A Ball And A Strike
A Review of Front Page Sports: Baseball Pro 98
Mark W. Frantz
Sierra's Front Page Sports line has been a solid contender in the sports simulation field. For instance, FPS: Football Pro is considered at this time by most to be the quintessential PC football game. And it came out three years ago. There are still Internet leagues based on this old game, despite more recent versions. FPS : Golf revolutionary new TrueSwing concept has turned a lot of heads in the industry. And the list goes on. In 1994, FPS: Baseball was released. And it was an immediate failure. It's play was unsatisfying, and the game was unstable and boring. Subsequent releases have improved the system, and the most recent of these is FPS: Baseball ‘98. Has it fixed the problems in the baseball line? Yes, and no.
BB98 (Baseball ‘98) is, at its core, an excellent stat based baseball simulation. The hallmark of FPS : Football was allowing the player to run a team from season to season, participating in drafts, making trades, and playing the games. Players retired, got injured, were traded. It was very similar to real life.
The original FPS: Baseball brought these same concepts to baseball, and BB98 improves upon them. An unprecedented amount of control can be levied by the player. One can participate in free agent and amateur drafts, bring players up and send them down to the minors, place players on the DL, make trades with other teams; the list goes on and on. For the player only wishing to handle these aspects, games can be simulated without player involvement. Rosters can be still be tweaked and rotations set, but the player doesn't have to play each game. 
Each player has many different ratings in statistics that are taken into consideration determining each play in each game. Player ratings increase through time, and especially increase during spring training, where the owner can set exactly how much time he wants spent on a players improvement in certain areas. Hundreds of statistics are kept during the season, from the standard to the obscure. This level of detail is exemplary.
So, the ownership aspects of the game are very extensive and very well done. Internet leagues based solely on ownership have popped up all over the place. More about that in a minute.
Unfortunately, the player looking for engaging on the field action should look elsewhere. To be fair, the action portion is much better than that of the original FPS : Baseball. But the action isn't fluid, and it takes a lot of time and effort to get used to the timing and control involved in playing the arcade portion. Coupled with the release of Triple Play from EA Sports, the current PC leader in sports arcade games, many will find the action once again, unsatisfying.
Back to the Internet. Sierra has included many utilities that automate the online league. And from my own experiences, online leagues, for those stat lovers, can be very rewarding and fun. Imagine being the GM of a team that constantly is getting new players as the old ones retire, dynasties rising and falling as teams jockey for the best players. So, being relatively easy to use and fun, online leagues extend the life of this game indefinitely.
So, what's the verdict? Simply this: if you love stats and the idea of controlling every aspect of your team as a GM / Owner / Manager, you'll love this game. If you want the thrill of hitting home runs and running around the bases yourself, pick up Triple Play ‘98. If you want both, this will satisfy most of one, and a little of the other.
Gamer's Zone Scorecard
| Product: | Front Page Sports: Baseball Pro 98 |
| Company: | Sierra On-Line, Inc. |
| Cost: | $29.99 |
System Requirements:
Pentium 60 MHz
16 MB RAM
Microsoft Windows 95 operating system 2x CD-ROM drive
20 MB free hard drive space
640x480 256 color video mode
Direct-X certified sound card
Mouse
Breakdown:
Fun Factor 3.5
Graphics 4
Sound 4
Interface 4
Replayability 3.5
Overall Score:
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