Game Review - by Brian Lastrom
Step into the batters box and think fast. With Microsoft Baseball 3D you're not going to have all day to decide whether to take a big cut at that incoming fastball, or take a bean ball off your helmet.

Features. Baseball 3D offers three different modes of play. You have single game, season and playoffs. You can also create and trade players through the general manager that comes with the game to provide a chance to improve your teams skill and strategy. One feature that I was surprised wasn't in there was the Home Run Derby. That was always a good place to work on the old batting skill.

Baseball 3D comes with support for game pads and joysticks. Though it is seemingly more difficult to configure non-Microsoft peripherals, since the controls were designed for their products. The game has set buttons for every action so you cannot customize your controls, which is a serious downer. If you can work around the control configuration the rest of the game is fairly user friendly.

Graphics. The attention to detail in this game is excellent. From the goatee on McGwire to the strands of grass on a natural field. You can clearly see that the developers pulled out all the stops when going for graphical excellence. Every stadium in this game is done with great detail. You will clearly know when you are playing in your favorite team's stadium.

Sound FX. The sounds in Baseball 3D are really good. You'll be able to hear fans cheer as well as encouraging the home team. From the crack of the bat to the slap of leather as the baseball hits for a strike, you will be immersed in this accurate baseball simulation. You will be able to feel the slide into home plate as you hear the skidding player just miss the tag for the winning run.

Gameplay. This leaves some room for improvement. It seems to be quite difficult to throw to a base when using a game pad. Many times I have missed an out or two due to throwing errors. Other than that it is fairly well. You can jump up walls to steal a homerun away as well as provide a stunning diving catch to rob the other team of a hit. Overall the gameplay with some practice can be done well. Though most people like to pick up a controller and be able to know all the controls from the start.

One good point about the game is that if you don't like to field the game you can choose auto fielding to give you some help (though it does make it really easy). And you can also choose if you want advanced batting or beginner batting. With these options one can start out with the easy setting and work their way up to advanced playing for some challenging and fun baseball.

Overall. As a whole Baseball 3D is a fun and exciting baseball game. The stunning 3D graphics and the amazing catches made will dazzle you for hours on end. And with the different modes of fielding and batting you will be able to work your way to being an expert player that will make all those around amazed and afraid to challenge you to a match.