Hardball 4

Strike Schmike… Play Ball!

A Review of Hardball 4

The strike-shortened baseball season has arrived, however by the attendance figures of the
ballparks, I think someone forgot to tell the fans that. It is here though, and what’s a better way to celebrate it than with a new addition to the Hardball family, Hardball 4.

Hardball 4 has many new features like League Leaders, which keeps track of all the statistics and tells you how your team stacks up against the rest of the Major Leagues statistically. Did I also mention that now you can trade to build your dream team? Picture Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr. on the same team. Or maybe you can try to build the Mets into a contender.

Hardball 4 also has many little things that add so much realism to the game. Though they might not be that noticeable to the average Joe, they’re quite vital to the baseball fan. Here are just a few examples of those little tidbits I’m talking about. When your pitcher is getting tired, he can’t find the strike zone. The wind plays a big part in fly balls, as a routine pop-up can become a double or a triple if the wind carries it far enough. All the ballparks are also more detailed and a carbon copy of their real life
counterparts. From the Green Monster in Boston to the “Hit It Here” sign in Baltimore. My favorite little tidbit is the realism in each player. Everyone does what they’re suppose to. You won’t see a Frank Thomas steal 30 bases or a Don Mattingly make 20 errors at first base. These little tidbits just add so much to the game that I really can’t imagine a baseball game being good without them.

The graphics in Hardball 4 are upgraded, making them a bit crisper than those found in Hardball 3. So while they’re still not the greatest in the world, they do their job. My biggest problem with them is the occasional object pop up. While not bothersome, it shouldn’t be there. The music and sound effects are nothing special, as Accolade basically just imported them from HB3. However, the most improved audio aspect of the game is in the play-by-play. It is now much clearer and stays with the action. In Hardball 3, you would be at bat and Al Michaels (the PBP man) would still be going on about the play that just happened.

The controls in HB4 are the traditional Hardball controls. If you use auto fielding, you can play the whole game using only the arrow keys and Enter. So if you don’t have a joystick, don’t worry, you can play the game with no problems.

I only have two problems with this game, one being difficulty. It’s just too darn easy. I’m not lying when I say that 20+ hit games for both teams are not unusual. And with so many hits, the games tend to become long and can last a good hour and a half. The good thing is that you can save games in case you can’t finish it in one sitting. And if I had my way, I would add one thing to this game. At the end each game, I like to see what a particular player did in terms of statistics. A Recap Feature with all the important team and individual
player statistics would be nice. You listening Accolade? Maybe in Hardball 5, right?

Other than that, Hardball 4 doesn’t have any other real problems. It’s extremely fun to play, especially in a league. Where you can see divisional races along with Batting, RBI, and Home Run races take shape all at once. Make that trade that brings your team into serious pennant contention. Or maybe make that starting pitcher a reliever and a reliever a starter or vice versa. You don’t like the Designated Hitter in baseball? You can disable it. You can be down on the field playing or you can be up in luxury box watching as GM. It’s all up to you. That’s Hardball 4 greatest attribute, that you can choose what
exactly it is you want to do. This is the best baseball game on the computer market today and it’s well worth the money even if you aren’t a die hard baseball fan.

Copyright © 1995 Alex Frias for infoMedia. All rights reserved worldwide.

Screen Shots

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System Requirements:

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
MS-DOS 5.0 or better
386/25 or better
Sound Card
4 MB RAM
Mouse or joystick

Breakdown:

Fun Factor 5
Graphics 4
Sound 3
Interface 3
Replayability 4

Overall Score: