9.1 Out Of 10

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High Voltage, the people behind Lego Racers, handled development duties and we presume they were simply given the old code leftover from last year and a command to "make it better." And that's just what they did. ASB 2001 is still the familiar baseball game that we've played before but there are enough new features and things to look at it to satisfy nitpicky baseball fanatics and casual sports gamers alike.

The New Features for 2001

•Coopertown Legends team is chock full of living baseball legends like Yogi Berra, Willie Stargell and Reggie Jackson. We'd simply call it a team full of living Hall of Famers but that would be disrespectful to Pete Rose.
•The Cooperstown Legends team needs a homefield, so how about an outdoor cornfield stadium like the one Kevin Costner's insane character in "Field of Dreams" constructed.
•Improved arcade mode streamlines the batting and pitching of the regular games. Reminiscent of some old 8 and 16-bit baseball titles where you just pitch and hit with minimal control.
•New effects give the Arcade Mode a different feel from the Simulation Mode.
•Batting Practice Mode gives players a nice safe way to get used to ASB 2001's sophisticated batting and pitching controls.

The Features You Know and Love

•Every team in Major League Baseball and 700 players from the Players Association.
•Every Major League Stadium including new ballparks in Detroit, Houston and San Francisco.
•Scouting reports from cover boy Derek Jeter.
•Realistic player models include faces and authentic team uniforms.
•Motion captured animations including over-the-shoulder catches and celebrations.
•Exhaustive details like sunglasses, high socks, alternate uniforms and dust clouds on the field.
•Instant Replay.
•More than 100 unique batting stances like Frank Thomas' bat-on-shoulder and Darryl Strawberry's kick.
•Advanced A.I. accounts for day vs night, grass vs turf and home vs away and affects player performances.
•Batting interface has adjustable sweet spot and option for power or contact hitting.


[INFO PROVIDED BY IGN64.COM]

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Internet Reviews:

I admit I took last year off and didn't get into ASB 2000 like I did the previous game. I was aware of all the new features however and the 2001 edition is a big enough improvement in my opinion. The new gameplay modes are really worth it if you want more out of your N64 baseball gaming. You get the same incredible depth and info already built into the ASB series with some nice light alternatives to keep things interesting.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to give the game enough of a workout to detect the old stat bug that's haunted the previous two versions. We do recommend using an officially licensed Nintendo save device so that the game has every chance of carrying your season stats through the end of the year.

Overall, ASB 2001 is still the standard when it comes to baseball on the N64. It's quite an accomplishment for Acclaim to have warded off EA Sports, Konami and even Nintendo itself in the baseball genre this year. High Voltage could've easily gotten away with rolling out the same game as last year but the effort they've put into ASB 2001 shows and it's worth it
IGN64.COM

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