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By Lonnie on April 9th, 2002
Introduction Baseball has long been an American tradition. There is not one person in america who hasn’t heard of or played the sport. However, there is another side to baseball that the majority of the world hasn’t taken part in. General Management!.Presentation When I first started playing I noticed that this was no normal baseball game. Everything, and I mean everything is customizable. I’m not a huge sport nut but I found it sort of RPG-like with all the numbers and what not. My only complain is how long it takes to load. For a game/sim this simple there is no excuse for the huge loading times.Graphics & Sound What to expect: Lots of menu’s and logo’s. What not to expect: Sound, Movies, 3D Graphics, Animation’s. This does not make the game bad, however, it does effect my mood when playing. I don’t know if its my system but the sound will not load. The GUI takes forever to load and overall takes away from the experience of the game. Gameplay There really isn’t a lot to say here. The game is pretty much a sports nut’s sim city. The biggest thing I can compare it to is Yahoo’s fantasy sports games. Only a lot more in depth. Another really cool feature is the online leagues. While I can’t really see joining such a thing myself its pretty cool. You can build your team and join a league online and play to see who is the better general manager. Along side that you can also trade players, scout, and get fantasy league news through your GM e-mail. The funniest thing is they even added a mode where you can challenge and umpire’s decision. I guess the comic relief comes from when the umpire thinks your a complete jerk and throws you out. The game may be fun for those who are willing to navigate through the laggy menu’s and spend the time building a baseball team. However, for me the game is somewhat depressing. There is so much this game could have been. Lasting Appeal I’m sure there are a lot of sports fans out there who would sell their soul for a chance to be a GM of a successful baseball team. I’m not one of them. If your interested in the sport and do not know how the stats work you may be disappointed. Again, I must mention that there is some value in the game if you are the type who wishes to crunch numbers inside your own fantasy world of baseball. Conclusion This game will certainly be for a small group of hard-core baseball fans. Not the general audience. I was wrong on my approach the first time I reviewed the game. I try to make it my policy to review games as the average gamer. However, by doing this I certainly will anger those who are not the average. If you don’t like the score I’m sorry. This is my firm opinion and I am willing to defend it wholeheartedly | 
