces are blurry. There are parts that have very good graphics though, like the replay. I really like actually warming people up in the bullpen, choosing my coaches, promoting/demoting players to and from the majors/minors. That part is great. I personally think it is the best baseball game out there right now for PS2(I have played all of them) and I encourage you to buy it if you are having a hard choice deciding between two. It has very good visual display, of course my last game was Triple Play 2002 so this is a big upgrade. Even though it has Jason Giambi on the cover, it is still good.

Disappointed

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 14
Date: March 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

After reading as many reviews as possible in attempting to decide b/t WSB and MVP, I finally made the decision and went with WSB. I had seen and played the XBox version, and was assuming that the PS2 version would play the same way. I was wrong - the PS2 version is marred by jittery frame rates which give the feeling of something being played on a slow PC. It detracted from the depth of the game for me instantly. And it is deep, no argument. The stat keeping and franchise modes are plusses. Nontheless, I returned the game and purchased MVP. While MVP is not perfect (difficulty striking out the CPU, even with good pitchers and "good pitches"; an abnormal level of line-outs; infielders move quicker than should be able to; baserunners down the first base line are rather slow, the result of which is very few infield hits), it is much more enjoyable to play. EA has cured the "arcade" style of play (i.e. too many HRs) that hurt the Triple Play series and has done an excellent job taking video baseball genre to a new level with its pitching meter. Bottom line - do yourself a favor and buy MVP if you have a PS2, and rent both if you have an XBox.

WSB is back on top!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Finally WSB is back. This series started as a great game on the genesis and continued on being great right up until the Saturn. WSB 2k1 on the DC was awful and nearly killed the series but now finally the game is back to greatness. Great graphics, Great gameplay, Lots of customization options. Sega has put together the complete package again.

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