squidpants

so i dunno if anybody reads this, or if anybody plays video games, but after buying a couple of games recently for my playstation 2, i decided to review them:

first up is allstar baseball 2003: allstar baseball 99 for the N64 was a very good game with good graphics and lots of stats, even if it was pretty easy. however, this version just sucks. the batting is extremely difficult, even on the easiest possible settings, the pitching is boring, and the graphics are crappy, even worse than the N64, which is weird. in general, this game is just not fun, and i plan on taking it back today. the only decent thing is that there are some good options, like making an expansion team with an expansion draft, but you can only pick from a few cities and a few team names, and most of them are stupid, like "ruff puppies." what kind of stupid up person would want to name their team the ruff puppies? and there are no normal names, like senators or statesmen or anything like that, and you can't create your own. lame city. most of the other options are hard to use and confusing, and the menus are a pain in the ass, you have to push a million buttons. so in short, don't get it. i am going to look for high heat or world series 2k3 pretty soon, they appear to be better.

next: madden 2002: great football game, that's all there is to it. you can do all sorts of stuff with your team, get free agents, etc, although i'm not real sure how to use them, and the stuff about salaries are hard to figure out. but the gameplay and graphics itself are great, i have no complaints at all. so if you are looking for a cheaper football game (since this is a few years old) pick it up.

ncaa basketball 2k3: a very good college hoops game, but with some problems. the graphics are excellent, i've had friends come over and say "what game are you watching". the game has the espn license, so all of the real espn graphics and music are in the game, which is cool. recruiting is easy to learn and interesting to do, and lots of stuff is customizable. i really like franchise mode, where you start as a coach for a crummy school and try to move to better schools. however, there is a big problem: it's too easy. i have gone undefeated three times with loyola marymount on the hardest setting, which hasn't happened ever in real life (the last undefeated team was Indiana in 1976, and the University of San Francisco (no, honestly) had a winning stream last over three seasons from 1955 to 1957, thanks to future nba hall of famers bill russell.) the main problem is that it's way too easy to steal passes. i've had three players average more than 4 steals a game, which is incredible, considering the ncaa leader last year had about 3.5. also, it's too easy to get offensive rebounds and too hard to get defensive ones. and finally, three pointers and free throws are very hard to make, i've never had a player shoot better than 20% on threes or 55% on free throws. that said, it's still a really fun and realistic game, and i look forward to buying ncaa 2k4 when it comes out, as i've heard they made stealing harder.

well, hope this helps. it helped me avoid work for awhile. yay.