Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001

This is The 3DO Company's second game in their High Heat Baseball series on the PlayStation, and for the 2001 version they've brought out some of the big lumber and signed up Sammy Sosa and his winning smile as their key spokesperson.

As expected, all 30 teams from Major League Baseball and their players are presented in all their 3D glory, complete with 45 authentic stadiums which include not only the new parks in San Francisco and Detroit, but also classics such as Shibe Park and Baker Bowl. Little touches such as the fountains in Kansas City and stadium-top championship pennants fluttering in the breeze are scattered throughout.

Team .366 (their name is a nod to Ty Cobb's lifetime batting average) promises that they've significantly upgraded their graphics from 1999's version. One new feature which they've been touting is a technique called "motion blending," which smoothes transitions from one animation to the next in real-time so that the players' moves are as fluid as possible. They've also scaled the players' bodies so that a slight speedster like Kenny Lofton will look much different from an imposing hulk like Mark McGwire, complete with their actual faces.

San Francisco Giants announcer Ted Robinson is back with an even bigger array of quips and observations than last year, and the Home Run Challenge has been augmented by a Batting Practice Mode which allows the player to take their swings against three different types of pitchers (overhand, sidearm, or submarine) and ask for specific pitch types.

After every contest, the gamer gets a chance to look at the box score as well as an at-bat-by-at-bat account of the game. Furthermore, there's the chance to watch a sort of post-game highlights show wherein the computer selects the most significant plays of the game and runs them again (replays are also available after the action has just happened).

True-to-life physics are always an important part of any sports simulation, and Team .366 has brought a 3D mound into the game for 2001. Instead of being a meaningless part of the field, it now plays a part in pitch trajectories and the paths of balls that hit it and ricochet away. Improved player fatigue levels and CPU AI are also part of the effort to make the game as close to real life as possible.

Gamers can use their Dual Shock controllers for vibration feedback and memory cards to save a season in progress (which can be reduced to 16 or 81 games). The game comes packaged in a double CD jewel case to allow room for a separate strategy guide on the nuances of baseball.

The game gives you the ability to customize your car any way you like. You start off with 10,000 credits and must select a desired car manufacturer to purchase your favorite car. Some of the manufacturers include Nissan, Toyota, Ford, Mitsubishi, Chevrolet, Acura, Honda, The New Dodge, Mazda, Subaru, Aston Martin, and TVR. There are more than a hundred cars to choose from, new and used. In the Tune Up Shop, you can upgrade them with: more horsepower, better wheels and brakes, a new muffler, tweaked transmission, gear ratio, downforce, tougher suspension, an air cleaner, replaceable intake and exhaust parts, and even a turbo package or better spark plugs. And you can also save up and go for broke with special edition cars.

Remember your first driver's exam? With the License Test Center, you can take it for a spin when you challenge yourself in some brutal driver's license exams that train you to remember when to start and stop, survive sharp turns, and stay on the pavement. If you pass your exam you'll not only earn your driver's license, but also some hard cash. Enter the various races that require your type of license to drive whether it be international or Laguna Seca. If that's not enough, keep it going by earning two more class licenses.

If you'd rather race right away, go for the Arcade Mode for one or two players. Then review your replays in the Replay Theater. Choose from automatic or manual transmission. There's even a Time Trial mode where you can race your own "ghost car", or challenge a friend in two-player Battle Mode. You can save your status and settings on any memory card from 5 to 15 blocks. In Simulation Mode, having a clean car doesn't affect its performance but it does affect the value of your car if you need to sell it. For just 50 credits you can go to the Car Wash menu and take care of the whole shebang. Make sure you check out what your true acceleration and top speed is in the Machine Test menu.

With all these features and options, including a pit stop and multiple camera angles, Gran Turismo gives you an encyclopedia of cars and promises a visual and audio experience of the real thing.