World Series Baseball 2k2 Review

Release dates:
North America: August 15, 2001
Europe: Unreleased
Japan: April 18, 2002

Game details:
1-2 players
Keyboard
Standard controller
VMU compatible (186 blocks)
Jump Pack compatible
Modem/BBA
Online Multiplayer (Official servers offline)


HOMERUN! What a feeling you get when you nail a sweet homerun.
One of my favourite sports games of all time, is World Series Baseball 2k2.
Even though I'm not interested in baseball, mainly because it isn't very popular here in Europe, I think it's a very fun and addicting game. What makes it so good?
I'll tell you.

Gameplay
After playing for about 5 minutes, I notice that it's much easier to pitch than to bat. When you're pitching you get this box where you are allowed to throw. Inside the box there is a little white dot. You move the dot to aim where the ball is going to go. In the bottom left corner there is a box with blue and red squares. The blue squares shows you where to aim and red shows where, obviously, not to aim.
As I said before, pitching is easy and you get the hang of it pretty fast. Batting on the other hand is tricky. Again, you get a box showing where you are able to swing in. Inside the box there is a crosshair that you aim with. The box in the bottom left corner shows you where the pitcher is most likely to throw the ball. It was hard in the beginning to hit the ball. You don't have that much time to aim and swing. After a lot of trying, I finally got the hang of it. And after that, it's a blast!

There are several different game modes to choose from; exhibition, season, franchise, playoffs, Homerun Derby, and online (which won't work now). Season is what it sounds like, you play full seasons with real or fantasy drafts. The season save file takes up an entire VMU so be careful. There are a lot of teams to choose from and they are all licensed and use their real names and stadiums.
Also, when you are an outfield player you can dive for the ball. It looks hilarious!

Storyline
This is a sports game, there is no storyline. Maybe you can create your own storyline while you're playing season mode.”A story about an underdog team with shaky pitching that won the MLB”. Something like that. YOU are the storywriter here!
That's a great idea for a game actually...anyway, on to the next.

Graphics
The dirt from the field is blowing in the wind as the pitcher is kicking the air out of anger. The batter is warming up by swinging his bat in circles. The outfield players are running and diving for the ball. One might be inclined to think this is an actual baseball game on TV. But no, this is a baseball video game at its finest, showing the true power of the Dreamcast.

It's so realistic. The physics, the shadows and the animations. When a player runs into another player they actually fall like in real life. They don't just run through each other or bump away. They fall like humans do.
Their helmets shine in the sun and the bats fall to the ground and bounce a few times, like they do in real life. The graphics are still very good to this day. The game is 10 years old! The graphics are amazing!

Sound
While you're playing, close your eyes for just a couple of seconds. It doesn't matter if you miss a ball or two. Because if you listen closely, you can hear exactly what sport it is you're playing. The sound from the bat hitting the ball. The noises from the crowd and the short melody we all recognize. Although the realistic sounds are fantastic, the music is not. There isn't a lot of music, but the soundtrack in the menus is so repetitive and boring. I don't even remember the music because it is so boring.

Conclusion
This is absolutely one of the greatest sports game on the Dreamcast. I would actually say that it is the best. The learning curve is a little rough but after a few plays, you will master it. The graphics push the Dreamcast to its peak and they look fantastic.

10/10