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Almost a classic

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is easily the best depiction of major league baseball that I've encountered in a video game. The game does an excellent job of capturing the tension between batter and pitcher confrontations and allows the player to customize a lot of the gameplay. While HHB2003 does have its problems, it is overall a very solid game.

Gameplay: More than anything, the gameplay mechanics are just right. Everything from batting and pitching to fielding and base-running all just seem perfectly done and intuitive. The larger strategy game of putting together a team, managing AAA players, arranging schedules, and so forth is also well done and allows a lot of customization of gameplay. You can get deeply involved in trading, statistics, and standings, or ignore them altogehter. There are several modes that you can play, including exhibition, homerun derby, playoffs, or an entire 162-game season! There is also a career mode.

The computer-controlled teams play intelligently and never seem to cheat (at least not on the pro or all-star difficulty levels). However, teams that you have been beating all season do get noticeably bettter in the postseason. The game is very immersive and intense, and you do get a great sense that you are in the midst of a real baseball game. There are a few things that slightly ruin the atmosphere (see below), but overall the game almost perfectly imitates the big leagues.

Visuals: This is a mixed bag. Player animations are pretty good, but the stadiums are completely static. The fans are literally colored blots on a flat surface. There is no movement in the dugout. The fields look okay, but the stadiums overall appear nondynamic. This is where the game fails to maintain the immersive atmosphere. It's not fatal to the experience, but, noticeable. On the positive side, the game does instant replays and the highlights of the game are saved for viewing once a game ends.

Sounds: Generally great. The announcers are fantastic, and there is commentary for nearly every possible situation. I've been playing the game for weeks, and I'm still occasionally hearing new quotes. The crowd cheers and boos at appropriate times, and the rock music that plays when various menu screens are opened is fine. The audio for this game would be perfect except for occasional studders. It doesn't happen a lot, but when it does it's awfully annoying, since the audio is generally excellent. It's too bad that the developer did not patch this, assuming that it could be easily fixed.

Technical/Replayability: This game has been perfectly stable on my computer. The instruction manual that comes with the game is good. Of course, there is a lot of replay value, since every game is different and there are 30 different teams and several gameplay modes. You can even create new teams and players. If you are a baseball fan, this game is definitely worth picking up.

Rating: 4.25/5 stars

Major League Sucker

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 9
Date: May 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Everything Sucks in this game. It's to easy to hit a home run. And Hey 3DO went bankrupt. I wonder why. Because it Sucks. Every Game they came out with (except Sarge's Hero's) all sucked.As Tommy Tallarico said in Judgement Day on G4 said it SUUUUCCCCCKKSSS. And then he threw it down on the Ground. Stay away from this sucker. 3D0 Sucks

KAB786

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: September 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

High heat baseball games are really good arcade style games. the game is fun when playing multiplayer than it is with single player.

Pros:
Fun multiplayer game
Graphics are not that bad
Music is decent
Lots of game modes (Home run derby to 2 on 2 showdown)
Cheap

Cons:
Repetitive gameplay
Single player is boring and unrealistic
AI is easy to beat
Announcer saying the same thing over and over..

Even though this came has really annoying things in it, it still is fun when played with other, and it also is cheaper than other baseball games out their.

New Fav Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Recently I've been looking for a baseball game for my PC. I stumbled upon this game at a local store for 6.99. I decided to give it a try after reading the other reviews. After installing this game I instantly became hooked. The home-run derby is entertaining, I have Bonds winning nearly every derby. The gameplay is wonderful, the controls aren't complicated. The graphics are pretty good, they look like some of the "older" game consoles, maybe the playstation? I would recommend getting this game.

Disappointed

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I purchased the Microsoft game pad to go with this game, but it doesn't let me pick off a guy at first or second. Also, I followed the directions on the gamepad for pitching but the computer team continually clobbers my pitching. My pitches seem to all come in at the same speed and the same location no matter what I do and I'm usually losing, 10-3 in the third inning. One hit after another, one game after another. Not very realistic. Definitely tilted unequally towards the computer.
Would not recommend this game unless it levels the playing field. Have gone back to my High Heat Baseball 2002.

Very well made for fans and nonfans of baseball games

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: May 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I'm not a huge sports fan...especially baseball, but games like this make baseball enjoyable to play. First off, I have no game pad, so I have to say, using the keyboard for a game like this is a pain, and you might want to check automatic fielding, because using the keys to catch a fly is really hard (atleast it is for me since I haven't had the game very long.) The graphics are really nice, but on my 450Mhz computer, it lagged a bit every now and then. It's nice to have all the fields to choose from, and to be able to choose night or day play and rain or clear weather.

