Baseball Superstars 2011 - iPhone

Baseball Superstars 2011 (BS 2011) by Gamevil is the third in a series of great baseball games. BS 2011 is as much an rpg as it is sports sim and fans of quirky rpg’s like me will love this game.

It has your typical modes such as exhibition, a season mode where you take over the whole team, play and manage it and My League. My League is where some of the most addictive gameplay lies. In this mode you play as either a batter or pitcher and you must level up your character whilst meeting goals. You are given targets to meet each season meeting these will reward you with cash and fame. The coach or a player may ask you to do a certain thing, such as hit a home run or strike out a batter, during a match to get a reward. You will also earn new nicknames and skills depending on your performance. For example I earned the title “bunting king” for performing a lot of bunts which came with a skill that added 10% to my bunting success rate. It is things like this that really give a narrative to the game and make it fun to play. You will also see super characters from time to time and they will challenge you. If you can beat them you will be rewarded with money and fame. During My League you can also go on outings, which is where the “story” is told. You can meet girls and chase them, or just go out to dinner to boost your morale. Morale is a very important aspect in the game and when it gets low you can get injuries and illness. Another feature I quite liked is that each team has a rival team. Beating them means your morale will increase greatly, losing however will lower your morale substantially.

G Points are an integral part of the game. They allow you to upgrade your characters and team. To earn G Points you can play missions which are like minigames where you have to complete a set task to earn points, or you can earn them by doing cool things in game. You can also play the Home Run Race, or buy more G Points from the iTunes store. This is a bit of a sore point for me as the game costs $5.99 AU and one shouldn’t have to pay anymore to play. Of course the points aren’t that hard to come by and you won’t need to pay but they could have been a bit more generous with them. Another feature that shouldn’t be in a premium game is the constant nagging to write a review. It will do this until you write one for the iTunes store. A minor niggle but something that shouldn’t be in a game of this price.

I didn’t play a lot of the multiplayer but when I did it ran smoothly and it is quick and easy to find an opponent. It can be a bit of a nuisance if you get a phone call though, but this is handled by it automatically pausing the game. However when my internet connection went down I was constantly harassed by the game centre saying it could not log on and there was no pause feature when these messages appeared.

The sound effects are quite good with fat explosions when you hit a zinger and a nice meaty bat sound. The music is nice and cheerful too but it will all get a bit repetitive as you play through. The graphics are also bright and cheerful, though nothing special, they give the game the quirky atmosphere it aims for. There is the odd graphical glitch such as when the ball reaches the top of the park it leaves marks as if it were falling apart. There is also the odd bit of engrish and misspelling but this can easily be forgiven.

There are a multitude of control options for the game, so you can be a part of every little action or just focus on hitting and pitching. You can also move and resize the on-screen buttons which is a feature I found very useful.

All in all it is a great game that could have been a 10 out of 10 if not for a few minor issues. I am going to lower the score a little from my initial one sentence review and give it an 8.5/10.