Home Run King Preview

Eric Young aims at first base.

The GameCube sports game library will be receiving a new take on baseball from Sega developer Wow Entertainment this month. First shown on tape at last year's Tokyo Game Show, Home Run King will offer an alternative to the more technical sports games on the system by featuring accessible, arcade-style gameplay and by focusing on speedy play. We had a chance to sit down with a nearly complete build of the game, which has been in development for roughly a year, and put it through its paces. We found the game's pickup-and-play controls complemented by slick detailed graphics and a solid assortment of game options. Our time with Home Run King revealed a game that looks to be coming together pretty well.

You'll find a well-rounded assortment of modes to choose from--exhibition, season, playoffs, and home run derby--which offer a decent amount of variety to be explored. Exhibition lets you hop into a quick game against the AI or a human opponent. Season will let you take your team to the playoffs and, if you have the skills, the World Series itself. The playoffs mode is slightly different, as you'll be able to participate only in a series of playoff games. Finally, home run derby lets you compete against up to 20 human opponents or the AI in a turn-based competition to find out who the home run king is. Each mode will let you tweak a variety of options to give you more or less control over your team depending on your skill level. For example, fielding can be set to fully automatic, which lets the computer handle everything, or set to manual, which requires you to stay on top of the action. As with most of the adjustable options in the game, you'll find gradations between the two settings to let you find the most comfortable setup. In a nod to its arcade leanings, HRK will reward you with points as you play, and they are tallied at the end of each game.

In addition to gameplay modes, Home Run King will offer a comprehensive create-a-character feature, which will let you create a virtual alter ego for yourself. You'll be able to customize a host of features on your player, ranging from their faces and hair to their shin guards, socks, and shoes. Besides having the ability to plug their custom players into any team, dedicated players can create a team of up to 20 almost exclusively custom players.

Behold Ichiro's mighty swing.

Control in Home Run King is responsive and makes good use of the GameCube controller. Pitching the analog stick lets you select your pitch by pushing a direction that corresponds to the onscreen pitch type selector, aim when throwing the ball, and select a base to pick off. You'll also be able to select a pickoff with the D-pad. The A button throws a normal pitch, B triggers a pickoff throw, X throws a slow pitch, and Y throws a fast pitch. You'll be able to adjust your fielders' positions with the GC's triggers, with L shifting the infield and R shifting the outfield. Taking control of your fielders is pretty basic--the control stick moves your fielder and selects which base to throw to once you've caught the ball. A throws the ball, and B lets you switch the fielder you're currently controlling. In addition, B has your fielder run to a selected base if you choose not to throw the ball.