Grand Slam Review
If you can stomach Grand Slam's gameplay, the rest of the game is pretty easy to swallow.
Grand Slam represents Virgin's first attempt at re-creating America's pastime. To Virgin's credit, it has produced a game that delivers a few new and unusual features to the genre, but these modest achievements are overshadowed by the title's many rookie mistakes.
If you're amused by beer commercials that depict the meshing of two different sports (such as full-contact golf and Bass Baseball), chances are you might thoroughly enjoy Virgin's odd brand of baseball. Grand Slam is unlike any real baseball game because its pitching interface resembles something from a golf game: It's a circular pitching meter that allows you to control pitches by holding down the button to determine velocity, then pressing again to determine where and how much the pitch will curve. This control scheme works surprisingly well, except in two-player mode - your opponent can also view this meter and can read your pitch before it's thrown. Offensively, Grand Slam also demonstrates some originality by allowing you to hit the ball with varying amounts of power (you fill up a unique batting meter, represented by a hollow baseball bat, to the desired level). The control is simple: Hold down the button to increase the batter strength while a pitch is en route, then release to swing as the ball crosses the plate.
Once you get past these basic innovations though, Grand Slam proves to be exceedingly sloppy. Virgin claims the 2-D player animations were motion-captured, but the badly animated outfielders don't look it - in fact, these players look and move in a manner reminiscent of old 16-bit baseball games. The gameplay is also in need of a tune-up, as there was nary an inning that went by without a major gaffe or two. For example, simple rules of baseball such as the “Infield Fly” rule were called inconsistently, and the game's camera stopped following foul balls too quickly, preventing defensive players from getting the out. To make matters worse, Grand Slam's play-by-play announcer has a ridiculously small vocabulary and repeats the same phrase five or six times per inning. The man sounds professional, but his career (and this game) would benefit immeasurably if he opened up a dictionary (or, to be fair, if the PlayStation had more RAM).
If you can stomach Grand Slam's gameplay, the rest of the game is pretty easy to swallow. Though it can't boast a cornucopia of features, Virgin has bestowed enough play modes upon Grand Slam to keep most any player absorbed for a long time. In addition to the requisite exhibition and season modes, several features such as a baseball tournament, home run derby, and baseball practice give this title the sort of depth that most enthusiasts desire. The only glaring omission is a player creation feature (that promises to be in many other upcoming baseball titles).
To Grand Slam's credit, I still played and enjoyed the game despite its flaws - even more than some of its slicker competitors. It may not have the team licenses, fifty years worth of statistics, or incredible graphics, but it is indeed fun (and it does have real MLB players). Suffice to say baseball fanatics will be disappointed by this title, but casual sports fans looking for an enjoyable baseball sim may find themselves willing to overlook these shortcomings.
- GameSpot Scorefair
Critic Scores
- IGN 6 / 10
- Electric Playground 8 / 10
- Absolute PlayStation 7.75 / 10
- GamePro 3.5 / 5
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- Virgin Interactive
- Burst Studios
- Baseball Sim
- Release: Apr 30, 1997
- ESRB: Everyone
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