Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001 has everything a hard-core baseball fan could hope for: accurate and comprehensive statistics, realistic plays, dramatic pitcher/batter matchups, and even a full minor league system to manage and call upon during the season. On the field, this year's High Heat looks better than previous incarnations, with more detailed players and a wider array of player animations (such as outfielders running into walls and diving players holding up their gloves to show that they caught the ball).

But the real appeal of the game lies in its accurate portrayal of the sport. Each game played in High Heat 2001 unfolds like a real baseball game, where bunts are just as important as home runs and starting pitchers don't always survive past the fourth inning. To win, players must think like a big-league manager and take care to bring in the correct players for certain situations. And as you earn that come-from-behind victory with a clutch RBI single in the bottom of the 12th, you can count on the game tracking and storing a wealth of stats for you to peruse after the game. In fact, you can check over a complete (and incredibly thorough) score sheet after each game and watch video highlights to see the big plays that affected the outcome.

Aside from a few graphics errors (such as huge green, untextured areas outside of some stadiums) and an intermittent bug that pops up when performing a double switch, High Heat 2001 is about the best baseball game ever produced. If you're into baseball for more than just home runs and strikeouts, this is the game for you. --Michael E. Ryan

Pros:

• Most realistic arcade baseball game on the market
• Accurately captures the strategic feel of a real baseball game
• Excellent statistics model
• Good, speedy pace to the game

• Graphics are still not world-class
• Play-by-play is lifeless and boring
• Occasional graphics errors and program bugs pop up

I've tried "Triple Play" and "Hardball", and rate
"High Heat" higher than both. This copy has served
me for two years. It's plusses are many.

It has the first and foremost necessity to be a good
baseball game: intuitive pitching and hitting. Being
able to catch the corners and trick a batter is what
makes a baseball game playable and replayable.

There is good detailing about the players, and attention was
paid to the various styles of swinging the bat.

Character creation is easy. Teams, players and seasons
are all programmable. However, moving players around is
a chore, and time-consuming.

The minuses?

Well, although the High Heat people promised roster
updates, my 2001 version was left high and dry.

Yeah, graphics occasionally go wonky.

Some of the interfaces are maddening, as, in my version at
least, they display only eight of the nine players in the
starting lineup, or four of the five pitchers in the
starting rotation. It can be infuriating when you try
to switch people around. Hopefully that's been improved
in newer versions.


The best, no other Baseball game will ever have to be bought   February 24, 2001
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

WOW!!!!

Play for as long as you want! really..... Great game! Good downloads, patches ,ect.....

looks, feels, sounds like the real thing. The fact that you can make your own players, make the HOF, be on the DL for over a year....well it is just like the real thing, I know I said that already but this is the FIRST AND LAST game you will every need. an the idea that I can play many many many many.......ect, seasons ....well nothing else is needed!


An addictive, thrilling game for this baseball fan   January 16, 2001
E A Glaser (Delft, The Netherlands)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I don't usually play sports games, but I am a baseball fan and I played the previous two games in this series. All I have to say is that I have played hundreds of games in career mode, guiding the Tribe through several seasons, and I've never gotten bored with it. The pitcher-batter interface is the key to the game; there is a steep learning curve to successful hitting, I found, but after many games I have topped out at being a pretty good hitter (my team usually leads the league in offense). However, I am still susceptible to being shut down by good pitchers, and even though the computer's pitching is sometimes predictable, a well-timed changeup is still a devastating out pitch. Another aspect that keeps me playing is the career mode, where I can manage three levels of minor-league teams, draft rookies every year, and invest a lot of emotional capital in new players I have developed myself. There are lots of good details included in the game as well, such as a batting-practice interface for working on your hitting, a mid-season all-star game, trading with other teams, customizable leagues and seasons, and a head-to-head-with-another-present-human mode which is quite fun (and easy to set up if you both have Sidewinder Gamepads, my preferred peripheral for this game).

There are a few downsides ... the minor leagues are initially stocked with made-up players, and not real minor-leaguers. The graphics are good but not great (I'm not complaining -- they're perfectly fine for me -- I'm just noting that other baseball games have slicker visuals). Base-stealing and defense are reasonably well-executed, although I still make terrible errors on both counts sometimes (partly from brain spasms on my part but not totally -- I think the interface for these aspects could still be improved).

Overall, however, this is by far the best implementation of a baseball simulation I've ever played.


Can I please give it 10 stars instead of 5?   December 20, 2000
Matthew J. Rowland (Lees Summit, MO United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I was one of the biggest advocates of EA's Triple Play series. After the letdown of Triple Play 2000 and 2001, (They haven't made a good one since 1998) I began to be turned off by PC Baseball games. Until, I found HH 2000.

And this game, HH 2001, is even better than its predesessor. The graphics are gorgeous. The AI is the most intelligent I have ever seen in a baseball game. The physics are pinpoint accurate. Outfielders can't throw laser beams from the wall to the catcher in 2 seconds. The pitcher/batter interface is the BEST of any game. And, perhaps the greatest gameplay feature that it has over all other games:

YOU CAN ACTUALLY DRAW WALKS WHILE BATTING. --This may not sound like much, but believe me, it makes the game so much more realistic.

The player editor is a great feature, letting you tweak players abilities (for instance, if you leave it the way it is, Mike Sweeney would be a career .270 hitter...we all know he's better than that!) :-) You can guide your franchise through an infinite amount of seasons. I have one of my teams in the year 2087 right now.

There are so many features that this game offers but I can't talk about all of them in this limited space. But, if you love baseball, you'll absolutely fall in love with this game. Buy it now if you haven't already.


I love this game -- and I'm not into sports!   November 20, 2000
Barbara Thomas
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

The game has it all! I enjoy simulation games, but am always looking to spice up my game collection with gear that uses different approaches to that same-old-song-and dance. Sammy Sosa's High Heat Baseball 2001 gave me the simulation/management aspect of the game, while allowing me to play the game as well (if I choose to do so).

Truth be told, I bought the game as an alternative to some other sports games, because it had the ability to be more than just "Baseball Mogul" or some glorified fantasy baseball simulation. And, I didn't need a 3d video card, either!

I didn't realize at the time that the game would end up ranking as one of my all time favorites. I'm not a sports person, but SSHH2001 has hooked me. I find myself playing both the simulation aspect and the "baseball game" aspect about equally. And, as with all GOOD games, you never end up with the same game twice.

The play-by-play in SSHH2001 is predictable after a while, but has improved my swing and my eye for hitting that slider or fastball. I'm still having trouble with the change-up, but I am sure that with more batting practice, even I will improve. The graphics are not the world's best, but I can't complain given all the other fabulous goodies -- home run derby, customizable seasons, draft picks, develop your own farm teams, batting practice with ability to set the types of pitches, simulating seasons, trades, a High Heat MVP, stats that have a bearing on game simulation performance... the list goes on. And for the price, it's gotta be one of the best baseball games around. Heck... even 3DO guarantees your satisfaction. What have you got to lose?