By: Jube
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.
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