MLB Slugfest 20-03

It’s part of our sick human nature to take joy in watching others beat the stuffing out of one another.  In sports that move along about as fast as an old lady in a walker such as baseball, bloodthirsty fans welcome bench clearing brawls, collisions at home plate, and the cool thud of a 100-mph fastball joining a batting helmet.  Most fans of the national pastime don’t want to see a pitchers duel or tight defense, they want to see explosive offense and balls going further than a Tiger Woods drive in Colorado.  Midway, who brought huge arcade thrills to basketball with the seminal NBA Jam, continues the action-packed sports gameplay with MLB Slugfest 2003. 

MLB Slugfest 2003 features all the major league baseball teams, all the ballparks, and select players from each team.  The usual game modes are here, including Quickplay for the impatient, Challenge mode which keeps running stats for a player as they attempt to defeat all thirty major league teams, a 52-game Season mode, and a customizable Tournament mode.

While the gameplay is adrenalin-injected, it’s still baseball.  Cross homeplate, get a run.  Miss an 0-2 fastball, you’re out.  All the basic rules of the diamond apply, with an emphasis on offense. 

Batting is about as simple as it gets.  Players can swing for either contact or power, and in one of nine zones (a three by three box) over the plate.  Players don’t have to hit the exact pitch zone to make contact, but if they want to smack some round trippers, they had better swing high on high heat. Batting abilities are rated from 1-10 in batting, power, and speed, but can be changed for better or worse courtesy of beanballs. 

Running is easy with the L1 and R1 buttons, for advance and retreat respectively.  Controlling runners is often one of the more difficult aspects of video baseball games.  Not so with Slugfest.  Slugfest will send a vibration back into your controller upon receiving a command.  For example, if Barry Bonds hits a gapper that is clearly a double, you can tell him to advance to second before he hits first base, and the controller will send one quick vibration into the controller.  In the meantime, you can instruct Jeff Kent to round third and go home and get another vibration confirmation.  It’s a minor addition to on old system, but it works wonderfully and nearly eliminates base running errors.

Pitching is controlled by pressing one of four buttons that correspond to one of four pitch types.  Pitches can be designated towards one of the nine zones for pin-point accuracy.  Hitting the corners of the strike zone and throwing 110-mph will depend on your pitchers stats.  Be warned though, batters can hit balls out even if you were pitching in the Grand Canyon.

Defense is arranged slightly differently from most baseball games.  Instead of using the buttons like a baseball diamond (triangle corresponding to second base, circle to first, etc.), the X button is a universal throwing button and in conjunction with the left analog joystick throws to specific bases.  This causes problems by requiring players to move fielders away from the direction of throw at times.  If your centerfielder wants to throw to second base, you have to hold up on the joystick and then press X, making your fielder move away from his intended target.  Otherwise players risk pressing X before pushing up on the joystick which will throw to destination when the joystick is in the neutral position, the pitcher.  Hopefully some baseball publisher will get defense right one of these days. 

So far, Slugfest sounds like an ordinary baseball game, right?  The difference is the addition of some entertaining tweaks that make Slugfest more like beer-guzzling sloshball instead of offense-deficient baseball.  On a style level, players enter the batting box with a swagger, calling shots, and flipping bats with flair.  Pitchers catch balls between their legs and over their shoulders.  Outfielders make basket catches and no-look grabs.  This is in-your-face showing off at its best, and it really helps drive the style and character of the game over the wall. 

Slugfest could not be a Midway sports title on fancy catches and arrogant sauntering alone.  Gameplay is given elephantitis-like shots of testosterone, which Midway thankfully administers splendidly, creating an extremely fun baseball game like no other. 

Every extreme game needs turbo, and Slugfest is no exception.  Unlike other sports games, initiating turbo has some effect no matter when it is applied.  When pitching, turbo soups up pitches making curveballs bend like contortionists, fastballs speed quicker than bullets, and screwballs loop like rollercoasters.  At bat, turbo adds a bit of oomph to your swing and on the bases gives runners Carl Lewis-like speed.  In the field, turbo allows fielders to run faster and throw further than humanly possible.  In fact, on a solid single up the middle, I was thrown out at first base by the centerfielder. 

Another feature of the game is the ability to have players “En Fuego”.  Getting a player on fire can be as simple as stringing a few good plays together.  Other times it takes a beanball to send your player into a rage.  After pummeling the pitcher for a while, the batter will return to first base with increased stats, and possibilities to go over the stat cap of 10.  Players will remain on fire until they strike out or are tagged out on base. 

The game’s finishing touches are what set the game apart from other titles.  Nothing brings people out of their seats like good old-fashioned violence, and Slugfest will keep you on for feet for hours.  Punches and kicks can be delivered with the simple press of a button.  Beanballs have their own button, no need to aim inside.  Aggressive ACL-tearing slides can be used to take puny second basemen out.  It’s all here, and has an enormous impact on the game. 

Slugfest has the look and sound of an excellent game.  Player animations are fluid and the graphics are well above average.  While not every player looks like their real-life counterpart, their faces are better than other baseball games.  The stadiums are well done, but not always down to the last detail.  The commentary is performed well and the sound engine has some great features.  It’s rare to hear the same lines twice in a single game, and with the abundance of chatter, you may not hear one repeated for several hours.  Comments can also be interrupted and returned to in case action interrupts some of the commentator’s yammer. 

Slugfest does contain a few shortcomings however, and is best reserved for the arcade style fan.  Each team is represented by two starting pitchers, one reliever, and one batting lineup; there are no bench players.  That means that several good players, such as Barry Zito, are not included in the game.  For a game released near the all-star break, the rosters are a little outdated.  Lineups and starting pitchers aren’t selectable from the start and, save for bringing in relief pitchers, aren’t modifiable during the game.  It’s this lack of a customizable setup that could be worked on in the next version of Slugfest. 

Slugfest is rated E for everyone with elements of violence and comic mischief.   

Gameplay: 8.3

Easy as cake to pick up.  More customization with rosters would have been a welcome addition.  Only question is the replay value of the game.

Graphics: 9

Everything is well done, and there is no “phantom” glovework.

Sound: 8.2

The commentating is excellent, but the music is okay.  One high point is the commentator who sounds like a cross between Johnny Carson and Yogi Berra.

Difficulty: Easy

Not a difficult game for anyone to pick up.  Even Grandma could take you out the park.   

Concept: 8.5

At first I was a little weary, but the fun factor really took me by surprise.  Although I prefer a straight sim, the gameplay works well.

Multiplayer: 9

Head-to-head competition is infinitely more fun in Slugfest than with any of the sim baseball games out there.  Half the game is the score, half the game is beating each other up.

Overall: 8.2

Slugfest imagines a world where Ken “Steroid Accuser” Caminiti is right, and players are yoked-out mood-swinging millionaires in need of anger-management classes.  The purist may shun the over-the-top play, but the rest of us will have plenty of fun playing MLB’s version of the XFL.