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Lunch » Tags » Video Games » Reviews » World Series Baseball 2k1

World Series Baseball 2k1

1 rating: -3.0

Sports video game by Sega Sports for the Dreamcast

Sega Sports clears the wall with another winning sports simulation for Dreamcast. In World Series Baseball 2K1, you'll find the same immersive realism and hard-hitting gameplay that turned the other Sega Sports titles into gaming legends. Detailed player … see full wiki

Tags: Video Games, Sports, Dreamcast Games

Release Date: 25 July, 2000

1 review about World Series Baseball 2k1

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Ball is Flying... Hey Outfielder... Catch it... CATCH IT!!! ARRRGGGHHH!!!

Nov 23, 2007

by BaronSamedi3
posted in The Gaming Hub

Rating:

-3

Pros: Derek Jeter looks like himself. So does every other player

Cons: Think of something smart. Paste it here and give me the credit

The Bottom Line: (singing, tune of Talking Baseball) I want good baaasebaaalll...

It should be noted that Sega Sports has possibly the biggest, best known baseball dynasty in video games. With Tommy Lasorda and World Series Baseball and added support from EA Sports' Triple Play series, the Genesis was the system to have if you wanted quality baseball titles. But I couldn't tell you that much about it because I wasn't into sports games back then the way I am now. Or baseball, for that matter.

So I've heard that the Tommy Lasorda series and World Series Baseball titles were as close as you could get to pro ball without actually sitting in the dugout awaiting your at bat. Gee, playing this sorry excuse of a video game, I'd never be able to tell. In case you're wondering, I've heard all the warnings about World Series Baseball 2K1. I just didn't heed them. Hey, even if it's bad, it can't be all that bad, right? This is Sega Sports we're talking about here! Creators of the greatest football and basketball games 128-bit has ever seen, not to mention the baseball dynasty I mentioned in the last paragraph, right? And it cost less than five smackers!

Nobody has a perfect run, I guess. Even Squaresoft slipped up when they put out Final Fantasy 8, which turned out to be a horrible excuse for an RPG and a mockery of the series.

But this is just pathetic. When you make a new game in a long running series, you're supposed to add something new to it so it seems fresh and innovative. In World Series Baseball 2K1, Sega didn't bother to add anything except a few updated roster stats and some prettier pictures. Those are always nice, not to mention essential. But other than that, World Series 2K1 has all the typical modes: Exhibition, full season, create a player, roster management, all that crap. Except for a home run derby, apparently. A home run derby would have been great. A home run derby would have really spiced it up. A home run derby would have saved the game from total mediocrity. What's a home run derby? (I wasn't kidding when I said I wasn't into sports games or baseball much back in the day).

Oh, I just remembered the Quick Start mode. That's the one where you dive right in to the beginning of the game, without even having to pick the teams that are playing. And if you manage to keep this game lying around in your house past the first week of its purchase, Quick Start is the mode you'll probably be using most often. Why? Because it doesn't matter what teams you choose. Give youself the best team and the computer the worst. The AI is still gonna whip your sorry hide on the lowest skill setting.

Back to what I said about new features that keep sports games fresh-or the lack of as is the case here-Sega Sports not only forgot to make any new additions, they also took out some of the things which, to my understanding, are very common and essential in computer baseball. Like the ability to control your fielders. The thing is, you don't actually get to control any of your fielders. You merely get to decide which direction to make them throw the ball. Just pick a direction-up for second base, left for third base, right for first base, down for home plate-and press the A button. And due to the sloppy controls, there's no guarantee that the fielder is going to respond. He'll likely just stand there as the runner on third base slides to home, effectively spreading the point gap to 17 now, computer's favor.

And get this now: You have NO control over the guys in the outfield at all. And your AI outfielders are idiots. I kept this game for a mere week, yet I can't tell you how many times I've seen the other team hit fly balls into the outfield and score home runs because my outfielder was too lazy to simply stick out his hand. The infield AI at least has the brains to make a few catches, but they're not much better. If a ground ball is hit close to second base, the second baseman won't bother to reach out his hand to catch it, either. He'll wait for the outfielder to run up to it while your opponent rounds the bases and scores yet again. If only he'd pick up the ball, you could throw it to home plate, outting the runner and maybe even setting yourself up for a double or triple play.

Pitching. Don't get me started. Don't even try to trick yourself into thinking you have any control over it. You press the analog stick in a direction to decide the kind of pitch, press A when the power meter fills up to where you want it and let 'er rip. But it doesn't matter what you do, because the ball always goes off in another direction. If you try to control it, you'll only move it out of the strike zone. If you don't control it, the batter will hit it. The only thing you can really do is let the batter hit the ball and hope the computer wisens up and catches it. Forget about getting a strikeout.

Unless you're the one batting. Then you'll always get a strikeout! Someone, please, tell me that the batting system used in World Series 2K1 is exclusive to the game and not a video baseball standard! You get a batter with a big square in front of him that varies in size, depending on the skill of the batter. With the analog stick, you guide a little cursor with a range that goes just outside the square. As the ball flies within range, you have to follow it with your cursor and try to hit it at the right time. And here's the odd part: As you follow the ball with your cursor, you're also holding down the R trigger. You don't swing the bat by pressing the R trigger, you hold the R trigger and swing the bat by releasing it. It means nothing because it's not like you're going to get a more powerful swing by holding the R trigger longer. Just hold, when the ball comes, release. And if you release too early or too late, the computer annoyingly tells you so.

If there's one strength that World Series Baseball 2K1 can boast, it's the graphics. You get accurately rendered and detailed parks. And the players are captured very nicely, from ruffs in their uniforms to their faces to their batting stances. Derek Jeter still holds his bat over his head. The framerate is high, as we've all come to expect from the Dreamcast, and the number of polys per player looks high. Now we know where all the effort that should have went into the gameplay went.

But despite the gameplay scrifice, the graphics aren't perfect. The spectators look like cardboard cutouts, and they barely move. And there are very few camera angles. When someone on the other team tries to steal a base, you're not going to see it. No view from the mound either. You basically have the batter's-eye view, the fielder's-eye view, two or three replay views, a couple of insets and that's it.

The sound sucks royally. Sure, you get a very nice, inspiring, patriotic rendition of the last half of the Star-Spangled Bannerthat can't be skipped in the beginning. And sure, you have accurate bat cracks and catching sounds. But why does the umpire sound so muffled? But the muffled ump has nothing on the announcer. The announcer is so inconsistant and clunky it sounds like Sega Sports just strung along a handfull of different sound bites. For one word, the announcer speaks in a high tone. Then a brief pause before saying the next word in a lower tone. (cringe).

Want a good sports game for the Dreamcast? Go buy an NFL 2K or NBA 2K game. Maybe an NHL 2K game, but I can't recommend any of them since I haven't played them yet. They're bound to be better than this, though. World Series Baseball 2K1 is more of an arcade game than a baseball sim, and that's not a good thing. Arcade baseball games aren't very good either. But the bottom line is that there are better five dollar sports games available for the Dreamcast, most of which are more worthy of your money.

Recommended:
No

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