Description:
As usual High Heat Major League Baseball 2004 isn’t quite as pretty as most of the competition, but the game does have a nostalgic look that’s quite stylish--kind of like the difference between now-torn down County Stadium and the new Miller Park that replaced it in Milwaukee. A major area of improvement is in player animation. The players aren’t stiff anymore; they move like human beings. A bit of graphics sheen was applied to the stadiums too, and while not the best, High Heat is finally a good looking game. Unfortunately, audio is merely okay. The problem isn’t limited to dry and dull commentary. High Heat 2004 pretty much has the same soundtrack as High Heat 2003 and, the music often does not match action on the field. High Heat 2040 adds some 30 new pitches to the game, and the pitcher/batter interface so crucial to this game’s success (it’s the best in the business and it feels like real baseball) is still in place and looking good. High Heat plays a solid game of baseball that just feels right. For perhaps the first time in the series (it’s been running the bases since 1999), High Heat 2004 was first developed for the PlayStation 2 and then ported elsewhere. That doesn’t make much of a difference for most console versions but buyers of the PC version will be disappointed. The port is sloppy. There’s no mouse support and significant blurring at high resolutions (the menus don’t scale). PC users are used to accessing all the stats, info, batting orders, etc., at the touch of the mouse. I can’t imagine why this happened, because previous High Heat PC games have had mouse support. The PC version also is plagued with minor stability issues and, worst of all does not have any kind of multiplayer. High Heat games have had multiplayer since 2001, and the omission of multiplayer in 2004 is a tragedy. High Heat 2004 for the console systems is a great game, certainly the best looking one yet in the series, but the PC version is much weaker than it should be.--Andrew S. Bub Pros: - Good looks, great gameplay
- Best pitcher/batter duel available in a baseball game
Cons: - Bad commentary
- PC version inexcusably marred by bugs, no mouse, no multiplayer
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