Ah the High Heat series. I liken it to one of those well-made Japanese sedans from the '80s. In the face of outstanding, and certainly more aesthetically pleasing competition, it continues to chug along. One word: consistency. Year in and year out, before 3DO even made the move from PCs to consoles, High Heat was critically acclaimed for its ultra-realistic re-creation of our national past-time. The plethora of good to great baseball games on the market today will make for some very tough competition. How does High Heat Major League Baseball 2004 fare this season? Well, read on and find out...

When you first pop in the game, you are presented with many options. You can jump right into an exhibition game, participate in a home run derby, take some batting practice, take on your buddy in Two On Two Showdown mode, or start your career in season or franchise mode. If this is your first time with the High Heat series, then taking BP will be very helpful to you. You might ask, "Where's the batting cursor?" but once you get the hang of this gameplay mechanic you'll probably never want to see a cursor in your baseball games again. The cursor-less system is actually quite intuitive. Just move the analog stick in the direction of where you think the pitch is moving and hit A to swing. After a while you will learn to anticipate the break on certain pitches and will be able to adjust your swing accordingly. It's a marvelous system that stays true to the sport. For example, if the pitch is on the outside corner and you move the analog stick in the opposite direction, trying to pull the ball, you will pull off the ball. Just as in real life, this results in the ball being struck feebly by the end of the bat. Conversely,if the pitch is on the inside corner and you push away with the analog stick, you'll be severely jammed.

The pitching mechanic works in a similar fashion. You simply select the pitch type you want (from a whopping 27), and then decide if you want to throw a ball or a strike. Once again, you have to aim with the analog stick by "feeling" the strike zone. The location however, depends not only on your aim, but also on the pitcher's stats, fatigue level, and even his warm-up time (for a reliever of course). Therefore, don't expect the ball to travel exactly to the spot you intended; it may frustrate you at times and even cause you to give up a gopher ball, but it's true to life. Pitchers aren't all blessed with impeccable control. As you might expect, a finesse pitcher like Greg Maddux will be much easier to use.

So now that you are acquainted with the pitcher-batter interface, let me ask you this: How much do you know about the sport of baseball? The more you know about baseball, the more it will help you in this game. When batting, you can't expect to hit home runs all the time because it just won't happen. In fact, it's possible to have a game without any homers. You have to utilize those baseball smarts by working the count in your favor, moving the runner over, stealing bases, bunting, hitting sac flies, etc. In other words, you have to play baseball. Interesting concept, isn't it? As a pitcher, you have to be keenly aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each batter you face. It would have been nice if the game had included hot and cold zones, but that isn't necessary for those of us who really know our stuff. With each batter that you face, you'll start going over things in your head. Does the real-life player have trouble with inside pitches? Is he a sucker for your "out pitch" on 0-2? Does he smoke curveballs? Every detail needs to be taken into consideration. You can't just throw. You have to think. That is what is so appealing about this game to all us baseball nuts. As Sammy Sosa said while promoting a previous version, "It's soo reealll!"

Even more astounding is the game's fantastic "TruPlay" A.I. Your computer opponent just always seems to be making good decisions. If it's late in the game and the score is ridiculously lop-sided, bench players will be brought in to give the regulars more rest. If first base is open and you have a dangerous batter at the plate, you'll be pitched around or flat-out walked if the situation calls for it. If you make a mistake by throwing home when you have no shot at getting the runner, the guy at first will take advantage and advance to second. If all the opposing team needs is that "go ahead run" and there's a man on first, they will bunt him over. I could go on and on with examples like this, but you get the point. This shows the kind of dedication that 3DO has given High Heat, which is most likely attributable to CEO Trip Hawkins' (a huge baseball fan in his own right) influence on his development team.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the game's extensive franchise mode. Many would consider this the single biggest addition to the game (It wasn't present in the last edition). You'll be quite pleased that there is no limit to the number of seasons you can play. Additionally, not only will you have to manage your major league team of choice, but you also will have to deal with its minor league system-even down to the single A level. In due course, you will mull over trades, free agent signings, player contracts, and team budgets. Just as in real life, you'll get to see if that hot prospect you drafted pans out. If the talent really is there, you will then have to decide whether to call the player up to the "Bigs" or to use him as bait in a trade. It would have been nice if 3DO allowed you to hire and fire various coaches (like in Sega's World Series Baseball 2K3), but High Heat's franchise mode is still one of the best out there.

