GameOver Game Reviews

Game & Publisher VR Baseball 2000 (c) VR Sports
Overall Rating 60%


Divider Left By: Jube Divider Right

VR Baseball is the first of a number of titles to use the Messiah(tm) graphics engine. This technology has been hyped to be able to render an incredible amount of polygons (over 100,000) while maintaining a high frame rate. VR Sports is certainly getting their developmental dollar worth on the engine, as it is powering a number of other titles as well. The engine is the backbone behind a upcoming first person shooter action game. VR Football, as of this review unreleased, also reportedly will use the engine. This display of scalability in the certainly shows the high level of confidence the designers have for their new technology. However this confidence proves unfounded, as I will explain in detail in the course of my review.

[Graphics: 12 / 20]
What bothered me most about the graphics most in VR Baseball 2000 was the lack of attention to detail. The crowd is a made of the all too common multi-color flats. The stadiums themselves, while somewhat true to their real life counter parts in regards to size and general layout are bland uninteresting. Timeless ball parks such as Fenway and Shey Stadium filled with rich history and memories are left dull and empty in the game. Even the players themselves all seem to have a bored and uninterested look on their faces. No attention is given to specific player details, such as facial features and body size. I must admit that the framerate stayed fairly high during the course of the game, but with the obvious lack of detail and texturing its hardly worth bragging about.

[Sound: 9 / 15]
Again, the lack of detail really hurts here. Most annoying, is the crowd. The cheers never come when appropriate. After hitting a home run the crowd was fairly silent. However on my next at bat, a single to first base they applauded. It makes you wonder what game they are watching. The hecklers are a nice touch but lack of variety of the insults gets old fast. The umpire's (which you never see in the course of the game) voice calling the game is loud and obnoxious, and I enjoyed his over enunciation of the phrase "yer outta there!" It is a small glimmer in a sea of generic sound effects and dull antics. Simply put, I was not satisfied with the sound.

[Gameplay: 20 / 30]
VR Baseball 2000 captures the basics of baseball, and not much else. I think that is what makes game play so tedious and. Its lacks flare and thrills. This title offers what many people dislike about baseball, a long and fairly unexciting game where nothing is seemingly happening. Other baseball titles capture the excitement of the game by offering dynamic camera angles, interesting pitching/hitting systems and other features. However VRB2k does none of this, leaving the game in its bare bones state, and leaving the gamer bored out of his skull. Actual game mechanics are shaky at best. The bat somehow finds the ball on pitches that are -way- outside. Tagging in on a pop fly isn't necessary if you lead off after the pitcher begins his windup. This flaw in game design allows you to gain extra bases and runs, on nearly every at bat. Even to the most casual of gamers it is obvious that major time and effort was neglected to all-important aspects of this title. And as can be expected, game play and replay values suffer accordingly.

[Fun Factor: 10 / 20]
Well the formula has been the same so far, and it does not differ here. Disappointing graphics, generic sounds and sleep inducing game play all come together for a short shelf life. Expect heavy discounts and rebates to be attached to this game in coming weeks at your local software store. The only thing this game left me with was a desire to dust off my copy of Hardball a play a real baseball game. Now that's replay value.

[Multiplayer Play: 4 / 5]
Both modes of play, normal game and home run derby are playable via modem or LAN. They are mostly latency free, which is worthy of mention and precious percentage points. However game setup and the menu systems are overly complex, and a lack of the design effort shows.

[Overall Impression: 5 / 10]
You played better baseball simulations, and they came out six months ago. The Messiah engine achieves its claims of high frame rates, with corner cutting of major texturing and detailing. Perhaps just a scuff game to offset the costs of the development of Messiah, VR Baseball proves sub par in many categories. Soon to be released VR Football is boasted many of the same characteristics that VR Baseball did, lets hope that more attention to detail is given. Until then.. Play ball elsewhere.

Rating
60%
 

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