Review: 'All-Star Baseball 2003' is a hit

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Platform: GameCube

By IDG

(IDG) -- "All-Star Baseball 2003" is coming up to bat for the GameCube, and just like last year's version, it's a league leader. Naturally, you get 30 major league teams and a nice lineup of gameplay modes. Building a franchise, managing your favorite team, and creating players are ably handled. You can even earn points to exchange for packs of Donruss baseball cards.

On the field, "ASB 2003" reveals a dependable team of controls. You can position your fielders and pre-select which base to throw to on hit balls. On the mound, it's a breeze to learn how best to guide your hurlers toward all parts of the strike zone. At the plate, the cursor-assisted hitting is solid, but base-running can be a button-pressing adventure with multiple runners on the bags.

The graphics and sounds work hard to put on a good show. Player models make an impressive effort to accurately mimic all big-leaguers, and the gameplay animation is silky smooth. The all-star quality audio deserves kudos for excellent and very accurate calls by the broadcast team of Bob Brenly, Thom Brennaman, and Steve Lyons. "All-Star Baseball 2003" is suited up and ready to play. GameCube ballplayers should look forward to this season with confidence.