The All-Star Baseball series trundles onto GameCube but, despite better looking players during gameplay, lacks the presentation of FIFA. It all sounds very muted and unenthusiastic at all, like nobody in the crowd wants to be there. The calls for no ball or strike are also very quiet, with no big on-screen text, leaving the random numbers on the UI the only thing to help you try to follow the game.

The batting also feels quite wonky. You have greater control over aiming, and can twist your shot upwards or downwards with the C-Stick, but actually swinging the bat seems to have a mind of its own. Holding A sometimes gets the player to swing at the right time, but other times he won’t swing at all, no matter what you do (I even used save states to test). I thought it’s some assist to do with no balls, but then it happened on pitches that were in, meaning you’ll get a strike no matter what you do.

I had similar issues in other areas of the game, such as getting my players to run between bases and fielding. I managed to accidentally get the catcher to throw the ball behind him, resulting in the CPU getting additional runs. All in all, this just feels like a poor baseball game. By far the best part is being the pitcher and deliberately hitting the batsmen.

Poor

All-Star Baseball 2002 is solid, competent and playable, but never spectacular. GameCube is capable of hosting something that would look as good as a TV broadcast, so the expressionless players and ultra-dark astroturf come as something of a disappointment. Check it out if you’re a massive fan of the sport, but if you’ve got one of the earlier N64 versions, you’ve already seen most of what this disc has to offer.

Martin Kitts, NGC Magazine #65

Remake or remaster?

There are better baseball games out there.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to play All-Star Baseball 2002.