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Street Sports Baseball |
Copyright/Publisher: Epyx, Release Year: 1987, Genre: Baseball, Number Of Players: 1 or 2
Swap the grass diamond for a parking lot, the homebase for a trash can lid and Babe Ruth and
Joe DiMaggio for Bojo and Kitty from the next block. This is street level Baseball with local
kids forming the teams and the two 'ball parks' consisting of a vacent patch of waste ground and
a deserted car park.
Having decided on a one or two player game, a coin is tossed to see who gets first choice of
player. A group of 16 kids appears loafing around a building frontage, and a cursor is guided
from person to person to make the selection. As the cursor falls upon each youngster, a head
and shoulders picture is displayed, together with details about their style of play.
Having put a full team together, you can adjust the positions and batting order to suit -
alternatively, you can go straight into the game. Selected teams can be altered to suit, or saved
to disk as required.
Depending on the location you have chosen, the selected diamond appears as a split screen.
The main display shows a close up of the current action, and to the left an overhead scene gives
a view of the entire play area.
The visiting team bats first, with the overhead view showing a close up of the pitcher and
hitter. The pitcher throws the ball by pressing fire, and has control over the ball's flight
until it passes the plate, being able to swerve it left or right, and alter the speed of flight.
Batting is merely a matter of pressing the fire button at the correct moment so that the bat makes
contact with the ball.
When the ball is hit, then main display changes to a view of the corresponding fielder as he or
she attempts to catch or stop the ball. The overhead scene shows the relative positions of the ball,
fielder and batsman as he runs from base to base.
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S.J. |
I really like the idea of having a non-professional baseball package, and this game's presentation
suits the idea perfectly. It's nice having players that are slower than all the rest, and even
those who drop the ball during tense moments! The pitches are also pleasantly tatty - littered
with debris and having makeshift bases.
Although there's a more than worthy computer adversary, it's in two player mode that the
game really comes to life, and I found it enjoyable and lively to play. Obviously, if you don't
like baseball then this Epyx offering is in the wrong ballpark completely, otherwise I can
thoroughly recommend this as an addition to your sports simulations library.
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C.B. |
There's a real sense of fun generated from the moment that this program has loaded. The
team-picking sections are quite enjoyable, providing a background and team spirit which lasts
througour the game - and the different player's characteristics add a lof of variety to the
proceedings. The only real problem is the lack of control in batting mode - the player has no
real control over where the ball is going, and vital shots such as punts and ground strokes
cannot be executed. I hope that the rest of the Street Sports range live up to the high
standards set by this product, and I look forward to seeing the gan again pretty soon.
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Julian Rignall |
This is definitely one of the best baseball games around, boasting beautiful presentation
and a very novel approach. Each player's characteristics are visibly different, and it's
infuriating when a particularly useless player drops the ball, or throws it very slowly.
The trouble is though, when it boils down to it, Street Sports Baseball is just another in
a long line of baseball simulations. The different players' characteristics and strange settings
are something new - but otherwise it plays the same as almost every other baseball game on the
market.
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