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Baseball Addict, by Hexacto, $29.95
Reviewed September 2002

With just one look at a screen shot of Baseball Addict from Hexacto, and you’ll know that the graphics live up to the “Hexacto Standard” that’s created by a series of games with great looking graphics, such as Tennis Addict and Lemonade. If I told you that this game has beautiful in-game graphics and title screens, and that it has a full set of game modes including Exhibition, Tournament and Homerun Derby, and that its infamous PSI (Precise Stylus Input) works as well in this game as it did in Tennis Addict, I know I will get little argument. But given the $30 price tag, I’m going to compare the gaming experience with the real life baseball as much as I can. After all, this is a baseball simulation game.

The game play offers plenty of things to try, and it keeps your stylus busy. There are 8 teams you can pick from as your team and your opposing team, based on the level of pitching, batting, defense and speed. The team stats are not measured in true baseball stats (ERA for pitching, Batting Average for hitting for example), but the individual player’s stats are. Although you will only see the batting average and HR numbers, sorry Mr. Soriano, we can’t track your 40-40 club chase. There are 3 game modes: Exhibition, Tournament and Homerun Derby. These modes combined with 3 difficulty levels: Rookie, Pro and All-Star guarantee a very high replay value. Exhibition mode allows players to tackle a single computer opponent for a quick baseball fix. Those looking for a greater challenge can select the Tournament mode, where your team goes head-to-head against computer-controlled teams in an attempt to win it all. In Homerun Derby, two teams battle to prove that they are the best homerun hitters around-- if only I could get Bonds, Sosa, A-Rod, Thome and Giambi on my team. Controlling the hitting with stylus is easy and fun. It took me 3 innings to get accustomed to using the stylus to hit. There is a visual aid both on the strike zone and the hitting zone. If a pitch lands in your hitting zone, you’ve made contact; if it lands where the crosshair is, then you might just have gotten a home run. The hitting result also depends on the speed, timing and angle of bat travel. Since you don’t know the opposing pitcher’s stats, you won’t get any help from Ted Williams’ “How to be a Good Hitter” book. There are no coaches on the field either, so you won’t get signs when you look at third base.

Starting pitchers on each team will have 2 relievers, and they usually have a fastball, curveball, slider and sinker in their pitching repertoire. You can select any of the available pitches and point your stylus to the landing point of the strike zone and hold it down for maximum pitching power. The ball movements show enough differences between the pitches, and AI pitchers usually are pretty good at dealing pitches. For example, they rarely throw you a good pitch after 2-0 ahead of the count. For those who look for more defined pitches, however, you will not have the luxury of picking release points or seam positions. Try as I might, I couldn’t produce any curveball that looks as pretty as Barry Zito’s or any slider that looks as mean and intimidating as the Big Unit’s. You can change a pitcher in any inning during the game. The pitcher’s stamina bar will go down as the innings wear on, a very convenient visual aid for monitoring the pitchers. There is usually a mix of right-handers and lefties so that you can take your pick depend on what kind of hitters the opposing team has.

Fielding is also very easy to learn. There is a small diamond icon on top right hand side. If you are an outfielder catching a fly ball or grounder, by clicking on certain base, you can make the outfielder throw the ball to that base. While you probably won’t make as many errors in this game as real baseball players, you do need to be aware where the runners are and make decisions in a split second. If you practice the controls, you can turn some fancy double plays. The throw-in from the outfield is a bit slow compare to the speed of the base runners. Sometimes I feel that I could be Ernie Lombardi hitting a grounder and I’d still make to the base before the ball even gets out of the infield. Another thing helps the fielding is the cleanness of the field. There are no base coaches, no umpires, and no batboys, just players on the field. This set up gives you a very clear view of the fielders movements and makes it easy to track the ball. It also spares you the danger of having Lou Piniella chest-bumping umpires or throwing base plates all over the infield. Anybody else wonder what happened to the Sweet part of “Sweet Lou”?

If you like playing computer baseball games, chances are you’ve been waiting for Baseball Addict with bated breath. This is a must-have game for you. If you loved the graphics, great control and polished package in Hexacto’s other sports titles, you should not miss this game. Whether you are a Cy Young chaser or Babe Ruth chaser, Baseball Addict has got your number with the Exhibition game’s quick fix, the long and grueling Tournament and adrenaline rushing Homerun Derby.