[Jim Porter]

By far, 3D0's High Heat Baseball 2003 is heads and tails above the competition. The High Heat line is the most realistic baseball sim of the lot.

To keep this thread on topic, the umpires are somewhat realistic as well. Their mechanics are actually pretty sound. They signal foul, fair, and no-catches properly. Their outs and safes are pretty good, too. And, if you play it long enough, you just might see a plate umpire do a little dance and a split (a la Leslie Nielson) when punching out a batter on strike three.

Things that are most important to me in a baseball sim are:

1. Batting interface - this one's the most important. How the ball travels and how you hit it is the key to 3D0's success. With HH2003, you must recognize which type of pitch is being thrown ASAP, you must track it properly, you must time your swing properly, and you must show patience at the plate - - all like real baseball.

2. Graphics - The stadiums must look like the real things, and the players need to resemble their counterparts. Unfortunately, HH2003 is not the best on the market for that - but they are much improved. One annoyance is their stadiums do not have the real advertisements. How can you have a Fenway Park without a Citgo sign? Luckily, you can easily download user-made versions of all the stadiums complete with all the ads in their proper places from baseballsimcentral.com. Oh yes, and Microsoft Baseball has the prettiest night games.

3. Game-play realism - Does the game play just like the real thing? Is tagging up from third a risky prospect on a shallow fly? Are inside-the-park homers as rare as they are in reality? How tough is it to steal a base for Johnny Damon or Kenny Lofton, as opposed to Mo Vaughn or Tony Clark? Can players get ejected for arguing? There are many facets to baseball that are difficult to melt down into a computer program. 3D0 has been up and down in this area. The 2003 version is much-improved.

4. Management - Is there a season to be played? Can you play multiple seasons ad nauseum? Can you play years' worth of baseball with your team? Can you trade, draft, and sign free agents? Can you manage your Minor League (A, AA, & AAA) players to nurture future talent? HH2003 does all of those things. The only drawback to HH2003 in this area is there's no money involved. Well, maybe that's not a drawback after all.

I could go on and on about baseball sims - - I love 'em. I can be the manager for the Red Sox, I can be Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra anytime I want. I can live the dream all on my computer. It's a fantasy world, but a lovely one.