High Heat Baseball 2004 - Xbox

The High Heat series has always been one of opposites. Each game in the series has played great, realistic baseball--but the graphics never look as good as the competition. High Heat games always hit the shelves before the competition's games, but they're always plagued with stability issues and other bugs. High Heat games are always the best baseball game of the year in terms of realism, but they always sell the worst. Each year hardcore baseball fans hope and pray that developer 3DO will get it right, and each year 3DO improves just enough to keep hope alive (the High Heat series is kind of like the Red Sox). The good news is that the 2004 edition of High Heat Baseball is no exception to the above. The bad news is that, on the PC at least, the 2004 edition is no exception to the above.

As usual High Heat Major League Baseball 2004 isnt quite as pretty as most of the competition, but the game does have a nostalgic look thats 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 arent 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 isnt 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.