| Published: Waubonsee Insight |
| Date: July 2007 |
| Section: Arts and Entertainment |
| Comments: |
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By: Ian Essling
The summer baseball season is heating up, and with the Cubs challenging for a playoff spot and the White Sox doing, well, whatever it is they do, baseball fans might be getting just a little itch to control their team's destiny and make a run for the World Series.
If you are a PC gamer, however, you might be a bit put off by the lack of quality baseball games for the PC, especially compared to the horde of console games that exist. Even worse, most of the PC games that are worth anything are also priced in the $50-$60 range, which isn't exactly a bargain, especially when most of the new PC baseball games (except for the stat-only games like the "Baseball Mogul" series where you don't actually play, you sim) are console ports that have terrible control schemes and are riddled with bugs.
Never fear; from the golden age of 2001 comes a savior in the form of High Heat Baseball 2001. In the price arena, it is easily the victor; you can pick up HH2001 for under $10 on eBay, and it is well worth it. The rosters are dated, of course, but there are several updates available that bring newer players in.
There are a variety of game modes to play, each with their own flavor. Batting practice lets you get out on the field with any player in the game to test your prowess and get your timing down (which is a must; you will strike out a lot when you first start playing, until you get the timing down on those 96 mph fastballs).
Exhibition lets you play exactly that, an exhibition game, which lets you go all out and not worry about tiring players out, injuring them or trashing your star pitcher's ERA.
The Home Run Derby is fun and well done, and can be played by humans on hot-seat mode or with CPU batters (or, you can play as all four batters and get a feel for who is the better long-ball hitter).
The bread and butter of HH2001, however, is easily Season mode, which is probably the best feature of the game.
You can start a season with the rosters as they were at the start of the 2001 season, or you can stage a draft that places every player in one pool and you and the CPU controlled teams take turns drafting the players. This helps make a more even playing field and also lets you pick your favorite players to be on your team. After that, you can choose to play games or simulate them, and for the games you play, you can also choose how involved you will be. Only want to hit the ball and have the computer pitch and move your runners? Just check the boxes and you can do as much or as little as you want.
What helps season mode immensely is that you can simulate games if you get worn out trying to play an entire 162 game season, plus you can change the settings of the season midway through if necessary; if it's too difficult, too easy or you just no longer want to control your baserunners, you can change it mid-stream and keep on rolling.
On top of all that, the farm system for season mode is spectacular. Besides your major league team, you control the rosters of a Rookie-A, AA and AAA team, and you can set the team's rotation, starting lineup, cut players and sign new ones at will. Plus, you can bring the players up to the majors if you have an injury or a starter who is not doing so well. The minor league teams play simmed games and therefore compile stats that you can use to make decisions, but often it is better to drag a problem player to the majors and give him a shot with a human controlling him before you cut him outright.
For example, there was a switch hitter on my AA team that was batting .189 under CPU control, but when I brought him up and started him, I found that he batted extremely well against righties, but got tore up by lefties (.359 vs .146, respectively). The problem was that the CPU simming the minor league roster didn't realize this and was playing him against both, which gave me somewhat false stats.
Graphically, the game is obviously old; the players are chunky, the crowds are a blur of color and there are clipping problems. So, if you are playing a baseball game for the graphics over the gameplay, well, you might want to try a different game. If the gameplay is what interests you, hang onto this.
Too many games that follow this day and age's game design formula have such convoluted controls it seems like the designers are just trying to make it more difficult. You are just trying to pick up the ball and throw to first for the out, but instead, it feels like you are trying to complete a "Mortal Kombat" fatality move with the combination of keys you are pounding on.
HH2001 has none of that. You can run, you can jump, you can dive and you can throw. That's it. It's not about flashy moves; it's about making the play. It turns out to be a refreshing way to play a game. Of course, if you want to see the superstar insanity with barrel rolls and wall-climbing antics, well, you might be disappointed, but that's the way it is.
That being said, the control scheme does have its issues. I recommend using some sort of gamepad with the game, because while you can use the number pad on the keyboard, it can be problematic. It mostly involves defense, specifically throwing the ball. You direct your throw by pressing a directional button and then the base you want to throw to (i.e. 8+throw for second base, 4+throw for third, etc). However, if you, say, pick up a ball in left field while running to the right (pressing 6) and then try to stab 4 and throw it to third, the computer might take the 6 you were holding as the throw direction, and suddenly this massive rainbow of a throw is headed to first and the runner is headed home. So, you have to be a bit heads up when you punch the buttons.
Sound is annoying if you have Windows XP. Even in compatibility mode, the announcer's speech is cut off midway through every sentence they say. If he's trying to say, "The Diamondbacks leave two men in scoring position," you will probably here something like, "The Diamondbacks leave two."
This is agitating at first, but pretty soon you realize that they only have a certain number of phrases anyway, and baseball aficionados will know what the guy is saying whether he finishes his sentence or not. It is helpful to keep him on, even with the sound glitch, because often he will say things that help you out. For example, when a runner starts to steal, you hear, "The runner goes." and you know to unload that ball as soon as you get it to the plate.
An interesting issue with the game is that the computer cheats. Yes, this is not new; the CPU cheats in most games, but usually it's not as obvious as it is here.
Anyway, in HH2001, the computer will cheat if they start losing a game badly, and you have to watch out for the catch-up mode to turn on. You CAN fight it off, but if you don't realize it and just continue pitching normally, a world of pain might be headed your direction. If you are not careful, they will sometimes simply hit every pitch you throw at them for an inning or two, so you have to change your strategy and intentionally walk power hitters, pitch inside other hitters and just slow the pace down to break them out of it.
Obviously the game does have its issues, but it is still insanely addictive and a very fun baseball simulation. For fans, it doesn't get any better for baseball simulations than nailing a ball into the right field corner with two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth. HH2001 doesn't hit an upper-deck home run in the quality department, but it is definitely a stand-up triple and great baseball game that both hardcore and casual fans can enjoy for very little in the way of monetary investment.
Gameplay: 80%
Graphics: 70%
Sound: 60%
Controls: 70%
Multiplayer: 90%
Replayability: 90%
Overall: 77% 
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