HardBall!

After the disappointing Super League Baseball, Hardball comes as a breath of fresh air. It's not easy to get to grips with (expect to be thrashed by the computer the first few times!), but effort is rewarded with the fun of making that first home run. The animation of the pitcher and batter makes up for the otherwise poor graphics, and the options include changing everything from the quality of the opposition to the type of bats used. As with most sports games, Hardball is best played with another person; but this is still a good one-player game.

Undoubtedly one of the most graphic baseball simulations around, Hardball offers tons of variety and little to waste! the digitized are well done, and the graphics are excellent. The background music could use a little work, but that can be turned off. Not bad for a sports game.

Accolade's highly acclaimed baseball simulation Hardball! is now available for the Amiga, courtesy of US Gold. Surprisingly, it is not much of an improvement over its 8-bit counterparts, despite the inclusion of sampled speech at opportune moments.

Unter dem Videospiele-Label Ballistic wurde eine zufriedenstellende Umsetzung herausgebracht, die zwar gut spielbar ist, aber die Fähigkeiten des Mega Drives bei weitem nicht ausnützt. Baseball-Fans werden sich davon nicht irritieren lassen, zumal der Spielablauf dem Computervorbild entspricht - und das war ja nicht schlecht.

Much more of an arcade game than a simulation, it takes the exciting sections of a game and compacts it into a few nailbiting sections. Having played the 64 version, I took the easy route and started playing immediately. Wow! The graphics and animation were always good, but on the Amiga they are incredible.

While this scheme allows the fielders to be larger and better animated, it's detrimental to the overall gameplay. Making matters worse, the outfielders are tiny and move slowly. This was apparently done to convey distance, but balls tossed in from the outfield take an eternity to arrive. On the bright side, Hardball's controls make it easy to toss the ball around the bases, steal, and substitute players. The audio is weak, and that creepy carnival music that plays during the title screen has got to go. Taken an a whole, Hardball does manage to provide a competitive baseball experience, but its experimental camera angles keep it firmly entrenched in the minor leagues.