Sprt: BaseGolf (by Altius)

Game: BaseGolf
Release: Nov.  2002
Genre: Sports
Website: Altius
System Requirements: P3 400mhz or greater
Price: $19.95 

BaseGolf is a great example of why I love independent games.  This game combines two sports, Baseball and Golf to make an entirely new concept of a sport and does so very well.  This is exactly the type of game that a major publisher would mistakenly pass over.

BaseGolf takes place on a golf course.  The course is complete with trees, sand traps, water hazards and of course a green with a hole.  Between you and the hole is a pitcher standing tall on his pitching mound.  The basic intent of the game play is to score points by hitting the ball as close to the hole as possible.  Hitting the baseball directly into the hole will result in a homerun.  Hitting very close will give you a triple, slightly further out a double and further out still will give you a single.  If you are too far away from the hole to qualify as any kind of hit or if you hit it off the screen, it counts as a strike against you.  In all modes of play you get three strikes.  Hitting the ball into a tree, a sand trap or a water hazard will get you an out.  If you get three outs the inning is over.

You can score in the game by getting people on the bases and then knocking them in.  For example, if the bases are loaded and you hit a double, you'll score two points.  One slight change on scoring is that since there are no fielders, your runners will only advance a base if they are forced to do so.  So if you have a man on third and hit a single, he'll stay on third.  If you hit another single, it will force the man on first to second, while the man on third will stay put still.  After yet another hit, the man on third will finally go home as the runner behind him forces him home.

Controlling where you hit the ball is very tricky.  Timing your swing will determine the balls direction like is typical in baseball.  If you swing early, you will pull the ball, if you swing late, you will hit it to the opposite field.  Perhaps more important than the direction though is the distance you hit the ball.  The holes move all over the course, sometimes being between you and the pitcher, sometimes being right next to the pitcher and often being at the far edges of the screen.  The distance you hit the ball is determined by where on your bat the ball hits.  If the ball hits the end of your bat it will travel a long ways, whereas if it hits near the handle of your bat it will be popped up.  It is very challenging to both hit the ball the direction you want and the distance you want!

There are three types of game play in this game.  BaseGolf Challenge presents you with an 18 hole course.  To move from one hole to the next, you will need to score "par" for the current hole.  If you ever get three outs before you pass a hole, you can trade in some of your points to continue.  The purpose of the BaseGolf Challenge is to score as many points as you can over the 18 hole course.  The second type of game play is 9-Inning.  In this type of game play you try to score as many points as you can before getting three outs.  The third and final type of game play is the Hole-In-One Derby.  Since a hole-in-one is really a home run, this could also be considered a HR Derby!  During the HR Derby you get 10 pitches to hit as many Hole-In-Ones as you can.

In addition to the different game modes, BaseGolf offers two completely different locations to play.  One is a typical golf course.  The other is...ready for this?  The Moon!?  The reason the moon was chosen was because its lower gravity allow for different ball dynamics as the ball does a lot more floating, making accuracy all the more important.  On the moon, the sandtraps are replaced with craters, and the trees are replaced by small mountainous structures.

BaseGolf has three difficulty levels.  Each level becomes progressively harder by decreasing the distance you can land from the hole to get different types of hits.  For example, what might count as a triple on easy may end up being a single on the hard difficulty setting.  BaseGolf also allows for multiplayer on the same machine by alternating who is playing. 

Graphics: 8
The Graphics of the game remind me of RBI Baseball from many years back, but updated to 3D.  The players themselves are quite rolly-polly.  The fields are well designed and look good.  The ball is very identifiable, especially when you pop it straight up in the air and the game scales in, so you get to see the seams. 

Sound: 8
The sound was very good with little pieces of music playing when you loaded the bases or needed a rally.  These little pieces were very reminiscent of the sounds you hear in a ballpark, and combined with playful graphics gave the game a very fun feel. 

Game Play:  8
I had a little trouble getting used to the hitting, and still feel that there are times you just cannot get a pitch to hit.  I also felt the games went a little long as the 18-hole-challenge would probably have taken me well over an hour to complete.  The way to make the game shorter of course is to play on a higher difficulty level!  Once you get the timing down the bat and player are easy to move and most of the time the ball goes where you mean it too.  The game offers plenty of challenge and you will need to fine tune your skills to get through it all. 

Options: 8
The option of having joystick control would have been nice.  Other than that, I believe every option I could think of was here.  [Editor's Note: USB joysticks are supported, but I had trouble with my game port joystick]The High Score list will continually taunt you as you attempt to somehow get to the top of each list.  There is also an automatic update feature that will check the web for updates each time you launch the game.  While the feature was appreciated, it caused the game to not launch correctly when my sad dial-up connection was not running when I began the game, so I've disabled that feature.  Still even with the feature disabled, you can do manual updates to the game, though there have not been any yet to my knowledge.

Concept: 10
BaseGolf is an entirely new concept in and of itself.  It's always a bonuse that the concept plays out so well in the game!

Fun: 9
BaseGolf is a very enjoyable game to play.  There are not a lot of Sports games available from Independent developers, but of the ones I've played, BaseGolf is easily the best!

Overall: 8
BaseGolf is an excellent game that shows off the great games that can come out of entirely new concepts.  If you are looking for a game that is totally original and totally fun, look no further! Added: January 3rd 2003
Reviewer: The Mole
Score:
Hits: 6252
Language: english