World Series Baseball 2K3

World Series Baseball 2K3 makes another run at the Xbox pennant.

Last year, World Series Baseball made an aggressive and successful run at the video game championships. This year, the team?s still swinging for the fences in the face of stiff competition for Xbox honors from All-Star Baseball and MVP Baseball.

First-Class Baseball
WSB 2K3 continues to do a great job of covering the basics. Franchise mode, for instance, is pretty much in tact from last year and remains one of the game?s strong points. You can manage your club for an unlimited number of years and hire specific position coaches. There?s also an insane number of attributes for create-a-player mode, so you can truly build an ?un-Natural? if you like. This year, you can fine tune the mood of your clubhouse by managing a player?s loyalty to your organization or giving them some time off during the season. You can also improve your club via in-game controls that beef up the skill levels of your coaches. But A.I. doesn?t call all the shots in 2K3. You can monitor the development of your video game baseball skills through the batting and pitching profiles of your tendencies saved in the game.

You Make the Play
2K3?s controls feature some nice new additions. First of all, you can finally save a game in progress! The defensive controls get a big boost from single-button dive and jump moves for both infielders and outfielders. This tactic takes timing, but it can be a game-breaker if you pull it off. Overall, the controls do a first-rate job in the field with players responding tightly to joystick movements and throws generally on target. On offense, you control the size of the lead for a baserunner and you can drag bunt, which looks pretty cool. But before you try to pull that off, you?ll need to learn how to hit. The hitting system is nothing if forgiving, allowing you to make contact more times than not on hittable pitches. But to get the most out of real-life sluggers, you have to spend the time to master the stiff batting cursor.

Pennant Potential
From the stands, WSB puts on a good show. The ESPN-licensed look adds nice style to the overall presentation, and the stadiums look excellent?even if the fans are stiffs. The player graphics are crisp and sharp. Eagle-eyed fans will argue over the accuracy of the faces of stars, as always. In fact, you may ferret out a few unfamiliar faces on your favorite teams.

The audio makes you feel like you?re in a ballpark. However, you?ll notice the announcers trail some of the onscreen action.

Overall, this game?s got the right stuff to show you a good time through 162 games and beyond. World Series Baseball 2K3 remains an Xbox powerhouse for 2003.

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