Rounders. Not the most popular sport in the world, certainly not with me. The
word takes me back to muddy days on an English School field. The wind in my
hair, the frostbite on my toes... perhaps one of the worst experiances of my
life.
In this game, you had two options;
- 'Fielding'
This consitited of standing / sitting / lying down in a muddy field,
running about like a headless chicken for the ball when the teacher was
looking.
- 'Batting'
This consitited of standing / sitting / lying down in a muddy field, every
twenty minutes throwing a stick at a tennis ball coming very fast in the
other direction, and running.
I vowed at age 11 that I would never play the game again. High School came
and went... and I still avoided that gastly game.
Now I'm in College, the American variation is growing on me. Although I hate
the World Series idea (invite only US teams, and throw in some Japs for
humiliation purposes) the speed and skills of the game seems fun.
Um... anyway...on to the review.
:P
Firstly, if you're a fan of the new N64 Baseball games - stay away. The (lack
of) controls will drive you doo-laly. Although slightly reminisant of the
days of Game & Watch, they certainly do their job, and make the game all the
more easier to pickup and play for it.
As I mentioned in the top paragraph (I knew there was a reason for writing
all that) I know NOTHING about Baseball. However, this game made me feel at
home from the beggining. I pick a team and opponent, and away I go.
The batting system is actually fairly complicated - where the damn ball goes
depends on about a million different probabilities. At first, it's more a
case of luck where you actually hit the ball (if at all). Chances are the
first innings (is it innings? I dunno) will bring fouls and strike outs
gallore. But not to worry - you'll screw up the fielding too.
Fielding seems to be more of an act of crowd control rather than skill. Sure,
the intial throwing of the ball is kinda fun - using aftertouch to curl the
ball away from the batter is kinda cool - but chasing after the ball is a
group effot. Guiding your players to the ball is more like Cannon Fodder than
anything else - all the fielders are controlled at once - meaning players
bouncing into walls and one another, making throwing the ball back to the
fielders near the diamond immpossible.
