What
did they do to the great American past time? I won't go too far here, High
Heat Major League Baseball 2004 isn't some kind of abomination,
or anything like that. But I can summarize my experience with the game in
one sentence: High Heat has very nice graphics, but falls short in so many
areas, that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I give High Heat 2004 a 4/10.
Wow, that was quick, huh?
Well, that bash was a little too quick for my liking. I don't like
blasting a game without at least explaining why I felt it was weak. You'll
soon see that one of my beefs with this game is one of my beefs with MOST of the
baseball games out there. But don't worry, there's plenty of complaints
all around.
OK, here's the "unfair" complaint: High Heat Major League
Baseball 2004 is NOT on-line. Absolutely unacceptable - I am
so sick of Baseball games not getting the picture - I want to play games
on-line, I've got friends that live across the country, I'm sick, SICK, SICK
of not being able to connect with others when I play games!! On-line play
would be easy to implement (relative to other sports) - pick the number of
innings you want to play, your teams, and get started. But, as with most /
all of the baseball games out this year for consoles, we get the big screwgie -
nothing is truly on-line. It's a total rip off (and don't get me started
on Golf... I mean, jeez! How hard is THAT to take on-line?).
Enough
with the general rip on the whole world of Baseball games - what about High
Heat?
- Batting in High Heat is pretty easy. In a two-player scenario,
batting in High Heat is remarkably easy. So easy, in
fact, that your game is more likely to look like a home run derby than
anything else. Fielding is OK, but with batting going so easily,
there's obviously room for some improvement.
- Pitching is fairly straightforward and simulated. You select the
pitch, and it goes - or you go after a batter that's leading off. It's
possible to "fake out" the batter by switching pitching
styles. More or less though, once you get the timing down, it's pretty
darned hard to miss.
- The team management details are deep, almost too deep (this game is
marketed more toward the "baseball simulation" fan) - without
adding any fun. In my opinion, you can manage your team all day, but
what really matters is how well you can play your team during a game.
- There aren't enough general play options / play modes to keep the casual
fan (me) interested. There is a two on two mode, and there are a few
nice features within the options screen, but when I look at the play options
found in other sports titles (like Virtua
Tennis), High Heat comes off as pretty shallow and uninteresting.
- The play options that ARE there demand that you either jump in with both
feet and invest a month, or don't bother. Really, the modes of play
offer a lot, and you're supposed to invest some heavy thinking time into how
you want to adapt your team, and ya da ya da. Frankly, I'd rather not
bother.
Now, I'm not saying that everyone will hate this game. You might be the
type of person that likes a pretty game. High Heat is a very pretty
game. It sucks like a Hoover, but it looks pretty doing it.
If you think that RPGs and Baseball are two great tastes that taste great
together (tm), then knock yourself out - get High Heat Major League Baseball
2004. I'll be over there, with the Neo Geo, firing up an oldie but goodie
- Baseball Stars.