Fighting? Baseball? Robots?... FIGHTING BASEBALL ROBOTS!
Gibson rounds second! Henley preps his Lasergun!
To make the sport of baseball more interesting, Konami (under the guise of Ultra Games) decided to replace the fat, mustachioed players of real life with Super Hardcore Fighting Robots! This inevitably makes this game more visually striking, but is it fun to play, or do the robots distract from some good ol' fashioned baseball?
As a matter of obviousness, robots are decidedly more powerful than humans. They can shred balls with a minor swing of the bat. They can run hundreds of mph, as long as their wheels are oiled properly. And, when robots from opposing teams disagree, they use guns instead of words and fisticuffs. In Base Wars, robots do all of the above, which should make for one amazing baseball game, EXCEPT whoever's controlling the camera within the game is obviously a human who can't keep up with the amazing power of the robot's hits. When you hit a ball into left, right or center field, the camera has to scramble to catch up to it. If your team is playing the field, this can become a nightmare when you're trying to look for the ball with a robot outfielder. Even if you're batting, the computer seems to have trouble finding the ball.
One-player is tolerable, but be forewarned, the computer will make mind-boggling comebacks. I was ahead 8 to 2 in the 3rd inning (out of a five-inning game) and at the end of the 3rd, the computer had scored 8 points, bringing their score to 10. I mention this particular game because I was actually winning for awhile; prior games, the computer slaughtered me every time. Point being, as with most sports games, two-player is definitely the way to go for maximum enjoyment.
Minor things: I really like the pseudo-futuristic designs of the robots. They look like they were designed for baseball, but they still possess character and charm. The fighting element is fun – when robots try and steal bases, they battle – but it could have been expanded into something greater. I was not able to try the Pennant Mode because I'm unable to play with two players on my little netbook (for now).
This game is perfect for some late-night old-school baseball entertainment with you and a buddy, but if all you have is a six-pack of PBR, a Bright Eyes mixtape, and yourself, you might be saddened by the Base Wars' poor camera and the computer's cheapness... among other things.
No comments:
Post a Comment