All Star Baseball 2002 - PlayStation 2

All things considered, ASB 2002 is an incredibly entertaining game. Graphically, it holds its own against anything that EA Sports have released for the PS2 so far. There are dozens of faithfully recreated stadia, 250 real-life player representations and more lighting effects on the pitch than you can shake a stick at--it looks truly beautiful. Sound is good too, if a little lacking in variety. The commentary gets straight to the point and isn't overly chatty, though a few baseball equivalents of John Madden's finer moments wouldn't have gone amiss to lighten the tone a little.

It's in the gameplay where this title really stands out. There are so many ways to configure play it's almost frightening. From full seasons of 162 games to half seasons, round robin competitions and more, there's something here to suit the needs of every baseball fan.

Particularly impressive is the effective use of the 3-D batter screens, where players can adjust the pitch, angle and strength of the batter swing to produce a breathtaking number of shots ranging from safety bunts to sky-high home run spectaculars; there are very few sports games of any flavour that allow this kind of adjustment. Pitching is a true art form in its own right, with a varied selection of throws available, all of which can be tweaked mid-pitch to add extra spin and height in an effort to fool the guy with the bat.

Outfield action plays a big part too, with real world physics aplenty leading to diving catches and those hilarious "caught-on-camera" moments when two players cannon into one another causing physical injury and hilarity among the crowd.

It has to be said that ASB 2002 took some getting used to. The speed of play is fairly slow and the sensory overload caused by pages and pages of stats can be confusing but stick with it and All-Star Baseball 2002 will repay you with hours of entertainment. --Chris Russell