High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 Review
High Heat again ups the ante where gameplay is concerned but still fails to match the graphical finesse of its competitors.
The Video Review
3DO's long-running series of Baseball games has returned for another year on the PlayStation 2. When last year's game was met with mixed reactions, 3DO reworked the graphics and stepped up the statistical aspects of the game. Did all the work make this year's version better? Shane Satterfield gives you the whole story in this video review.
3DO has a dubious reputation in the video games industry for rushing its products out the door, but one franchise that the company has continually improved has been its High Heat baseball series. On an annual basis High Heat is the closest thing to playing a real Major League Baseball game with realistic player attributes and gameplay, but the game's graphics have kept it from attaining greatness. Now in its second year on the PlayStation 2, High Heat again ups the ante where gameplay is concerned but still fails to match the graphical finesse of its competitors.
If a sports game is to be a contender it must have plenty of gameplay modes to explore, and High Heat 2003 has plenty. You can play exhibition games against a friend, play full seasons with extensive stat tracking on five different difficulty settings, go straight to the playoffs, learn how to swing the lumber in batting practice, play with the stars in the All-Star game, or learn how to swing for the fence in the home run derby. This year 3DO has added a two-on-two minigame called showdown. This addictive little diversion removes the fielding from the game and instead concentrates on the pitcher-batter matchup. Points are awarded for pitching strikes or hitting the ball, making it exciting to play no matter which position you're playing. The lone gameplay mode that is strangely absent is franchise, but the seasons are so in-depth that most players won't notice. Statistics are tracked in more than 20 categories, and all the front-office moves such as free-agent signings or trades are at your disposal. You can also tailor the season to your liking by adjusting the number of games or innings, umpires, wind, errors, and game presentation. There's also a create-a-player mode, but you can't change that many aspects of your player's appearance, and oddly enough it's impossible to see your player while creating him. While the omission of a franchise mode is somewhat disappointing, the addition of the two-on-two showdown and home run derby show that 3DO has continued to take strides toward improving the franchise.
At first it may seem as if High Heat 2003 is a simple game, but this is not true. What will raise the most eyebrows is its pitching and batting interface. Instead of using the tried-and-true cursor interface like most baseball games, High Heat 2003 lets its accurate player ratings handle all the work. Pitching is as simple as selecting a pitch and then choosing whether you want to throw a strike or a ball. The location of the pitch is then determined by the pitcher's statistics and the direction you hold the analog stick or directional pad. The same holds true for batting. Instead of lining up a cursor and timing the swing, you instead must attempt to guess what pitch the pitcher will hurl and then simply time the swing. You may even alter your batter's swing to try to take advantage of a hole in the defense. Playing High Heat 2003 doesn't require as much hand-eye coordination as other baseball games, but the end result is far more realistic. If you have a batter who hasn't hit a home run in several seasons, you're not going to knock one out of the park while he's at the plate--no matter how good of a player you are. The pitching and batting interface allows the game to supply hits of varying speed and angles, and you never get the feeling that a hit was a scripted event that you've seen before. Fielding can be difficult at times--especially in the outfield--due to the camera's inability to zoom in time. Even fielding routine fly balls takes a few games to get used to, and this is one aspect of the gameplay that could use some tweaking. Base running is handled well with one set of commands that will control all the base runners at once and another set that lets you instruct one at a time. Other small details like warming up relief pitchers and sending the manager to the mound to buy some time are what set High Heat apart from other baseball games and make it the deepest simulation of the sport available.
High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 Quick Links
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- GameSpot Score 8.7 great
Player Reviews
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High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 is the game for baseball enthusiasts. Continue »
Critic Scores
- PSX Extreme 8.9 / 10
- IGN 8.8 / 10
- TechTV 4 / 5
- Game Rankings 89 / 100
- Gaming Age B+
- GameZone 8.7 / 10
- Game Vortex 90 / 100
- Next Level Gaming 4 / 6
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- 3DO
- Baseball Sim
- Release: Feb 9, 2002 »
- ESRB: Everyone
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