Musashi Wins!
FLAWLESS VICTOLY!
Ok, I want to come eat a little crow on this, because I was wrong. It's a really good game, maybe an excellent one. Apparently I was a little too fast to judge my short play time with it as there were things I didn't understand or notice while playing the Japanese release. Anyhow, I rented this yesterday and ended up playing it for hours and hours...here are my new and more humble impressions....
-Graphics are great. Nice models (basically like the other sports games) some really nice animations (several character specific movements, etc.) and great stadiums. The stadiums are all themed (one is hidden) and have great obstacles that actually work in the game without becoming overbearing. There is a normal stadium too for those that prefer that.
-Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay. Pitching and hitting are great. You have 3 normal style (but differing in execution) pitches you can use at any time, a power up pitch (with limited use) and the opportunity to pick up special pitches for certain games. All of this is effected by your location on the mound and you can effect direction after the pitch. Batting has much the same set up, and there is a very well done bunt ability as well. Since every character has different abilities and attributes, can gain medals in story mode and reacts differently to certain characters because of friendship affinities (!) the combination of matchups is just great for an arcade game. Not to mention that the game actually has fantastic ball physics, bat control, etc. Very impressive. Easy to learn but a lot to master.
-My biggest gripes from before: Fielding and Running. Well, I believe someone called me on this and they were right about not noticing the controls (language barrier and bad info from my co-player I guess). First of all, the characters are effected by their fielding and speed scores and you want to have your fielders set up appropriately (ie. have someone fast in center!). However, all characters can boost by tapping B and all characters can dive for close balls. The range is dependent on their fielding. You'll even see great looking errors by bad fielders. It's not easy, this is arcade, but I had several games last night that were 2-4 hit affairs. It just takes time to get a bit more comfortable. Running can be a little confusing because you need to constantly be aware of your players, they run automatically on every hit and you need to return them to avoid double plays. You can also stop them anywhere in the basepaths, basically by tapping X/Y. One of the reviews mentioned the run markers being off, but I didn't notice this on the screen.
-Lots of game modes. Exhibition, mini games and toy field which is a competitive chase to get coins. Quite good. Single player is great. Basically it's a baseball RPG that has you beating local teams and participating in lots of mini games that are located on a world map. Along the way you need to accomplish time specific goals to gain players from the other team, get power ups, and earn coins to spend for game specific power ups at a store. You'll also have random baseball/encounters on the roads in between stadiums. Just a blast so far. There are many characters to unlock and at least one stadium. As I've said before it's fairly cool as every character has unique attributes and specializes in power/speed/technique, etc.
So....I was really wrong about this game. I should have said less about my brief time with it before. Now I'm confused as to why it's gotten fairly low scores at many places as this game seems to be an update of the old NES baseball stars with better play and more features. That's what I wanted. It has Nintendo characters and no name editor and such which used to be fun with the old game, but it has a SOLID engine and quite a bit of content.
I'm definitely going to pick this up for full price, I'd suggest it to any arcade sports fan, there's nothing like this on western consoles. I'm a huge baseball fan but I expect to enjoy this more than any Mario sports title I've tried yet.
-Graphics are great. Nice models (basically like the other sports games) some really nice animations (several character specific movements, etc.) and great stadiums. The stadiums are all themed (one is hidden) and have great obstacles that actually work in the game without becoming overbearing. There is a normal stadium too for those that prefer that.
-Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay. Pitching and hitting are great. You have 3 normal style (but differing in execution) pitches you can use at any time, a power up pitch (with limited use) and the opportunity to pick up special pitches for certain games. All of this is effected by your location on the mound and you can effect direction after the pitch. Batting has much the same set up, and there is a very well done bunt ability as well. Since every character has different abilities and attributes, can gain medals in story mode and reacts differently to certain characters because of friendship affinities (!) the combination of matchups is just great for an arcade game. Not to mention that the game actually has fantastic ball physics, bat control, etc. Very impressive. Easy to learn but a lot to master.
-My biggest gripes from before: Fielding and Running. Well, I believe someone called me on this and they were right about not noticing the controls (language barrier and bad info from my co-player I guess). First of all, the characters are effected by their fielding and speed scores and you want to have your fielders set up appropriately (ie. have someone fast in center!). However, all characters can boost by tapping B and all characters can dive for close balls. The range is dependent on their fielding. You'll even see great looking errors by bad fielders. It's not easy, this is arcade, but I had several games last night that were 2-4 hit affairs. It just takes time to get a bit more comfortable. Running can be a little confusing because you need to constantly be aware of your players, they run automatically on every hit and you need to return them to avoid double plays. You can also stop them anywhere in the basepaths, basically by tapping X/Y. One of the reviews mentioned the run markers being off, but I didn't notice this on the screen.
-Lots of game modes. Exhibition, mini games and toy field which is a competitive chase to get coins. Quite good. Single player is great. Basically it's a baseball RPG that has you beating local teams and participating in lots of mini games that are located on a world map. Along the way you need to accomplish time specific goals to gain players from the other team, get power ups, and earn coins to spend for game specific power ups at a store. You'll also have random baseball/encounters on the roads in between stadiums. Just a blast so far. There are many characters to unlock and at least one stadium. As I've said before it's fairly cool as every character has unique attributes and specializes in power/speed/technique, etc.
So....I was really wrong about this game. I should have said less about my brief time with it before. Now I'm confused as to why it's gotten fairly low scores at many places as this game seems to be an update of the old NES baseball stars with better play and more features. That's what I wanted. It has Nintendo characters and no name editor and such which used to be fun with the old game, but it has a SOLID engine and quite a bit of content.
I'm definitely going to pick this up for full price, I'd suggest it to any arcade sports fan, there's nothing like this on western consoles. I'm a huge baseball fan but I expect to enjoy this more than any Mario sports title I've tried yet.