The gameplay is decent...without a game pad (as I mentioned0, with one, it would probably improve the gameplay A LOT. Sometimes, with the keyboard, you find yourself hitting the wrong button and throwing to first instead of second...sometimes this makes double plays tricky, especially when they hit the ball fast. One thing I don't likw is how the batter sometimes comes up and takes practice swings, but he does it right before the pitch is thrown, so it throws off your concentration from the pitch itself. It's easier to just hit the swing button each time you get to bat before the pitcher even gets ready. Other than that, the gameplay is easy to figure out, but not perfect. Like I mentioned, I turn automatic fielding on, because it gets tough at times and it's more enjoyable to have some chance to win!

There are tons of options here...you get all the real players...all the detailed stats for each player. You can one game or a whole season or form your own season. I've only tried the exhibition mode, so I cannot comment on the season modes. They have tons of fields to play in, as I said...and the players all look really nice- the graphics on them and all.

Really entertaining game, and it's one you can play over and over (like most sports games)...you can start out as rookie and increase the level you want to play at (all the way to hall of famer, I think) so that should help keep things interesting as well. I've never played any of the other high heat games, but this one is a lot of fun and very well put together.

Great Game @ A Great Price

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is very fun and entertaining to play. The graphics are good, and you have lots of options to choose from. Some say the graphics aren't as good as the Triple Play series, but they are much better than my Dreamcast 2k2 baseball game. If I have one gripe about this game, it's the computer baserunners. They can go from first to third or second to home and the play is never close. Other than that, I love this game!...You can't go wrong with High Heat 2003!

can not run the game in win XP

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I am so sorry that I can not play the game. Because my PC keeps freezing, crashing or just reboote whil playing the game.
The game it self is very fun to play. I really love it. But there is nobody there to help me out with the game.
I even bought a upgrate RAM, I paid $16.95 to the online XP people to help me out. I wrote the 3DO people a doxen times. At first they replied. But as I still was not able to play the game, they stopped replying for my cries of help. As the 30-day period has past, I could not return the game or ask for a new one. So I am stuck with the game. What I do now is after each inning I "save and quit" the game. because it crashes maybe after one inning,two innings or maybe even three innings. It is a real real pitty, I love to play it, but it is just to much...
I am sorry for this rewiew, but it is what it is

High Heat 2003

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I am a long time fan of High Heat and have bought every year's version. This was not a pc game but a poorly executed console port. If I wanted to play a console game, I would have bought the console version. But, to get a console version that plays on the computer, well, is insulting. As others have written, there is no mouse support. I could live with that, if the interface was easy to use. This interface attempts to be cool, which only leads it to being difficult and not at all intuitive.
Often you get to a place and have no idea how to do what you want. The help key is not very helpful, either. Without a mouse, it is hard to find what you want, or to get out of the wrong place, that you will find yourself often. I felt insulted by this game.
I should have listened to the reviews that downgraded the game. I actually found the play at times fun, but the game crashed 2x out of 3 games. Not good. That it crashed during the only enjoyable game I had, well, was not reasuring. The addition of new pitch types was a good change. The circles to assist fielding are WAY to large and intrusive. The game often required six or more imputs to get it to accept the pitch selection. (Yes, my sidewinder was calibrated, and works fine with other games.) This totally interrupts the flow of the game, and is very frustrating. The player graphics look like they were taken from an arcade game and not as realistic as some past versions. Some of the animations are really entertaining.
Overall, I was very disappointed. Getting a console game, wrapped in a pc package to me is unethical. The menus are flat out awful. If you want a console game to play on a pc, well, this is fair. As a pc game, it is poor.

More of the same, but still the best sim

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

To put it blankly, if you want the best game that for the most part is an actual representation of the game of baseball today, High Heat is your best bet.

Pros:

*Stats, stats, stats! Just about every stat you could hope for is here. Every Major league player has complete stats for every year plus ranking based on his strenghts, weaknesses and age, etc.
*Batter/Pitcher interface. For pitchers you select your pitch aim it where you want to go, and when that pitch leaves the pitchers hand, you have no control over it, just like in real life. The Batter interface is the best two, pretty simple for the most part, you aim the control pad where you think the ball will be and press the button to swing. Hopefully you'll hit the ball. You'll find it easier to hit off pitchers that aren't that great, and pitchers like Randy Johnson will be a tougher challenge for you.
* Mod community. There are mods for just about every aspect of this game. You can find uniforms, player photos/faces, stadiums, up to date rosters (including many minor league players and prospects) on a bunch of sites. baseballsimcentral.com is a good place to start. (or finish!)

Cons:
*Bugs. There are a decent amount of bugs with this version, but if you aren't daunted, you can fix most if not all of them youself. Sadly 3do hasn't released a patch, and it looks unlikely they ever will, so you'll be on your own.
*Grafix. This game doesn't look all that great. Even with a ton of community made game changes, the player models, and stadiums pale in comparision to other games out there. But that ok, because if you want an accurate stats driven game, this is the best bet.

Overall: **** stars. If 3do had released a patch, nah the game still looks awful, so **** is all it gets from me. If you can look past the horrible look of the game and work out the bugs (you'll find plenty of help at the aforementioned site by the way) you'll enjoy this game.

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