Midway is very new to baseball games with their first one only coming out last year, but they hit the ground running with a decent triple – 20-03 was an arcade game that was very good for what it set out to do. MLB Slugfest attempts to one up last year's model with more of everything, and they've done a great job.
Starting of the game, you'll immediately see new additions: There are four skill levels and you can choose from QuickPlay (guess)., Challenge ( a mode where you play every team), Season (duh), Tournament (great for multiplayer – choose four or eight teams and go wild), and of course an option to view all the full motion video in the game. .
As far as the season goes, you are limited to 52 games instead of the regular 162 game season, but pretty much everything else is customizable-you can even create your own teams – however, the teams will have to be based on existing players (you can't make your own players)
Gameplay hasn't changed much from last year: every pitch can be hit and you can use your 'turbo' for an extra added oomph. While on offense you can also use turbo while running or when trying to knock out an infielder. Yes that's right, you can take out infielders while running in order to make them drop the ball or outright miss a routine grounder.
Make no bones about it, this is an arcade baseball game. Gamers enjoying Out of The Park Baseball for the PC will probably not look to this game for a realistic representation of baseball.
Actually, it's their loss, because this game is a total multiplayer blast. There's something to be said for trying to punch out your friend at first base literally!
On fire mode is now available for pitching and batting – pitchers (once they've filled up their meter) will get one 'special' pitch, which is akin to some wild goofy pitch that is virtually impossible to hit (virtually – I have hit one).
Also new is a home run derby. There are plenty of customizable options here, but you're probably not going to spend a lot of time here ( just like other HR derbies)…
Graphics are excellent and audio commentary is very good and indeed laugh out loud funny. There's not a lot of 'new' added in this section, but last year's model was already very good all the way around.
Control does take some getting used to , especially if you've been playing another baseball game. One of the things I really like about Slugfest is the way they use the right stick for ball throwing instead of the buttons..it's very intuitive (ie push right to throw to first, etc).
One of last years problems was the lack of a replay feature and that's now in the game and works well – it's a VCR like 15 second replay of what just happened.
Overall, the game is a blast to play in single player or in multiplayer. There is enough here to warrant a buy, especially if you enjoyed last year's version. Unfortunately there is no online play, but I hope that can be fixed in the future. If you like arcade baseball, this is easily the game to get.
-Dan
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