Average. I knew what I was in for when I first booted up Hardball 99 and saw the opening cinema: a horrible, grainy Full Motion Video. Easily the worst I’ve personally seen on the PlayStation, and almost as bad as the quality of a Sega CD game. The in-game character models are pretty good, but nothing special; and the sound effects are passable as well. The stadiums and crowds look below average, and nowhere is it more apparent than when the camera does a sweeping shot of the stadium at the opening of the game and zooms in very close to the dugout, one of the worst texture maps in the game. I also noticed several commentary sync problems, such as the commentator saying there were two outs (when there was only one), or after catching a pop fly, the commentary indicating that the “Side retires with three up and out” (meaning three players came up to bat and all three got out), when that was not the case.

Easy to play. When you are up at bat, you select what type of swing you want to take, such as a contact hit or power hit, or even a bunt. While pitching, you select what type of pitch to throw, like a fastball, slider, change up, etc. After your pitcher winds up to throw, you can move the target cursor to direct the pitch (inside, outside, strikezone, etc.). Initially I had problems getting the hang of batting, but basically you just have to get the timing down. Playing the field seems way too easy in Hardball 99. Pop flies are easily caught by running to where the ball will land (marked by an icon), and if you’re in the general area, you’ll catch the ball.

Adjustable, but I thought it was a little too easy.

Hardball 99 features a Season Play, as well as some other neat features such as Practice Mode and a Home Run Derby (great fun). The game in general leans more towards a sim than an arcade game and tracks many different stats. Hardball 99 is not a bad game, but a mediocre one compared to some of the other baseball games currently available. Had this title been released a year or two ago, it would have held up better.