EA Sports delivers the action in yet another baseball title in this already crowded genre, but America’s past time has never looked and played this good.  Not only does Triple Play 2002 compete with the best of them--it also manages to come close to perfection.

Off the bat (no pun intended) the game offers a variety of recognizable game playing modes such as Single Game which offers a game between to Major League teams of an All-Star game.  Season Play offers up an entire season as your favorite team tries to make it to the playoffs. Or you can skip this and go directly to the Playoffs mode where your team fights for the World Series championship.  Home Run Derby is broken in two major modes, Tournament (choose a batter and try to beat an opponent‘s score) and One-On-One (square off against a single batter in a single round).

Triple Play left out a Franchise Mode, but its absence does not bring the game down considering the fact that the other playing modes are have been altered slightly for a more original play mode. For example, the options menu allows gamers to alter other playing modes to one inning or season length. You can also change to game’s three difficult settings (Rookie, Pro and All-Star) to accommodate your experience level.

The game’s controls are even less complicated than the one seen in Acclaim’s All-Star Baseball 2003, especially around the pitching and batting controls.  Batting requires the gamer to move a cursor over a visible white circle (which represents where the balls fly) and simply either slam it or bunt it.  Pitching requires even less a struggle, all a gamer has to do is position the ball around an icon (using the analog stick) and choose a small selection of pitches (curve ball, slider, etc.).  Simple enough, right?

Since this aspect of the game is simple, gamers will have room to improve on other things such as perfecting the pitch or stealing bases (you get many options for stealing bases such as how you want to slide to the base once it is stolen--feet first or head first).  Still, many gamers will find that more attention will be placed on figuring out the field controls.  Working the field is not as simple as batting or pitching, but a few reviews of the instruction manual or a practice game or two will allow gamers to quickly adapt.

Visually speaking, Triple Play’s graphics exceed those of both High Heat and All-Star Baseball. It also boasts to have used enhanced 3D-face scan technology to capture an actual player’s likeness.  As good as the facial resemblances (and even body types) are, the face scans wrap around a head that is a size too big to be human.  Yet this isn’t a big complaint that would turn gamers off on the graphics, especially when every stadium is rendered down to every possible detail.

Adding to the level of realism is the sound that contains the best play-by-play analysis (done by Bob Costas) and colorful commentary (done by Harold Reynolds) heard in a sports title. Both commentators are so accurate in their descriptions of a play that rarely does a comment sound looped.  The stadium sounds also win big points for its realistic ambiance sound (excited crowds cheer wildly and an umpire’s loud bark of “Safe!” can be heard to echo across the ballpark).

Adding to the game are a few DVD features such as two behind the scenes footage of Bob Costas and Harold Reynolds during a recording session.  There are also two features of Arizona Diamondback Luis Gonzalez visiting the EA offices and the process of digitally capturing motion. Also the Create A Player mode which allows gamers to create a player down to the color of his glove to his batting skill.  The Draft allows gamers to make fantasy drafts (you can also draft your created player).

This game has also kept the game’s multiplayer option less complicated--no Multitap needed--and has two players playing it out using any of the game’s playing modes.  The two-player option does, on the other hand, take away from the party game aspect of having a multiplayer feature in the first place but the Season Play offers enough fun to share with a group.

Triple Play 2002 is a good time at the old ballpark and sports fans that are considering purchasing a baseball title should give this one serious consideration.  Far from perfect, the game comes on strong with enough realism and excellent control to shake a bat at. 

Gameplay: 9.1
Triple Play’s controls are less complicated, thankfully, and therefore leave more room for concentrating on other things such as stealing bases or jumping up a wall to catch a ball destined to become a home run.  Surprisingly, both pitching and batting are fairly simple (the interface for both are less arduous than the one seen in All-Star Baseball 2003).

Gameplay on the field, though, require a bit more practice.  Luckily the instruction manual goes into the controls in full detail so reading it would be an enormous help before playing the game.  Yet the controls will feel so easy that many gamers will have little or no trouble learning them by trail and error.

Graphics: 8.8

Although the 3D face scans of such greats as Barry Bonds and Curt Shilling is spectacular and add more realism to the game, the scanned face have somehow affected the size of each player’s head (they have huge unrealistic craniums . . . especially during close ups). However, this oddity is the kind of detail gamers will forgive considering the level of detail given to both players and stadiums.

EA Sports has also put much emphasis on cinematic moments geared mostly toward home runs, giving the game more of a movie quality rather than a televised presentation.  And character movement looks so good the effect is like watching an animated version of a real game.

Sound: 9.5
Without a doubt, the game’s sound--in both the effects and commentary department--are the best heard in a sports title as of late.  Not only does the sound of a player’s bat smacking a ball sound so authentic, but also the entire stadium is alive with its own sound.  PA announcers can be heard calling out the next batter or even announcing the winner of a prize.  The chattering unison of voices in the stands is so realistic even when a single voice cries out words of encouragement.

Yet the best sound feature is, surprisingly, the play-by-play analysis done by Bob Costas and witty banter done by ESPN’s Harold Reynolds.  Together their calls are on the money to the point that they almost seem to remember every single home run or strike out.  Their commentary doesn’t even repeat as much as other commentaries have been known to do.

Difficulty: 8.7
One good thing about Triple Play is that the difficulty level is set up fairly and can be changed when the gamer begins to grow comfortable with the controls.  It is highly recommended that all beginning players start in the default Rookie mode before venturing on to the Pro or All-Star level.

Most of the game’s difficulty comes from the fact that the CPU opponents respond to your every move before the action is even made.  This is not to say, however, that the AI opponents don’t make errors, they do and this is a surprising element considering other EA Sports titles have suffered in this department with past games.

Concept: 8.6
Although lacking a Franchise mode, the game’s other various playing modes make up for this loss.  Yet there are certain changes made to already recognizable feature such as the Home Run Derby game mode.  In this title, the Homer Run Derby is set up in two different modes--Tournament and One-On-One.  And the Create A Player is more

Delightfully included in the game is a DVD Bonus Feature that has a few behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the game’s running commentary (Bob Costas and Harold Reynolds candidly discussing their roles) as well as how they digitized Arizona Diamondbacks slugger Luis Gonzalez’s face and movements.  

Multiplayer: 8.9
I can find no great pleasure than beating a friend and his favorite team. Triple Play is keeps things simple by just keeping it between two players using any of the different game modes.  The game’s multiplayer highlight just happens to be Season Play where gamers can play against different teams to see how far they could get through an entire season or go directly to the playoffs (in the Playoffs mode) to play for the World Series title.

Overall: 8.8

If you’re looking for an excellent baseball title--among the already growing lineup--Triple Play 2002 should be on the top of your list.  It has enough to satisfy sports minded gamers looking for solid action without getting irritated by complicated controls.