by Wyatt "JOEDOG" Elliott
Baseball is back on the Nintendo 64, just barely. This year there is only ONE baseball title for Nintendo 64 owners. EA's Triple Play is absent and due to the loss of Ken Griffey Jr. license, Nintendo has even decided not to release a baseball title for 2001.
Acclaim Sports is the only one out there with All-Star Baseball 2001.
Luckily enough for us its a good one.
Acclaim's noted high resolution graphics and detailed players are all back. In fact, it will be a difficult task for anyone to see a major difference from All-Star 2000 - 2001. Its basically the same game with new stats.
All-Star 2001 still features the best graphics in baseball today. The graphics are good for both players and stadiums.
This game does require the N64 4Meg expansion cart for the best graphic results.
The control is excellent. Its the perfect complement to the N64 controller. Each of the four yellow buttons represents a base, and the analog stick supplies quick reflexes for last minute batting changes.
The sound and music is the games weakest link. The ballpark sounds are fine, but the commentary lacks pizazz.
PUBLISHER: ACCLIAM
GRAPHICS: 8 SOUND & MUSIC: 4 CONTROL: 6.5
SECRETS: 5 ORIGINALITY: 3 FUN & REPLAY: 7
All-Star Baseball 2001 may be the only choice for baseball fans who play Nintendo 64, and it may be close to the 2000 edition of the same name. However, it is still fun and was always the best N64 baseball title anyway. We could have had it worse, it could have been Strike Zone 2001.
Acclaim deserves thanks for supporting the N64 and all its baseball fans.OVERALL: 7