"All-Star Baseball 2002" - Gamecube

[Well, this probably wasn't worthy of a week of wait but here we are. I don't want to skip a game, so here we go. Apologies first off: I played this game for almost 2 hours and didn't realize I wasn't recording, so I quickly turned the game back on to get some screenshots for the review, so they may not vary much.]

The latest (in the context of this blog, anyway) in the series of baseball games designed purely to torture me is going to be All-Star Baseball 2002. This one was developed by Iguana Entertainment, or Acclaim Studios Austin-- the people who made the Turok games.

Back in '95, they acquired official MLB licensing to make a game called Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball, which came out for a variety of consoles-- and eventually that game became All-Star Baseball, and this 'n' here (2002), was their first entry in that series onto the PS2 and Gamecube. Also, for some reason this game came out on PS2 in Europe and Japan, but the Gamecube version didn't. I'm not sure why.

Let's have a look into it:

The internet tells me this is Derek Jeter, whose name I've heard at least 100x as often as I've actually seen him.

----- Playthrough -----

All-Star Baseball 2002 actually features quite a few modes, most of which I don't have pictures for due to the aforementioned (not pressing the record button) incident, but use your imagination and you'll be 95% of the way there, because they all look basically the exact same anyway.

You have a Quick Play mode which throws you into a fast selection and a quick game, which is also matched by "Exhibition" mode, which is basically the same thing but with more options. Also in the 'one match' modes is "All-Star Game", where you play either the National League All-Stars or the American League All-Stars. They're both from the US but due to some history with the MLB they're split into two leagues. Go figure.

This game forced me to learn the difference between a series and a season, and now I'm going to tell you what they are.

The multiple match modes in the game are "series" and "season" mode. In season mode you can play an entire baseball season, which 160-some games (you will literally be playing this for the rest of your life if you do this because the games take almost an hour). Series mode, on the other hand, allows you to skip all the season shenanigans and go straight to the World Series with two teams of your choosing-- which is best of 7 matches.

That's pretty much it for the normal modes, so let's talk about how the actual game plays in a match.

Yes, that Acclaim Sports logo is pretty much there at all times.

Batting in ASB2002 is a little more involved than any of the baseball games I've played on NES or PCE-- the A button swings the bat, but you have a few more responsibilities now. By moving the c-stick, you can actually aim your hit, which introduces some strategy. You also have to use the second or so after the pitcher throws the ball to move your hit icon on-top of where the ball is going before pressing A to hit it.

You can also hold X to bunt the ball, or press B to enable power swing mode (which is for going for homeruns, but doesn't allow you to aim the ball).

And if you do some combination of those things, you can strike out while saying you knew what you were doing.

As a pitcher, you're given a few options depending on what team or pitcher you're playing-- but I really don't know what most of them mean or how they differ in any meaningful way. For the most part, you pick a type of pitch and then A to pitch the ball. You also can steer the pitches inside the strike-zone (or out of it) with the analog stick. When you have the ball in the field, pressing the four buttons on the controller corresponds to throwing to that base (A is home, X is second, etc).

That just leaves the unusual modes in the game.

Motion blur added for dramatic effect (not really, the game just be like that).

If you go back to the main menu you can go into batting practice, which is exactly what it sounds like, or play "Home Run Derby," which is where you play as all the best batters from the NL and the AL and try to only hit home runs. Everything else is worth nothing. It's pretty difficult to do, I played a whole round and only hit one home run.

And anyway after that I was pretty much done playing All-Star Baseball 2002 for the rest of my life.

----- Review -----

How long did I play?
Around 2 hours.

How much did I beat?
I really didn't beat anything, I just tried the game modes out.

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Intuitive Design: 

How easy is it to intuitively understand the game?

It took me a few minutes of confusion to understand how the base throwing scheme works, because it's totally different from any other baseball game we've played so far, but it's intuitive enough if you press all the buttons and observe what happens. Everything else has got plenty of markers and graphics on the screen to show you what you're doing.

Gameplay / Difficulty: 

How rewarding does playing the game feel?

At least the AI in this game doesn't feel completely unfair like it has in previous baseball games played on this blog. Being able to control your hits and moving the strike thing to hit the ball is kind of fun, I guess. Other than that, baseball can only be so exciting.

Excitement level: Hitting a home run and then going for a refreshing jog around the bases.

Depth: 

How deep/long is the game?

If you actually play a whole season in this game you're going to be entertained for awhile because 160-whatever matches is going to take a significant portion of the next couple months for you I imagine. You might also actually be out of your mind just a little bit, but that's okay. Let me know how it goes.

As far as just casually trying the game out until you've played a little of everything, apparently there's a couple hours worth.

Sound / Graphics: 

How's the sound? How are the graphics?

The sound in this game is pretty good-- there's certainly a distinction between different levels of hits by the bat for instance, and there's also a pretty significant amount of recorded announcer dialogue, none of which I think I heard more than once while playing. I'm sure you'd start to sooner rather than later though.

There really isn't any music at all during the game and the menu music isn't that exciting, so I'm gonna have to give a thumbs down in that department.

Personal Chord: 

Does the game have that undefinable "something" for me?

I mean, look: no. I'm sure you know that by now.

Should You Play: 

Is there a reason to even bother with this one?

As always with sports games I think I'll just recommend that you play whatever the newest incarnation of the licensed version is. There are very few (but there are some) that are worth playing that aren't the newest one, and if you aren't a sports fan (I'm not, if you couldn't tell) I wouldn't bother.

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