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Backyard Baseball 2001 Review

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With the World Series playoffs in progress, this seemed like a good time to bring out a review of Backyard Baseball by Humongous. In the meantime, I'm chasing down hybrid freeware/shareware for upper elementary/middle grade age students. I've downloaded a few things and am checking them out. So by next week I hope to bring you another shareware review.

And now here's the review of the week:

BACKYARD BASEBALL 2001 by Humongous Entertainment

"Hey, Mom, I'm going to play ball with Derek Jeter and Sammy Sosa," your young baseball fan might say in spite of the rain or snow outside.

Don't worry, cabin fever isn't getting to your child. If you have the Backyard Baseball 2001 CD-ROM, the above scenario (and many others just as remarkable) are entirely possible.

With this software your child can be the manager, coach, and player. Choose a single game or season play. Tee ball is also an option for the youngest players. Select one of eight playing fields, then choose an American League or National League Team. If you want a league of your own, create your own team by selecting a name, colors, and a mascot. Next, select the players. In addition to the quirky kids from the original Backyard Baseball, you may now choose professional players (the animated kid versions of them anyway) like Jeter, Sosa, and many others. Another new feature is the ability to create a custom player.

There are many ways to set up a game including batting practice, tee-ball, a pickup game against the computer, or a computer against computer game. Do you have time for 9 innings or only 6? Adjust the game to your skill level; easy, medium, or hard. Turn errors off, and all the kids play perfectly. Leave errors on for a more realistic game, since each player has individual strengths and weaknesses.

Choose a pitch from heat, left hook, right hook or slowball. Choose a closed, open, or square stance. Also select power, line drive, grounder, or bunt for a type of hit.

Increase the fun and challenge with a 14 game season. Complete the season, and advance to the playoffs. Of course, the software keeps up with all the statistics throughout the season. Just go to the trophy case to see how your team is doing.

Although the 2001 version includes many new features and improvements, my son prefers the original Backyard Baseball game. The part he enjoyed most was creating his own team. He seemed to identify with several of the animated characters. Now that professional teams and players are included, there aren't as many original characters and team mascots to choose from. At five, he has little interest in the professional leagues and is not familiar with any of the professional players. So this new version hasn't seen as much play as the older version.

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