Acclaim's All Star Baseball 2004 (ASB from here on out) has an incredible amount of depth going for it. Beyond the standard baseball leagues, you've got some of the original baseball greats, including the "minority leagues" and the added bonus of dozens of classic baseball stadiums. All of this extra material must be unlocked, but in many ways it's well worth it, as for the first time in gaming history you'll get to play some of the legendary teams of baseball history.

Along with the content, you've got a good mix of gameplay modes. There's the standard home run derby and batting practice, and of course a franchise mode. As with the franchise modes in other baseball titles, it's your job to create a powerful baseball dynasty with your team. ASB also comes with a multiplayer mode which allows you to take on a buddy for some friendly baseball action.

Unfortunately, while the game's content is rich, the gameplay itself is loaded with problems. While deciding on the "what" and "how" of pitching is cake-simple, batting is far too difficult. This isn't due to limited controls, quite the opposite, as the controls are fairly simple, it's that the ball comes at you at lightning speed. Adjust the swing target all you like, it'll do you no good as the ball is just too fast to hit. In one of my early games of ASB, I pitched a no-hitter (thanks to the easy pitching system), yet only hit two singles the entire game. I gave that game up in complete frustration rather than go into extra innings.

The pitching system, while easy to grasp, allows for a very limited arsenal of throws. Some of the pitchers in the game are unable to throw pitches that you know they can pull off in the real world. Whereas Midway did an excellent job reproducing the abilities of pitchers, Acclaim seems to have passed over that aspect of the gameplay.

Lastly, there's the fielders, who seem to move in slow motion most of the time. What should be a quick throw to first from the outfield ends up a grueling slow motion show. Infielders feel slow to move and have lousy throwing arms, which means a single ends up turning into a double all too often. Fielder AI is at best middle-of-the-road, leading you to feel like you're controlling a bunch of minor leaguers and not the pros you're supposed to have.

ASB is a toss up when it comes down to graphics, everything seems to only be halfway thought out. While player models are great to look at in close ups, once they hit the field they are nothing special. Even on the Xbox the players look like designs from a much older game.

Stadiums are very pretty to look at, though the crowds are cardboard cut-outs, much like that seen in Codemasters' Colin McRae Rally 3. It's really disappointing to have the camera zoom in on the crowd to track a pop fly and see these cardboard cutouts all doing the wave. One of the best aspects of baseball is the fans, people willing to dive over walls to catch stray fly balls or wield some of the strangest signs you'll ever see, yet this isn't reflected at all in ASB.

Animations in ASB are lacking any fluidity whatsoever. The transition from a fielder catching a ball to him throwing it is so choppy you'd swear the framerate was throttling down the whole time.

Baseball isn't exactly a sound-heavy sport, so it's tough to judge a video version of it. ASB covers the bases (pardon the pun) pretty well in the audio aspect, with quality reproductions of the few sounds involved in the real game.

The announcers in the game are excellent for a console-based sports title. Most sports games are plagued by dull announcers and limited dialog, whereas ASB's announcers are well-versed in the game and have a huge depth of commentary.

The soundtrack, which comes into play when you're in the menus or when a player steps up to the plate, is quite enjoyable. Sure it's the tried and true assortment of standby sports-pop tunes (no "Who Let the Dogs Out," thank goodness), but it helps keep the game interesting.

When you tire of the modern ball teams, you've got the "minority teams," the classic teams and just about every stadium ever built to play, so there's obviously a ton of replay value here. With the strong franchise modes and the multiplayer option, you have even more reasons to keep coming back to All Star Baseball 2004. That is, of course, assuming you can deal with some of the annoying problems including the overly difficult batting and the lack of strong fielder AI.

If you're a hardcore baseball fan who's been yearning to play some of the classic teams or try out some of the greatest ball parks of all time, it's worth your while to give ASB 2004 a shot. While the buggy fielder AI and batting difficulties can be an issue, there are enough good things about this game to make it worth checking out. If, however, you're looking for a more simplistic, and in my mind, more enjoyable baseball experience, you might be better off considering Midway's MLB Slugfest 20-04 or one of the other titles out there. It's not that Acclaim's title is bad, it's just that some of the problems with this game make it difficult to enjoy unless you're truly a baseball fanatic. While it's technically a good game, it's not a terribly fun one.

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