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If you've ever had the fortune of seeing a big league baseball game, you'll know that the tension out there on the diamond as the action gets hot can be even worse than American Football games. Especially when the home runs are few and far between and you couldn't split the opposing teams with a crow-bar.

On top of that, if you've ever tried to hit the old hard ball at high speed with the tapered bat, you'll know the skill involved in getting the big hits.

Call it luck, if you will, but baseball is all about lightning reflexes and being able to sight the ball at breakneck speeds.

Of course, baseball is also about a little deception. As a first rate pitcher, you're going to need to hide your pitch until the last moment, leaving your opposing batter high and dry on three strikes. At the same time, the pitcher himself, has to pitch at a target, round about between the batter's chest and knees, so the batter can also do a little dancing about to try and put off the pitcher.

To be fair, trying to give you the complete lowdown of big-league baseball rules here, just wouldn't do justice to the real thing, or this superb simulation from Domark.

Suffice to say, the rules are written down in good, clean English in the manual, to give you a pretty fair idea of the ins and outs, if you don't already know them, before you switch on and start the action.

Starting off, you get a staggering choice of teams to take out for a spin, taken from all of the major conference leagues. Each team name is condensed on the option menu, so take a flick through the manual to make sure you get your favourite, be it St. Louis, Seattle or New York. If you're into baseball, you'll already know the colours, so now all you have to is make your choice of pitchers and players.

Unfortunately, because of limited memory, the players' stats. have had to be reduced slightly, into a more streamlined format, but you've still got plenty of information to be going on with, to be able to pick your best line-up.

Using the excellent demo mode, you get the chance to watch a full game in motion, enabling you to pick up on some excellent moves to try out later on.

After that, choose to take on the computer, or a friend - and get going.

The playing field in RBI 2 is superbly displayed, with the batting box in the foreground, pitcher behind and various parts of the ground highlighted in windows at the bottom of the screen.

After the ball is thrown, and a hit is made, the viewpoints change, allowing you, if you are fielding, to make out your nearest fielder via the windows.

This enables you to prepare for a catch or dive, before it's too late. Once you have the ball, take a look at the running diamond window, to see how far the opposition is running, then guide the ball back to the appropriate base with the joystick.

The controls may take a little time to master, but the responses are excellent, giving you a real feel for the action.

Just like the real thing, your pitcher alters each ball thrown, to catch out the batter.

Lifting the joystick up will create a deceiving slowball, while a push to the left will curve the ball in that direction. Use each carefully, to pick out each batter's weaknesses, and you could end up with three strikes, or missed balls, and a very happy coach indeed.

As stated before, if you want to catch up on all of the intricacies of the real game, you'll have to read through the well-documented manual, otherwise you'll be left scratching your head at times, especially if you find your whole team given out, when you thought only one had been caught out.

The way this works is that, when batting, if you happen to knock a 'fly-ball', or a sky shot, any other players you might have running at the time must return to their original bases, or risk being given out along with the original batter.

Confused? You will be until you've seen the scenario in action. When you do, you'll be sure not to repeat it again, especially as the opposing team comes straight back into bat to rub salt into your wounds.

After watching the demo for a while, you can take on the computer over a seven game championship series, by picking a team from each of the American and National Leagues. Alternatively, pick two teams- from the same league and you can try out some league action.

In the two player mode, you also get the chance of a seven game series. For best results, give this option a trial. As the action hots up towards the final rounds, the needle should really get going, as each successive pitcher tries to be at his most devilish. Epic stuff.

RBI 2 is a stunning simulation of an excellent sport, which doesn't get the coverage it deserves over here. Ok, so it may well be just a derivation of rounders but, they have turned this game into a real spectacle of skills and spills. Getting hold of a simulation, as with all simulations, will not allow you to taste the real thing first hand, but a first rate simulation will enable you to get an incredibly good feel for its subject, and RBI 2 certainly does that.

With some excellent sound effects, RBI 2 is an original offering that provides superb entertainment and hours of fun as you try to outwit your opponents in the diamond. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself, you certainly won't be disappointed.