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Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001
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Score: 90%
ESRB: Everyone
Publisher: 3DO
Developer: 3DO
Media: CD/1
Players: 1 - 2
Genre: Sports
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Graphics & Sound:
If I were to say to you that this game has some of the best graphics for a sports game, would you believe me? Well, you better, because the graphics are superb. The stadiums are accurate to their real life counterparts, the uniforms are accurate in design and color, and the numbers on the back of the uniform match the corresponding player. Each player even looks like his or her real life counterparts. Like most games, resolution, shadows, lighting, etc., are all controllable to match your system specs. The sound is top of the line with music, announcers, and even hecklers in the crowd. Each sound component's volume can be controlled as well.
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Gameplay:
Options, options, option. This game has so many options you can almost get lost in them all. You start by choosing if you want to batting practice or not (a good idea for beginners), play an exhibition game, or play a whole 162 game season. Each teams roster is an accurate representation from the 1999 season. After choosing a team to play, or the 'Home Team', you decide on the computer-controlled team, or the 'Away Team'. This team can also be controlled by another person via modem, Internet, or network. If you are up to bat first, you can either hit or bunt the ball, controlling the angle or level of the bat. You also have the option of guessing the pitch (if you turn on this feature from the pause menu). Guessing the pitch correctly increases your chance of hitting the ball. After you have hit the ball, base running is one of the things that can be controlled by the computer. This is a good idea to begin with, because it lets you focus on actually hitting the ball. If you do decide to control your base runner, you can control various things. You can advance or retreat all base runners. You can tell a certain base runner to advance or retreat, or even steal a base. If your team is on the field, you will control the pitcher mainly. Each pitcher in the league has specific pitches in his repertoire and is better at some than others. You might keep that in mind while choosing a team to play. After a hit is made, a tracking outline appears on the field and indicates where the ball is going to land and the computer will give you control to the fielder that is closest to the ball, although it is still your job to get under the ball. The player will also be able to jump or dive for the ball. After getting the ball, and if you were slow and were not able to catch it for an out, you want to throw it to the appropriate baseman or catcher. You can also run to the base or run home, but don't expect to actually get there in time most of the time. Some of the team options that you have are defensive substitutions, pinch hitter, and pinch runners. You can change the pitcher when the original pitcher is getting fatigued. There are many more options which you can control like outfield or infield spread (which is best) and you can learn them through playing the game. |
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Difficulty:
This will be entirely up to you. The games default setting is to set everything to automatic (like base running, outfield positioning, etc.) and let you concentrate on pitching, hitting and fielding. This is great to begin with and when you want to increase the challenge, you can turn off the automatic settings one at a time so you can get used to each one individually as you go along. In playing an exhibition game, you have the option of playing in Manage Only Mode that gives you the chance to help your team without swinging the bat or throwing the ball. Instead, you make all the decisions and let the automatic interface carry out your instructions. A good idea, like I said before, is to practice your batting at batting practice or at a Home Run Derby you can have with your friends. Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001 has lots of options, and I've only scratched the surface of them in this review. If you are a baseball fan, this is the game you need to get. It is everything baseball!
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Game Mechanics:
With High Heat Baseball 2001, you will be able to use a combination of your keyboard and another controller (gamepads seems to work best). You choose what you are doing using the various buttons on your gamepad, including which direction you pitch the ball or the angle of the bat for hitting with your directional pad. If you choose to turn off many of the automatic settings in the game, you can also utilize your keyboard to control various options. It takes a little getting used to switching fielders, choosing which pitch to use, and remembering which button does what, but after a little practice, it will be become second nature.
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-Wickserv, GameVortex Communications AKA Eric Wickwire |
Minimum System Requirements:
Windows 95/98, Pentium 166 or faster, 32 MB RAM or higher, 4XCD-ROM or higher, 2 MB Direct 3D compatible PCI or AGP graphics card or higher, Direct sound certified 8 bit sound card (16 bit recommended, 100% Windows 95/98 compatible keyboard, 100% compatible mouse, DirectX 7.0a (included), DirectX compatible gamepads and joysticks For multi-player games: 28.8 modem or greater (modem/Internet play, TCI/IP or IXP (network play) |
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Test System:
GX-450xl running Windows 98, 256 RAM, Creative Sound Blaster 64CPCI with Boston Acoustic Digital Media Theatre, STB Velocity 4400 with RIVA TNT chip, DirectX 7, 32 Mb RAM, 6X24 DVD-ROM. |
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