Baseball Mogul 2003 Review
What was once groundbreaking is now mundane, since this new sports management game remains largely unchanged from what was so refreshing five years ago.
Baseball Mogul was a bit of a revelation when it showed up in 1997. The first text-based baseball simulation to depict Big League life from the front office birthed many an armchair Steinbrenner. Although the absence of a publishing deal kept the game out of stores, online sales allowed a cult following to grow. Anyone who could tell the difference between Mickey Mantle and Mickey Mouse was playing it by midsummer, and by the following January a number of critics had named it the best sports game of the year.
But Baseball Mogul 2003 is a bit of a disappointment. What was once groundbreaking is now mundane, since this new game remains largely unchanged from what was so refreshing five years ago. Lead designer Clay Dreslough and the rest of the development team at Sports Mogul Inc. have been in a holding pattern for the past two editions of what's become a long-running series. New bells and whistles--such as an overhauled graphics engine and the return of a play-by-play mode that lets you watch games as they take place--do little to add depth or even alter gameplay in any appreciable fashion. It's impossible for any Baseball Mogul veteran to play the new game without getting the impression that it recycles elements of the old ones into a more attractive package.
Of course, looking and sounding good doesn't mean much to a sports management simulation. Baseball Mogul 2003 does look and sound pretty good, thanks to good use of color, some nice atmospheric sound effects, and official Major League player photos, but what really counts for a game like this is what's under the hood. And in that category Baseball Mogul 2003 is woefully underpowered. More-detailed rival baseball simulations on the market, such as Season Ticket Baseball 2003 (also known as Out of the Park Baseball 4), have put this game firmly in the rearview mirror. While the game still lets you take over a Major League franchise in any city you want (just not one of the Major League franchises, because the game comes without the Bud Selig stamp of approval) and run it however you want for as long as you see fit, many important elements are dumbed down or omitted entirely.
This is particularly apparent in player personnel moves. Just about everything involving your starting nine is satisfying in one way and dissatisfying in another. The play-by-play mode, for example, permits you to watch games but prevents you from making any in-game decisions. Although you develop youngsters in the minor leagues, you typically carry fewer than 10 because of budgetary reasons (there is no limit on numbers), and these players are little more than alternates grouped alongside benched big leaguers. The menu system lets you quickly access your roster, yet it doesn't support drag-and-drop for such processes as reordering your batting lineup and calling players up from the farm. Stat tracking collects numbers in at least two dozen categories, though you still can't check the splits to see how a player is performing against lefties and righties.
These collected statistics are generally respectable. Major League players typically perform to expectations. All of the stars are right about where they should be in every season, with only a few exceptions that can be interpreted as career-best or career-worst seasons. It's commonplace to see Pedro Martinez taking home the top pitcher prize, Edgardo Alfonzo putting up all-around MVP numbers, and Randy Johnson fanning 200-plus batters every year.
- GameSpot Scorefair
Player Reviews
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some major gliches, but other than that, not too bad. however, the gameplay isn't too deep. i loved this game, but tec Continue »
Critic Scores
- IGN 8.9 / 10
- Digital Sports 89 / 100
- ESC Magazine 8 / 10
- Gamers Pulse 93 / 100
- The Gamers Temple 58 / 100
- Armchair Empire 7.5 / 10
- Game Over Online 68 / 100
- Computer Gaming World 3 / 5
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- Monkeystone
- Sports Mogul
- Baseball Management
- Release: Apr 30, 2002
- ESRB: Everyone
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