Baseball Video Game Review Special

Let me know what you think about my reviews.
Breaker
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Re: Baseball Video Game Review Special

Postby Breaker » April 14th, 2021, 4:28 pm

I'd suggest you pick the baseball game with the highest grade from each system. That would limit the entries to a manageable number. Or, the top couple from each decade/generation.

goldenband
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Re: Baseball Video Game Review Special

Postby goldenband » April 14th, 2021, 4:48 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:This is a weird page that seems to be a sampling of baseball games over various systems. I guess it would be a little much if I included EVERY baseball game. There would probably be close to 100 of them!

Anyway if you guy want to suggest any reviews that should be removed or added, fire away.

It really depends on what you're trying to do: a sampling of all systems' baseball libraries? Or a selection of baseball games that have meant something to you, good or bad, over the years?

I think the second possibility is more interesting, but the first has value too. Most of the reviews are positive so it seems curated, but some games have worse reviews than other releases on the same console. All-Star Baseball 2001 is included for N64, but a lot of the text refers to the review of ASB 2000, and anyway you liked Slugfest better, right?

If you're aiming for general representation, maybe the page is a bit heavy on Atari 8-bit games -- three total, which is a lot. Genesis only has one game, which seems low for such a sports powerhouse, but if it's the best one on the system then I guess it makes sense. Still, that leaves so many series unrepresented.

There's nothing for the original PlayStation, which is a little surprising. More 32-bit representation would be welcome.

Speaking of which, did you know there's a Japanese-exclusive baseball game for the 3DO, Pro Yakyuu Virtual Stadium Baseball? Dirt-cheap last time I checked, and should play fine on a US machine, without much of a language barrier. Apparently the game's AI was based on the one from Triple Play 96!

Breaker
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Re: Baseball Video Game Review Special

Postby Breaker » April 14th, 2021, 9:23 pm

Goldenband raises some great points.

I had to do some counting. I *think* the Genesis has 25 baseball games in its NTSC library. VGC has reviewed 18 of them (nicely done!) and did include the game with the highest grade for the Genesis (Sports Talk Baseball at A-).

But as Goldenband points out, that does ignore the World Series, RBI, and Hardball series... and ignores all of EA's offerings that had multiple names (LaRussa, MLBPA, Triple Play). The World Series...series... is represented in the Saturn and Dreamcast entries, for what its worth.

N64 has 8 baseball games total. VGC has reviewed 4. All-Star Baseball 2001 is the only N64 entry, and it received a C+, with Slugfest getting a B+ (again, well done Goldenband). But the Griffey series is represented in the SNES entry.

I think the baseball review special will be most effective if you have a summary at the top as to why these specific games were chosen. Then engage the reader at the end to join the conversation and leave comments (maybe a link to a new forum topic, or even this one) on what he or she agreed with or thought was overlooked.

Herschie
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Re: Baseball Video Game Review Special

Postby Herschie » April 15th, 2021, 10:58 am

I think we're overthinking this. Just leave it as a page with Critic's most memorable baseball games good or bad. We all have games that stick out more than others. My personal list is MLB 12 The Show, Major League Baseball 2K10, RBI Baseball '93, Triple Play '99 and 2000. Oh and Bases Loaded. But this is Critic's webpage and we're all here to read the thoughts and reviews that stand out to him. If we didn't find it entertaining we wouldn't be on there reading it.

Let's not be like Rob Manfred here and fix what ain't broke!

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zetax
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Re: Baseball Video Game Review Special

Postby zetax » April 15th, 2021, 8:48 pm

My votes for games to add...

Hardball for the Atari 8-bit computers

Wii Sports waggle baseball

MLB Power Pros for Wii

goldenband
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Re: Baseball Video Game Review Special

Postby goldenband » April 16th, 2021, 2:09 pm

Herschie wrote:I think we're overthinking this. Just leave it as a page with Critic's most memorable baseball games good or bad.

Well, that's exactly the question, isn't it? Even the Critic is wondering what the deal is with his own page. :mrgreen:

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Baseball Video Game Review Special

Postby VideoGameCritic » April 16th, 2021, 2:59 pm

I have little to no recollection about putting this page together, so you're guess is as good as mine! lol

I like the idea of posting a collection of the "most interesting" baseball reviews regardless of grade. I don't think people want to read five MLB The Show reviews which are all pretty much the same.

Keep listing your favorites - they will help me decide which reviews to use!

goldenband
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Re: Baseball Video Game Review Special

Postby goldenband » April 17th, 2021, 8:10 am

VideoGameCritic wrote:I like the idea of posting a collection of the "most interesting" baseball reviews regardless of grade. I don't think people want to read five MLB The Show reviews which are all pretty much the same.

Agreed. I'd suggest adding the World Series Major League Baseball review for Intellivision -- the game is so ahead of its time -- and maybe finding a replacement for the All-Star Baseball 2001 review for Nintendo 64, which seems a bit jarringly out of place without the context of the review of the previous entry in the series.

I'd also toss in the RBI Baseball '95 review for 32X -- that one's amusing, with its comments about pea soup and so forth. (Small typo in that one: "faceless pitches" should be "faceless pitchers".)

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GeoX
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Re: Baseball Video Game Review Special

Postby GeoX » April 17th, 2021, 3:45 pm

Hi Critic!
Instead of reviewing individual games I think it would be neat if you reviewed the franchises as a whole and them rank them from worst to first.

Eric

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Baseball Video Game Review Special

Postby VideoGameCritic » April 19th, 2021, 6:08 pm

Well guys I went ahead and updated the Baseball Special. There are a lot more reviews and I spruced up the formatting.
Let me know what you think.

https://videogamecritic.com/extras/them ... ll.htm?a=1


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