Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball

Review

by Scott Alan Marriott

Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball is a solid baseball game that doesn't quite rank up there with the system's best, despite offering a few new twists on gameplay. The batters are all large and digitized, the game can be played at various times of day, and the stadiums look realistic even though they are not modeled after actual Major League ballparks. The graphics look polished and the animation of the fielders is almost on par with World Series Baseball '95. The batter's view is also impressive with the camera fixed from the catcher's perspective. While it's not as close as World Series Baseball, it allows you to see the entire batter like in Triple Play 96.

Where the game falters is the pitching and batting interface. Instead of using a system like World Series Baseball, Big Hurt tries to do something different. Before you pitch, an icon of home plate will appear divided into thirds. You choose the part of the plate where you want to throw to by pressing the corresponding button. For example, if you want to throw an ball inside, press the A button. Then you choose between nine pitches--which is completely unrealistic since pitchers can only throw three or four at best. So if you attempt to throw a knuckleball as Roger Clemens, for example, you should expect to have it tattooed by someone's bat. In Big Hurt Baseball, there are no penalties for throwing any pitch you want. After selecting your pitch, you must also select the height of the throw (high, medium or low) plus one of three speeds. I don't understand why the developers just didn't place a cursor over the strike zone like World Series Baseball. As a result, you don't get the same sense of control in this game. How high is "high" anyway?

Another aspect I don't like is the hitting system. While the view is fine, the developers didn't take advantage of using the batters' trademark stances or giving you the chance to alter them as in Triple Play 96. The result is that everyone looks the same--like hulking Frank Thomas--and swings all involve pressing a button as the ball comes toward the plate. You can't use the pad to aim high or low in the strike zone, nor can you pull or push the ball by holding left or right. Plus, some of the pitches have an extreme amount of break that can make hitting unusually difficult. On the plus side, you won't be scoring a lot of runs on the All-Star difficulty level, keeping games very tight. I also like the fielding, since you can jump, dive and turn the double play with fast, fluid movement. All in all, this a good first-time effort from Acclaim and it appears they're on their way to becoming a major player in the baseball market. If they can add real teams, stadiums, an announcer and tighten up the interface, they'll have something worth swinging for.