User Rating: 8.4 | High Heat Major League Baseball 2004 PS2
First, the good news: High Heat is a faithful, addictive rendition of the game. Sure, the graphics don't step up to the plate like EA or Sega's offerings, but trust me, they're good enough. Fielders' animations are surprisingly lifelike -- I'll always get a kick out of seeing a shortstop stretch to reach a grounder then flip around to make an off-balance throw to first. The ballparks looks fantastic, and most importantly, the throwing/batting/pitching physics are dead-on. (The result of 3DO's pursuit of "gameplay perfection".) Hit a curve late and you'll fly out to the opposite field; nibble an outside fastball and you'll ground out in the infield. PITCHING is actually more fun than batting, which is no knock against the batting game. The delivery and design of the pitches is just flawless. Each pitch hits the plate differently, depending on your pitcher's delivery, arm strength and control. Overhanders power the ball in, while sidearmers squeak in low-ball pitches in the corners and inches above the plate. And the pitching AI is fantastic -- you'll strike out plenty of times on fastball/changeup or slider/screwball combos, or have a field day trying to hit knuckleballs. The franchise mode is where I had really high expectations, based on Madden's model of franchise perfection. For the most part, High Heat delivers. All the standards are here (injuries, budgets, trading, create-a-player, rookie draft, etc). You also have control over your team's farm league, with the ability to promote/demote players in-and-out of AAA, AA, and A clubs. It's reasonably fun to send your annoying major league failures down to the A club, and bring up that 18-year-old pitching phenom with the 100-rated arm (and 50-rated control) to the majors and watch your own personal Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn (remember Charlie Sheen?) freak out in-game. Unfortunately, the blemishes on High Heat can make this game occasionally maddening to play. The major flaw is the "save" feature, which only allows you to save ONE season or ONE series or ONE edited roster. Start up a new series/season/roster, and you automatically (and without warning) lose the old one. Forgive my ineloquence, but this is totally stupid. There's also the annoying camera angle cut when a line drive blows past your infielders into the outfield. The angle cuts to a cinematic viewpoint (away from the overhead) and makes it impossible for your outfielder to field the ball in the weird 3/4-view. And THE most annoying bug by far is the FREEZE-UP which can crash your PS2 in the post-game box score screen. It's just heartbreaking if you've just pitched a shutout (which is HARD in this game) and right before you log out of the box score wrap-up to the season mode to save your achievement, the frigging game LOCKS UP on you. That said, I still love this game. But then again, I haven't tried MVP or 2K3, so maybe I'm missing out.