Perhaps the greatest single feature of High Heat 2004 is its tuning options. You can quite literally tune everything. EVERYTHING. Pitch speed too slow for you? You can adjust the pace of each of the 27 pitch types. Base runners too slow? Do you want to be able to steal more easily? Adjust it! Do you feel your hitters don't have enough power? Increase it! You can tweak pitcher fatigue, injuries, foul ball frequency, and anything else you can think of, for both CPU and human. When combined with the game's five difficulty settings, this amazing feature can make High Heat very accessible to newcomers or painstakingly challenging to those of us who like to be tortured.

From a visual standpoint, whether or not you're a fan of the series, you'll agree that the graphics have been, without a doubt, the worst aspect of the High Heat series. 3DO attempted to correct this problem in last year's PlayStation 2 version, but they only made slight improvements. This year is a different story. Trip Hawkins and crew weren't kidding when they said the game had received a complete graphical overhaul. The whole package just seems smoother. Some new animations have helped in that department, but some of the stiffer, awkward ones still remain. While you're certainly not going to exclaim, "Wow, this game is gorgeous!" you can be assured that the graphics as a whole are finally on a slightly more level playing field. Every stadium is accurately represented, and there is a perceptible difference between day and night games (as there should be). Also, the visuals really do benefit from the Xbox's progressive scan capability, the game looks twice as good in 480p.

The character models aren't anywhere nearly as detailed as those found in WSB2K3, but they get the job done. You'll see many unique batting stances, and pitching wind-ups specific to some of baseball's bigger stars, but don't expect to recognize your favorite players' mugs. I don't know what face-scanning technology 3DO employed, but most of the faces are sadly not even close to the real-life players they attempt to imitate. Additionally, 3DO has "disrespected" some of baseball's historical greats by using their retired uniform numbers. Last year, they assigned #4 to Robin Ventura. As many of you probably know, that is the retired number of Lou Gehrig -- a bit ironic since cover man Curt Schilling's Pitch for ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's disease) is prominently displayed on the game's box. While that problem has been resolved for this edition (Ventura now wears the proper #19), there are other glaring examples. Todd Zeile, simply because he's a new Yankees player and 3DO didn't know what number he would get, was given #7. For crying out loud, that is the great Mickey Mantle's number. Why 3DO, why?!? I also spotted #23 (Don Mattingly) and #44 (Reggie Jackson) on other players. I imagine that Todd Zeile's number will be fixed when 3DO finally gets around to offering updated rosters via Xbox Live, but I'm not so sure about the others.

Because the graphics have been given such a boost, now by default, the audio has become the worst part of the game. It is merely adequate. Sadly, very little has changed from last year's edition. Even the audio glitches that caused the environmental sounds to cut out suddenly made the move to 2004. As for commentary, the two-man booth of Dave O'Brien and Chuck Valenches don't sound bad per se, but they often repeat themselves or will exclaim something at the wrong time. It's very awkward to hear "All the runners go!" right at the start of a new inning. They also could have acted a little more excited at times. For example, in one of my very first games, I hit what I believed was going to be a home run, but the centerfielder leaped and robbed me at the wall. All I heard was, "And he makes the catch." There are other times when their voices are a little less dull, so I guess it balances out. Overall, the sound effects are nothing special, but the crack of the bat and the thump of the ball in the glove are fairly well represented. A little more pleasing to this fan's eardrum are the game's ambient ballpark sounds. People in the stands will react with boos and cheers. Hecklers and vendors can be heard regularly. And, batters are even accompanied with "walk-up" music when they come to the plate.

If you look at the complete package, 3DO has given baseball gamers a very satisfying title. Is it the best on the market? Well, that really depends on what kind of baseball game you desire. High Heat 2004's presentation and aesthetic appeal clearly isn't as good as it could be, but its gameplay and attention to every baseball nuance make it stand out from the pack. If you aren't concerned with stats (the game tracks practically every imaginable category) and realism, and all you want is something pretty to look at while smacking a baseball, then don't buy this game. However, if baseball authenticity is what you want, High Heat drives in the winning run. Play ball!

Our Final ScoreGood

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