Hardball 5
GROUND RULE DOUBLE
A Review of Hardball 5
by Robert Coffey
Way back when they still made Amiga computers, my friends and I were totally
possessed by Earl Weaver Baseball. We had a league of 6 teams formed through
a nail-biting annual draft and played a 40 game season capped by playoffs
and a World Series. Somewhere in our baseball-obsessed minds the program
ceased existing as a mere game and became an anthropomorphized digital being
of godlike proportions. Our awed references to "Earl" were reverential
allusions not to a pastime but to our guru, our master. Not a day passed
where we didn’t play, or discuss past games, or burn up the phone lines
proposing trades in an effort to turn our teams into ball-bashing
juggernauts. We were stat-quoting, spouse-alienating maniacs who lived and
died with the Bugs, the Rattlers, and the Petros and indeed, years later, my
failure to win a single World Series despite appearing in every one still
sticks in my craw (and if Dave Parker, that miserable loser, had just
performed as well for me as he had in the real world I’d have that
championship ring).
Hardball 5 comes close to inspiring this level of passion. Recognizing that
a great deal of that passion comes with the intimate knowledge of players
that baseball’s copious statistics affords, the folks at Accolade have
significantly beefed up the stats in this latest version while tweaking and
improving the action that has always been Hardball’s hallmark. Hardball 5
is a real slugger as far as baseball sims go, providing great action, a
nifty interface, and a wealth of stats that even Buck Showalter would find
daunting. Even so, there are a number of bugs and missed opportunities that
will keep Hardball 5 out of Cooperstown and a spot in the Hall of Fame.
Those who have played previous versions of Hardball will find little new in
the game controls while newcomers will find the interface pretty
straightforward and easy to learn on both keypad and joystick. When on the
mound the player selects one of up to four possible pitches then decides
location by maneuvering crosshairs in and out of the strike zone. When
batting, simply decide what kind of swing you wish to take and where in the
strike zone you wish to take it – after that it’s largely a matter of
timing, like real baseball. Fielding can be trickier, especially when
trying to steer outfielders toward fly balls, but the auto-fielding option
will relieve you of this duty and get the fielders to the ball while you
still have to decide where to throw it. There are pop-up strategy menus to
let you steal a base or put on the hit and run. It’s a simple and effective
way to play the game.
But longtime fans of the Hardball series will notice some new things, not
the least of which is the new "closest-to-the-plate" perspective when
batting. Instead of the traditional batting perspective encompassing the
entire infield as well as the catcher and plate umpire, Hardball 5 has
brought the game player right up into the batter’s box and brought the duel
between pitcher and batter to life like no other baseball sim. This batting
option is virtually full-screen, giving the batter a better sense of the
strike zone as well as a humbling appreciation of a well thrown curveball.
It really draws you into the action.
The smooth animation and sharp graphics of Hardball 4 have been improved
upon, resulting in a truly striking look and feel to the game. Games can now
be played in all 28 major league stadiums in addition to 12 historic parks,
and all are offered in crisp SVGA graphics. The action is capably called by
the very professional, if not terribly exciting, Al Michaels.
But the knock against the Hardball games has always been the stats and
managerial depth and it is in this area that Hardball 5 really steps up to
the plate. In addition to the traditional ability ratings for every player,
there are stats for everything imaginable. Players stat screens display each
player’s accumulated stats for the season, their stats for the past week,
their real-life stats, and their home/away stats. Not enough? Fine, you can
customize the stats displays to show you any stats you want including
situational stats to evaluate how a player hits against lefties or how many
homers he pounds in August or you can look up his accumulated stats from all
the seasons he’s played since you installed the game. Just to make sure
there are plenty of stats to enjoy, Hardball 5 now offers you the chance to
manage 40 man rosters, complete with disabled lists and a minor league
system. Everything is there, and, boy, is it fun. Stat analysis can tag an
extra half hour onto a game easily.
Such a detailed compiling of statistics is a great addition to the Hardball
line, but unfortunately the statistic model is suspect and that’s a big
detraction, especially if you’re going to rely on the computer to simulate
some games during the course of your season. The inadequacy of the stat
model became evident after I ran a few simulated seasons, using Greg Maddux
and Tony Gwynn as benchmarks for pitching and hitting respectively. Maddux
didn’t once finish in even the top 20 for ERA, posting a 3.90 ERA and going
12-11, well behind the ERA leader Hideo Nomo’s 1.89. Another season Maddux
compiled a 3.18 ERA, almost a full run behind Doug Drabek’s league-leading
2.18. This is a pretty sorry representation of a 16-6 pitcher who had an
ERA of 1.96 in 1994 (the year the stats are based on). Add in the fact that
Maddux’s ERA last year was again under 2.00 and that his combined ERA for
the last four years is barely over 2.00, and you can tell that the man who’s
won four consecutive Cy Young awards is not the one on the mound in Hardball
5. Tony Gwynn, a six-time batting champion who has the highest lifetime
batting average among active players in the majors, didn’t fare much better.
He never finished in the top 10 and seemed to struggle just to reach .300.
Gwynn’s top simulated average was a respectable .306 in a season that saw
Deion Sanders of all people lead the league with a .318 average. The nadir
for Gwynn was a .274 average, far behind Mickey Morandini’s league leading
.331. Gwynn’s average was lower than that of teammate Eddie Williams’ who,
though offensively impotent in real life, managed to hit .285. Add in the
fact that the Yankees, Cleveland, and Atlanta had trouble making the
playoffs consistently and the flaws in the stat base become even more
glaring.
Hardball 5 also has a problem with bugs. Computer controlled players rarely
if ever swing at pitches out of the strike zone, even such whiffmeisters as
Cecil Fielder (that darn stat model again). When players do swing they
rarely miss – I have never seen so many foul balls in any game, be it on a
computer or in a stadium. With all the fouls, you’d expect a few pop-ups in
the infield or in foul ground to be caught for outs, but I still haven’t
seen a pop-up. While the auto-field option is supposed to take the
aggravation out of getting fly balls, often times the outfielder will get to
the ball then let it drop right behind him so it can roll to the wall – just
try protecting a late-inning one run lead with this charming feature. There
are design flaws as well that take away from the enjoyment of the game, such
as the lack of a pitchout option in order to defense the hit and run or
prevent a stolen base (there is a pickoff move and an intentional walk
option, but the pickoff never gets the runner and the intentional walk never
throws an intentional ball but just waves the batter to first). There is no
drafting ability so if you want to build a dream team of all-stars or create
a customized league you are forced to go through a laborious and cumbersome
process ill-suited to the task.
To be fair, Accolade is aware of these problems and is working on a patch to
fix many of them. When the patch is completed, Kansas City will have grass
in the stadium, the baserunner’s name and speed rating will appear in the
baserunner windows, the 20+ hits per team should diminish, and "Dont’t
Steal" will finally, thankfully read "Don’t Steal". Hardball 5 is strong on
action, deep in stats, and lots of fun – a very good game. With the arrival
of the 5.1 patch, it could be an outstanding game.
Gamer’s Zone Scorecard
| Product: |
Hardball 5 |
| Company: |
Accolade
|
| Cost: |
$49.95 |
System Requirements:
PC compatible 486/33Mhz or better, DOS 5.0 or higher,
8 MB RAM, 2X CD-ROM drive, 18 MB free hard disk space (46 recommended),
supports VESA SVGA graphics, supports most soundcards, one or two joysticks
recommended, supports modem play and XBAND PC
Breakdown:
Fun Factor 4
Graphics 5
Sound 4
Interface 5
Replayability 5
Overall Score:
(* 0 rating, 0 votes)
Loading ...
