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OH ASB! Where has thou gone?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: March 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I've been a huge fan of the All Star Baseball series for quite some time now. I have incredibly fond memories of ASB 2000 and 2001 for the N64. They were the Ali of Baseball Sims. The best. 2000 was great, and 2001 was even better!

Then, the ground fell out.

ASB 2002 for the PS2 was a travesty! A pure, unadulterated travesty. They destroyed the magnificent batting system...Your outfielders ran like they were in tar...and the games took way too long to play.

Now, ASB 2003 is out, which I have played on both GameCube and the PS2. It's better than ASB 2002, but not by much. ASB 2002 gets one star...ASB 2003 gets two.

The batting interface was improved since 2002, but still not as great as 2000 or 2001. At least now you have variable speeds. There's one problem, you CAN'T HIT THE BALL. The pitches...ALL OF THE PITCHES...are too fast. You can either move or swing. You don't have time for both.

Well, they fixed the problems with outfielders running speed. Now they run faster than light! Nice and realistic. I hit (when I luckily make contact with the ball) the ball to someplace there is nobody, within in a milisecond, BOOM, there's an outfielder. It's crazy.

The announcers rarely actually say anything useful, and are sometimes outright wrong. For example, I had a man on first, two men out, and I struck out. "He strikes out with bases loaded!" Ummm, I never even got to second, let alone third. Furthermore, there's no umpire. I never know when I've pitched a strike or a ball until the display comes back up.

What I did like: The graphics. They were great. That's about it.

Save your money for ASB 2004, maybe. Why do video game companies do this? Acclaim had the best baseball game ever, and now they have the worst. How does that happen?

Great game, but a MAJOR problem

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: March 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I gotta tell you, I'm pretty much addicted to this game. Everything about the gameplay is very realistic and the graphics are intense. It takes a little getting used to, but its worth the time.

But, there is one major problem. This is a quote from the booklet..."WARNING: You cannot save Franchise or Expansion mode games using current Memory Cards...Mid Season Franchise or Expansion requires 1 File and 153 Blocks to save. Current Memory Cards have a capacity of 59 blocks."

You CANNOT Franchise or create an Expansion team! I think that is a major negative for this game. If you buy this game, I would highly suggest getting the new Gamecube 16X Memory Card... it is an extra [item price], but it will be very worth it for this game, and, I'm sure, future games will have the same issue. That card has something like 1000+ blocks, so you won't ever need to buy a new card again.

Hope this helps.

This game has stuff never before seen in a baseball game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: March 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Home many baseball games have broken bats? How many baseball games put every strike-out you record with a K on the outfield walls during the game? How many baseball games during the season have the updated scores from around the league on the scoreboards where the updates are displayed in the real stadiums? How many baseball games have a 20 year franchise with farm teams, injured players which you can put on the 15 or 60 day disabled list, retiring players, hall of fame inductees, and all-time records since the dawn of baseball that are kept track of and can be broken for 20 YEARS? How many baseball games have baseball cards that you can buy to free up extra teams, stadiums (classic and fictional for a total of over 40), jerseys, and cheats? How many basball games have over 15 different picthes? How many baseball games have historical players? How many baseball games have a baseball trivia game? Hom many baseball games have blimps and planes that fly around during the game? How many baseball games have weather forecasts for every game during the season? How many baseball games have a pitch history and hit-chart recored for the entire game which can be veiwed at any time? How many baseball games have a hot & cold zone that is updated every game which can be viewed at any point in a game for the entire season? How many baseball games are purely simualtion without arcade BS?

ONE AND ONLY ONE, ASB 2003!!!

Almost as good as the real thing!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: March 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The graphics in this game are so realistic, during replays I almost forgot I was watching a computer game and not a real one. The details are simply wonderful, base runners wiping out the second baseman while sliding, broken bats, etc. Great stuff!

However, the navigational menus and on-screen pitch selectors are pretty hard to read. There are a lot of tiny little words on a huge screen and you really need to squint to see them. I'm sure that after playing it for a while I won't need to rely so much on the selector, but it's giving me eye-strain in the meantime.

The most disappointing thing for the moment, though, is that the game requires a huge amount of memory to be saved. It's very frustrating that I'll need to get another, larger, memory card just for this game. But I will go ahead and get the card, because the Franchise and Expansion modes sound so cool, I simply have to. It makes me think that Acclaim is in cahoots with the memory card manufacturers.

That aside, the game play and graphics are worth the price of the game alone.

Awesome!Realistic!Couldn't be better!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is awesome. As much as it is real with the correct team players and faces, the graphics are extremelly good. Not only can you play a series as if it was the World Series, you can make seasons, franchises, expansions, and more. You can create your own player and adjust their skills, height, weight, e.t.c. In a franchise, you can play 20 seasons of nonstop fun and games. Trade players and get Barry Bonds on your team or get Giambi, or A-Rod. This game rocks so much that I can't even type it all on the screen. This is really a have to get!

ASB 2003:AMAZING!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: March 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

What can I say? I have been a die-hard Yankee fan my whole life, and this game definetly fits the standards of a great baseball game. I had ASB '98 on N64, which was awesome, and this game blew me away when i first played it. The graphics look great, and controlls are easy too.

This game has season and franchise modes, along with batting practice and home run derby. It also has legendary hall-of-famers like Reggie Jackson, Whitey Ford, and Yogi Berra.

If you are a true baseball fan you shoudl get his game.

Great game, but not quite 5 stars

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: April 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

All Star Baseball 2003 has a few too many problems to rate it 5 stars, but it is still a very good game.

The graphics are very crisp and clean. From the stadiums to the players and fans it looks great. The only thing I've found that is lacking is the city backdrops. They are very blurry and lack detail. I've seen baseball games on N64 that have equal cityscapes. They also could have used more than 6 people clapping for the fans. These are minor details though and don't really detract from the game unless you want to nitpick.

Gameplay can range from easy to hard depending on the settings and I recommend using the assisted fielding and batting until you get used to the speed of the game. Unassisted batting was the hardest thing for me to pick up, but it really makes the game more challenging, which makes it more realistic. The pitches move quickly and it takes some guesswork, but after a few games you'll be okay.

Fielding is very easy with or without the assisted fielding on. I recommend having it off because it's no fun to have computer catch and throw for you.

The soundtrack is decent, with good color commentating. Although, the least they could've done was add a "strike!" or "Ball!" from the ump. You have to watch the pitch count in the upper corner to find out what the call is if the commentators don't tell you (and sometimes they don't). And next time I hope there are a couple of different homerun quotes, because yes, I know "that ball was ab-so-lute-ly crushed."

The AI can be great at times, but I've seen a lot of passed balls at first base and once when I had a runner on second, I grounded to third and the 3B turned and fired to third with no one there! And then the only way to stop the play was for me to round the bases because nobody would go get the ball! It's nice to get an in the park HR, but this was strange. But it hasn't happened again, so that's a good sign.

And as far as the memory card goes, get the 16X. It's easier to deal with (no switching cards), it's really worth it, and it's huge! I now have all of my games loaded on it, a baseball franchise, a football franchise, created players, and numerous other game files. It's really worth the [money] when you compare it to the price of 16 regular mem cards [money]. And since you'd have to buy 2 cards (at least) to play this game, you might as well get the 16X and have room to spare.

Over all it's a very enjoyable game. Hopefully next time they'll add some more exciting extras (ex: no cheering or remote happiness by the batter or team when you hit a walk off homerun). But it gives me my baseball fix just fine for right now.

ok but bad for season play

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

There are a lot of things about this game that are great: the players batting is very realistic, the commentary is clear and applies to the gameplay, and the players remind you of the actual people they represent. However, the gameplay is among the worst in baseball video game history. Running the bases correctly is an experiment in futility. Hits that should clearly be a double (off the wall, in the gap) inevitably end up with the runner being thrown out at second because the game stops the player at first and you have to madly press on the gamepad to get them to run to second, which they do inevitably, but too late. Fielding is inaccurate for the outfield. Players stand under where the ball is dropping and it bounces in front of them. Also, every time I play in the season mode, the game ends up letting the better teams from that year (especially the mets and yanks) score 12 runs. These are great teams, but not that great every game. Anyway, I was sorely disappointed with the season mode for all of the details mentioned. But the game is a lot of fun for a buddy to come over and play with. If you are looking to just mess around and play a video game once in a while it's not bad at all, especially for a reduced cost (I would say the game is worth about [money]), but stay away if you want to have a long term investment in a fantasy league.

Dissapointing: by teddy

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Acclaim made a big point in thier graphical technology. While improved they don't live up to expectations. Hitting is almost impossible and commentary is bland.Some good features like create a team save All Star from a 1, but don't waste your money on it.

Good? Yes. Great? Heck No.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: March 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Like nearly all games to come from the ASB line of late, this game is nice, but not without its flaws. Generally, the developers didn't put too much effort into the presentation in the way that there is a wealth of menus you must navigate to get to where you want to get, and the background is never-changing, with a uniform font. It is nowhere as easy to decipher as games from EA Sports and 989 Sports. However, there are high points to this game. The animation and graphics are miles above competition. I'm sure you're waiting on the edge of your seat for me to mention Franchise Mode. Yes, it is present. No, it is neither perfected nor polished. No Amateur Draft. Confusing Menus. Standings and Stats get fu...uhh...messed up upon post season entry, and the schedule is extremely hard to navigate. Another huge irk I have would be the lack of isolated instatant replay, the only instant reply is automatically initiated after each play at a set speed from a set camera. Finally, the controls are unorthodox and frustrating. However, my review is based solely upon this perticular game and therefore I have no recommendations in regard to purchasing High Heat, Triple Play, HomeRun King, or World Series Baseball if you are looking for a reccomendation. Sorry if this game got your hopes up - its not worth it.

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