I love baseball! I love it probably more than anything, besides videogames. This game is really good, and deserves an MVP. I think Jason Giambi is guilty of taking steroids. Who here thinks that he won't be asked to be a cover athlete again?

MC White

I admittedly haven't played any other baseball titles for the XBOX (as I just bought my XBOX itself), but I've played a few titles on other platforms and on the PC. This is one of the best baseball titles I've played so far. I'm not really a sports fan in general, but sports video games have always been really enjoyable. This game does what I need it to do, and I haven't noticed any flaws so far.

It feels like it doesn't have all the major league teams, but maybe I'm just thinking it doesn't and it really does? Not sure. It does have the classic uniforms (home and away) for every team in the game, and that's interesting...tho, you can't always tell they're "classic" uniforms (at least I can't for a lot of the teams.) I also like the fact that each team's stadium is present, and they're all really beautiful in their animation/rendering (the fans aren't rendered anywhere near the way the players are, of course, but it's all really nicely done either way, and it's not hard to imagine being right there at each ballpark with each park's different setup.) It's interesting to check out each team's stadium, and compare them with the real life stadiums. You can also choose between day and night, which is cool.

The gameplay is fairly simple, tho I had to check the manual to see exactly how baserunning works and sometimes I still find it a bit confusing getting the baserunners to go to each base and stop. You have to point toward the base you went the player to run to and hit one button to advance, one button to go back to the previous base, and a third button to stop (and instead of stopping at the base and not continuing, the runner just stops in the middle of the bases wherever he was when you hit stop.) That gets confusing when you have 2 or 3 runners you're trying to deal with seperately, but it's no big deal usually. The fielding is fairly simple as well, tho you might want to make sure you know which button dives for the ball (still haven't been in enough situations to figure out how to try to jump to get a homerun or near homerun.) Throwing the ball to each base is very simple (1 button for each base, on the controller as a diamond, the right button to first, the left button to third, etc.) I've played some games where this common sense setup isn't in play and it get's really confusing, but this game (like most) has it setup properly.

The batting and pitching I like...you can set it up to show exactly where the pitcher will throw the ball, but it's rather difficult sometimes trying to set the cursor right on the pitch in time and keeping your focus on the timing of the pitch as well (the computer can easily strike you out if you time pitches wrong...and if you swing late, it'll often go foul as it would in real life.) I've never played with that strike zone area turned off, so I can't rate the other method. Pitching is set up the same way, with a few pitching choices (it seems as if the pitching choices for each pitcher are very slim), you hit the direction of the pitch you want and then use the cursor to set a path (I think there might be another option where you don't use the cursor with pitching as well, but I've never used it...always keep it, or I'd probably never get it in the strike zone.) One thing that's weird is, most of the time, you choose a pitch, but the pitcher shakes his head and refuses to throw that pitch- I've no idea what the deal is with that, but it's weird to say the least.

There are the common options with season play (162 games would probably take forever), and others such as quick start, whereit starts you off with two random teams just so you can start playing without going thru any choices or options...exhibition play, make your own team/rosters, etc. I've only used the exhibition mode so far and started a season (set it to 20 games only) but haven't started it yet. The nice thing with the XBOX is the hard drive that allows you to save these games without needing a memory card you'd have to pay extra for...with the hard drive, you could save numerous seasons with created teams/rosters, etc and never run out of space.

So, a great game overall...enough choices to keep most sports fans happy, realistic stadiums to choose from, what seems like full major league rosters with stats and different abilities for each player, season and exhibition modes to choose from, classic uniforms, a homerun derby mode, and a "legends" team with all the greats of the game- there's plenty here to keep most people playing for a long time. One of the best baseball games I've played on any platform.

First I was a little scared to purchase this title since I had purchased WSB 2K1 and soon discovered it was the WORST VIDEO GAME(even a $10)I had ever played!! WOW what a difference 2 years makes 2K3 is miles ahead of 2K1. The game play is very easy once you get all the controls down, the ballparks are awesome every detail right down to the pool at the BOB,the Coke bottle at the TED,the train & the hill at Minute Maid. Was so impressed with this title suggested it to my sister to purchase for her PS2. The only flaw is that there several players with the same faces. But other than that this game hits a Grand Slam. Would highly suggest to any one looking for a baseball game.

Many of the positives have already been said by other reviewers. The franchise mode is where the magic happens in this game with realistic manager/owner decisions having to be made. I'm currently 3/4 through my second season and as a die hard baseball fan, here are the areas that can be improved:

1)You can't play pitchers in the field or pinch hit with pitchers. Sure... you might not ever want to, but you should at least have the option.

2)If you bring in a pinch hitter for a pitcher, you cannot change his position once your team takes the field. Meaning, if you want to leave the pinch hitter in as your new leftfielder, you're outta luck. Major frustration.

3)Saving between innings is nice, but when you have pitcher warmed up in the bullpen after you bring in a pinch hitter and then do the save, the next time you start back up, you no longer have a warmed up pitcher and you have a fielder on the mound.

4)Injuries are funny. Sometimes they will show a player from the other team laying down at home plate writhing around like he's in pain, then a message will come up saying that YOUR right fielder has a broken eye socket and will miss 75 days.

5)Sometimes when I'm reading a bio on a certain player, the game will auto-reset.

6)You can't read player bio's or abilities during games.

7)Outfielders throws are way too accurate. 9 times out of 10 I get thrown out at the plate by a bullet throw from the warning track in left field that is right on the money.

8)Even if auto-dl handling is turned off, the AI will still decide for you who gets promoted/demoted when players come off the dl making a mess of your line up.

9)Every once in awhile, the ai will decide that your pitcher's roles all need to be changed.

There are a few other small issues, but overall, this is one heck of a realistic game. After awhile, like most sports games, you will mute the sound (after about the 200th "...and he hits a frozen rope to centerfield!"). The game play has enough challenge to keep things interesting and there are plenty of options to change the difficulty.

This is by far the best baseball game for any console. It is most realistic and is most in depth. The graphics are excellent and most players look like themselves. The gameplay is great yet it lacks xbox live capability. there are all the stats that are in real MLB and throught hte year you can watch the # of all star votes so thats neat too. Everything in this game was done with quality and it truly deserves 5 stars.