pitching
and player tackles. There is also the interesting but fairly unnecessary option
to use your own custom rules and pick and choose what the game will allow. It's
not as purposeful as it might sound, since the idea is that you're either going
to play the game straight up or with all the bells and whistles, but having the
option to do something in between is nice nonetheless.
Franchise mode
remains the best way to experience the game single-player, wherein you pick a
team and play manager in between seasons by participating in a draft and managing
your team's lineup so that it can be at its most efficient. Slugfest fares
well here, with some interesting ideas thrown in that set it apart. For example,
players can be sent to play in the Minor Leagues to let them hone their skills
and called back when you want to replace someone. Also, the game awards credits
for how well your team performs, stemming from increased ticket sales, endorsements,
and the like. More credits allows you to sign better players and hang on to them
longer, and the entire system is actually a logical step up from similar systems
seen in the likes of the Madden games.
So far, so good. I'm the
kind of guy who likes to micromanage without it getting overwhelming, so I called
up the Red Sox (Yankees SUCK!), got all set on the couch with a cheap cup of beer
to get in the proper Belligerent Sox Fan mood, and simulated the games leading
up to my first match vs. the Braves.
Now, Slugfest was doing fine
up until I got around to playing an actual game of baseball. Right away, it becomes
apparent that this game's idea of humor is stuck at the sub Jr. High level. Tim
Kitzrow and Jim Shorts handle the commentary duties, as the do with all Midway
sports games. Unless you're either deaf or fourteen and on Ritalin, you're going
to be frantically searching for a way to mute them within ten seconds of listening
to Jim's "Chicago gangster with a nasal problem" voice cracking some of the lamest
jokes you're ever going to wish you didn't have to hear. Not that you're missing
much; the commentary is functionally useless.
That out of the way, you'll
be presented with a pitching or batting scheme, depending on whether you're home
or away. Based on your difficulty and control setting, batters will either pretty
much hit every ball as long as they swing at the proper time, or can aim the ball
by pressing a direction on the thumbstick. You can perform a simple hit, a stronger
but foul-ball-prone swing, or a bunt. Pitching is set up with the same idea, allowing
various pitches and their "trick pitch" counterparts. So, instead of a fastball,
you get a "fireball", etc.
The problem is that the game just doesn't
control as well as it should, and it feels weirdly unbalanced. Trick pitches are
nearly impossible for a human player to hit (though the CPU player didn't seem
to have much problem), but everything else will rarely get by. I took the Sox
through an entire season in franchise mode, and I don't think I ever got a single
ball. It was either a strike or a hit, right on down the line. It was probably
because, in Slugfest, the easiest way to get an out is to let the batter
hit the ball and then have your automated midfielders catch it, which is exactly
what I started doing when I noticed it worked so well for the computer.
As for the extra insanity the players can partake in, it never really did it for
me. It would have been one thing if this game was crazy over-the-top with its
arcade elements, but it's more of a fairly basic baseball game with the rules
dumbed-down and punching allowed, and I got the impression that this more to make
it easier to swallow for the ADD crowd that for any real gameplay reasons. The
rules of baseball weren't written to accommodate a running batter simply slugging
a baseman to avoid being tagged out, and this game is a good example as to why.
In fact, the biggest problem might lie in the sport itself. Unlike the
contact-heavy sport of American Football, physical violence is generally discouraged
in baseball. It's one thing to amp up something that's already there in the interests
of arcade gameplay, but it's another thing entirely to simply let players beat
the hell out of each other for no real reason. Slugfest actually has so much violence
that it garnered a "T" rating, a first for a baseball game.
In addition
to all the gameplay snags, there aren't a whole lot of saving graces to be found
elsewhere. Besides the aforementioned commentary, the whole game just seems like
Midway went out of its way to make it as dumb as possible. The loading screen
has pictures of cheerleaders with their breasts popping out, the soundtrack is
a toothless mush of Staind ripoffs and bad rap, and every single player in the
game looks like they're pumped on steroids. I guess you could say it fits the
style of the game, but there's really not a whole lot of style to speak of, just
some fortysomething executive's idea of what the kids think is "Xtreme" these
days. Raise your hand if you're sick of that by now.
The graphics in
the rest of the game aren't as openly derogatory, they're just fairly dull. Player
animations range from basic to stilted, the stadiums are functional but boring,
and while the game does have special effects, they're poorly done. A few cool
animations, such as a homer smashing into the scoreboard in a shower of sparks,
don't do enough to save the game from looking like a half-assed port of a PS2
game, which (surprise!) is exactly what it is.
Still, the game has some
saving grace when you take it multiplayer, and this is one aspect where it actually
shines. Slugfest is playable on Xbox Live, and there's practically no slowdown
whatsoever. This is pretty remarkable for a sports title, so online-enabled ball
fans will probably get more mileage out of this game than other people. The gameplay
is exactly the same as the single-player quick action mode, but when both players
are more susceptible to some of the game's ridiculous elements, they become a
lot more fun. The computer might have no problem smacking your best trick shot
out of the park for a four run Grand Slam, but a human player will be appropriately
susceptible to it, which balances everything out much better and actually makes
it all pretty fun.
Overall:
4.5/10
Slugfest is one of those games where it doesn't exactly do
anything wrong, but nearly everything else on the market does more things right.
This game is a rental at best, and even then only for a situation where you're
going to have other people to play it with and there was nothing else you could
get instead. Stripped of its excessive "hipness", it's a basic Baseball
game that's fairly enjoyable if you play it in small bursts and don't think about
it too hard. The extra thick layer of STOOPID Midway slathered all over it is
something that I could have done without.
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