Strictly average sporting sim
The Front Page Sports series encompasses a range of sports from baseball to golf to football and even fishing but have never really managed to capture the attention of a wide audience in a way like EA's John Madden series or the Hardball games have. This baseball sim offers a decent recreation of the sport but is definitely a less than must-play experience. You've got a wide enough range of options to choose from, with the ability to play as coach or manager as well as on the pitch itself, while there's also loads of detailed stats representing the players and teams of the time which should please dedicated sports historians. The game also makes use of a detailed physics system to replicate ball movement accurately while you have a selection of over twenty real world pitches to play in (although to be honest this doesn't make a lot of difference). If you are a baseball fan, this is worth a look and in its management sections it actually proves more entertaining than the actual playing thanks to a few significant shortcomings in gameplay. It does get reasonably gripping when you're watching your carefully put together team on the pitch and thus recreates the real sport quite well. The visuals aren't bad, with large, chunky sprites that are well enough animated while the sound is the usual collection of ball noises and background effects and overall the game is atmospheric. However, unless you are a die-hard baseball fan, it's not really much to get excited about and it's certainly not going to convert you. If you need another baseball sim in your life, it's worth a look but don't get your hopes up too high.
