First out of the gate, and easily the one to compete with this year.

Well sauerkraut dog fans, its time once again for another season of Major League Baseball on the console market. First up to bat is 3DO's follow up to last year's great playing, but lackluster High Heat Baseball. For some reason, the transition from PC to console has been a tough one for 3DO, but this year they get to third base and are looking to race for home hopefully next year on the PlayStation 2. While the game is a vast improvement over last year's rush job, more could've been implemented to match the superior PC version, which wins best baseball game year in and year out.

Graphically this game hasn't been revamped in any way, shape or form... it's just been cleaned up. Gone are most of the stiff animations, even though some could still use some more smoothing. Gone are the drab colors and textures, giving the game a definite shot in the arm. Lastly, gone are the horrible textures and jaggies that plagued last year's title. I mean the game looked like a PS One title last year! High Heat Baseball 2003 shows off a higher and smoother frame rate, and comes off very clean looking indeed. The player models on the other hand, while improved, still don't have that pizzazz you would expect from a next generation title. The game is far from looking bad, mind you, but it still can't compare to its competition in terms of graphical appeal. The presentation, while featuring some bright spots, (like a Matrix style double play, pitcher emotion, etc.) still needs to give the player more of a thrill. No stadium's home run music, animations, or even fireworks are to be found. Every baseball fan knows, that particular stadiums give kudos to the home run by doing certain tricks (Mets Apple lights up, train goes off in Houston, etc.) none of these are found here to heighten the experience. More baseball games really need to give some kind of reward for performing great plays and Home Runs. I mean, what happened to the scoreboard animations of old? Stadiums are also done pretty well, and accurately portray their real life ballparks. The only real issue here is the crowd is still rough, and the scoreboards are not in real time. Overall, 3DO really has done a great job in a year's time improving the visuals. It's a good thing this year folks won't turn away in disgust while playing this title. Not ugly, but not gorgeous either.

Audio has also had its fair share of enhancement. You now have interactive crowds that cheer and jeer depending on your performance throughout the game. The stadium ambience has also been touched up with hecklers and vendors in the background. Play-by-play doesn't seem to be chatty enough for a TV style presentation. A few comments, facts and figures are thrown about through out the game, but really not enough meat in the color commentary to keep interest high. The in game sounds seem a little light, as the sound off the bat is always the same, unless you bunt. No real clean, meat of the bat sound when you smack one out of the park. Easily better audio than last year, but it still needs more to liven things up, especially when playing a 162 game season.

With the graphics and sound out of the way, does High Heat still stand as the best playing baseball game around? A resounding, YES, would be my answer! The High Heat series has always been done right, because the developers really know baseball. All the little quirks are there, infield fly rules, double switches, passed balls, and most importantly... walks! High Heat Baseball has the best batting/pitching interface period. There is one thing that those cursor systems can't give you, and that is the realism of loosing your "stuff" and giving up walks. High Heat accurately works around the strike zone, providing a fair, equal amount of balls and strikes. Batting is also just as unpredictable if you have the difficulty setting up high enough. With 5 difficulty levels, the game lets you get a feel for the game, and doesn't cheat as you progress to the more difficult settings. The game stays just as balanced, with more of a challenge presented each time you raise the settings. This feature alone is merit enough for a purchase. Gone are the, "set it on rookie and you blow them out, and on pro you are blown out" days. High Heat is fair and accurate, with a smart A.I. too boot. You will have loppedsided games as well as pitching duels, and all factors are taken into account. Who the pitcher is, wind conditions, and even the stadium you play in all come in to play in the final outcome of the game. You can keep all those games that give you polish and glamour, when it's all said and done, gameplay is the biggest issue, and High Heat does it the best.

One thing the PC versions have always been praised for is the fact you not only get the option of a career mode, but you can dip into the minors as well. This sadly has not been carried over to the console market as of yet. This is the other factor that hurts High Heat's score- the lack of a true Franchise mode. High Heat does give the gamer numerous additions to last year's Season and Exhibition only affair. What you do get is Exhibition, Season, Batting Practice, Home Run Derby, Stand Alone Playoffs, and an interesting Two on Two Showdown mode. What is missing is any sort of franchise mode or minor league acquisitions. I'm sorry folks, but if you're going to involve me in such a well-done game, you better not tease me with a mere single season mode, I want more! What can I say, I'm a baseball stat junkie. Even with this omission High Heat still offers the casual fan plenty to play around with. The Two on Two Showdown mode puts one pitcher and batter from each team against each other. You get 3 outs to see how many singles, doubles, triples, and HR; you can muster up through out the inning. You are given points for each type of hit, and it increases with each better knock you acquire without getting an out. You also get points for groundouts and strikes when you pitch, so this point of the game has purpose as well. At the end of the inning, the person with the most points wins. A nice addition, but I would like to see more focus on getting all the "real" fundamentals taken care of first. Stat tracking is also huge in the High Heat series as it simulates the box scores of your local sports section of the newspaper. Each part of the game results in the outcome, and stat nuts will eat this feature up. All in all most baseball fans will be hard pressed not being satisfied with what this year's version offers, but us fans of the PC version know better.

What can I say, 3DO legs out a Triple in this year's outing. Hopefully next year they swing for the fences and give everything a fickle gamer like myself everything I want in a baseball title. Unless All Star can come up with a better game, it looks like High Heat will find a permanent place in my PlayStation 2... at least till next year.