From the early days of coin-op gaming, machines have been dedicated to reproducing the thrill of Game Day at the local ballpark. The electronic gaming scene has always included sports games.
INTRODUCTION
Of notable exception, however, is the Pocket
PC, whose sports games seem to have been limited
to versions of golf, for the most part (I can
think of no less than six different versions
of golf for the Pocket PC!). That is, of course,
until Hexacto came on the scene last year with
Tennis Addict. We all figured it was just a
matter of time before a faithful version of
America’s Favorite Pasttime was ported to the
Pocket PC. Hexacto has delivered again with
the highly anticipated title Baseball Addict.
Title Screen
Having played other Hexacto titles, I was
excited to see Baseball Addict finally released.
I have been really disappointed in sports
gaming on the Pocket PC. Hexacto’s products
are a breath of fresh air!
SETUP
Setup of Baseball Addict is extremely simple (as with other Hexacto products). Simply download the executable file and run it on your desktop PC. Installation is automatic.
PROGRAM FEATURES
Baseball Addict takes a few seconds to load on my iPAQ 3750. I really enjoy the familiar Hexacto user interface, and the game controls which are geared towards a touch screen.
Main Menu
After
loading, the game menu displays. With this menu,
the user can change sound settings, view the
ingame help file, which is a control tutorial,
and view your running statistics.
My stats…lots of strikeouts! |
Sound Options screen |
Baseball Addict has three games types, eight
different teams, three different difficulty
levels, and three different stadiums.
Choose the type of new game…
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then your team.
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Select one of three stadiums
The three basic game types are: Exhibition,
Tournament, and Homerun Derby. In Exhibition
mode, you can play as any of the eight teams
against any other team, at any stadium. In Tournament
mode, you play as any team against every other
team in a single elimination tournament. If
you win the tournament at the Rookie difficulty
level, you can then play at the Pro level. If
you win the tournament at the Pro level, you
can then play at the All-Pro level.
Tournament brackets
Homerun Derby mode is a good mode to practice
your batting. You play against another team,
or against a human opponent. Every homerun is
a point, and every foul ball or strike is an
out. You can play as many innings up to nine
as you want.
Pitching — notice the batter info menu
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…batter info menu can be closed.
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Getting ready to nail it.
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Base hit?
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…nope, out at first.
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Deep center field, but pop out.
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Next is a strikeout!
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Three outs and change sides.
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In-game controls are smooth and intuitive. Pitching
is accomplished in a three-step process. First
you select the type of pitch you want to throw.
Then you select where the target is by pressing
that location with the stylus. As you hold down
the stylus, a power bar pops up and you select
the desired power by letting the stylus go once
the ower bar reaches the desired level. Sounds
easy doesn’t it? Actually, its easier than it
sounds.
Fastball, sinker, or slider?
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Chose your location…
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Be careful not to wear your pitcher out, though!
Batting is accomplished by tapping the stylus
in the location where the ball crosses the plate.
This is much more difficult than it sounds,
but gets easier with practice. The better the
player, the larger the interior red box (see
screen shots).
Crowd the plate.
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Practice, practice, practice.
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Fielding is really fun. The player closest to
where the ball is heading will automatically
field the ball (this is nice in the beginning,
when first getting used to the play of the game,
and you can take over control by tapping the
stylus).
Fly ball can be a sure out.
There are two ways to throw the ball to another
player. The first is by tapping the desired
location on the miniature diamond in the top
corner of the screen. The second is to press
the D-pad (up is second base, down is homeplate,
etc). Pressing the stylus in the game field
will cause the player with the ball to run to
that location.
Just tap the base…
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…or press the D-pad.
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I found that using the D-pad was convenient,
however if the first baseman fields the ball,
pressing the D-pad to the right will cause the
first baseman to throw into the outfield. I
recommend getting used to tapping that little
diamond.
What about the “feel” of the game? I found the
in game music and sound really enhanced the
gameday experience. There is no annoying, out-of-place
music, and the sounds were appropriate. The
crowd cheered louder at all the right times.
You can even hear the ump call “You’re Out!”
on a strikeout – although I still haven’t figured
out what he is saying during a foul ball! You
even get to watch your MVP make that run from
third to homebase as the crowd cheers after
a homerun – its a lot of fun!
Scoreboard celebrates with you.
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Very satisfying watching the winning homer!
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And, of course, as with other Hexacto titles,
you’ll get access to ScoreCast, where you can
compare your Baseball Addict success with others
over the Internet.
HELP SUPPORT
The explanation of basic controls is comprehensive and straightforward. The instructions on how to run back to the base your runner just left never seemed to work for me, for some reason. I tried starting my runner to the next base only to find I couldn’t get him to run back, so I suffered an easy out.
Just press and drag to advance your runner.
All the other controls worked just fine.
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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Baseball Addict
only runs on StrongARM CPUs, and requires Windows
3.0 and above. As seen on Hexacto’s website,
Baseball Addict only runs on the @migo 600-C,
Casio E-200, Compaq iPAQ, HP Jornada 56x, O2
xda, Toshiba Genio-e, and other compatible devices.
size=2>
size=2> Baseball Addict requires 4.1 MB of storage memory and 7 MB of program memory.
BUGS
AND WISHES
GREATER
RE-PLAYABILITY. Baseball Addict is at the expensive
end of the cost spectrum for Pocket PC titles.
The quality of their product does not disappoint.
But a game that is this expensive should yield
a lot more playing time, in my opinion. For
example, it took me three exhibition games (at
3-innings) to begin winning my games handily.
I played several more, and then played the Rookie
Tournament, which I won.
Perhaps causing the user to control the other
players more would create a slightly more difficult
game, and one that would be much more satisfying
to win.
Perhaps have a larger league. Eight teams is
not really a lot.
Something else I noticed was that although I
had the tournament set to 5 innings, the games
ended at 3.
The other thing I noticed was that the different
stadiums added nothing to the actual gameplay
– the in-game graphics didn’t change.
PURCHASING
Baseball Addict can be purchased from
Hexacto’s website and costs $29.95.
Follow this
link for more information about Baseball
Addict.
The demo can be downloaded here.
PROS
Great
graphics
Brings
that gameday feel to your Pocket PC
Appropriate
sounds
Very
solid user interface
Great
stylus control
Quite
fun to play, while it lasts
CONS
Expensive.
Relatively short playability, based on cost
Limited
number of teams
Could
stand to be a little more difficult
Some
minor “glitches”
OVERALL
IMPRESSION
Baseball Addict was a highly anticipated
release from Hexacto. It does not disappoint.
Baseball Addict has great gameplay, directed
by a group which has demonstrated an uncommon
level of understanding the platform, and great
Pocket PC controls. Add some more replayability,
a little more difficulty, and graphics that
change with the venue and you have a classic
Pocket PC title.
Baseball Addict also delivers to those who love the game and are hungry for the ballpark experience, though hotdogs not included!
