Producer: Advance Software Promotions
Retail Price: £8.95
Author: Sean Pearce

Well, golly gee, it's good to see all you folks out there in limey land taking to our fabulous game of baseball. After all, this cricket you play - what kinda game is that, for gosh sakes? A bunch of guys standing around in white pants all day - or some times for a whole week. You're never going to get peak time programming to swallow that.

So now you'll all be wanting to know how to play this li'l ol' game. Well, first, the manager picks the squad. Nine guys are out on the ball park, and another 16 are back on the bench. You get plenty of dope on the guys in the team. The list gives you their normal fielding position, which way they bat, and their averages. A lot of these guys got silly names - like there's some guy called Einstein, and this guy Asimov, whoever he is.

Once you've sorted your line up, it's out to the ball park, to face either the computer or a buddy. The screen shows just the pitcher, hitter, backstop and umpire, with a small insert showing which bases are occupied.

Most of the control in this game is accomplished by moving the joystick and pressing fire. At most stages, there are four possible choices. If you're pitching, then you've got to choose what kind of ball to pitch. There are four choices available out of eight types - and the choice depends on the pitcher you've got. Red hot guys get nifty balls like Fastball!, or a real Joe Demaggio type can throw a curve that'll really blow the batter's mind. Then there's a further choice of whereabouts the ball is aimed: up, down, left, right and centre. Then the pitcher winds up and throws.

Meanwhile, down at the plate, the batter has picked his shot and chooses his moment to strike at the ball. If he misses, then the backstop moves to catch the ball, and the umpire delivers his verdict: was the ball a strike? A hitter gets three strikes in which to hit the ball, after that he's out. If the pitcher throws four balls (what you cricket, types would call a no ball, I guess), the hitter gets to walk to first base.

If the hitter connects, the game moves to a view of the whole pitch, with the ball bouncing harmlessly out of bounds, or straight into the arms of a fielder, or, as you hope, streaking for the boundary. Then the fielders have to collect the ball and get it back to the bases. During this time, the fielding player gets to move the fielders around and choose where the ball gets thrown, again by using a menu and moving the joystick and pressing fire. The hitter from a menu to stay where he is, or run on to the next base.

One or two players can participate in Hardball. After three men are out, the teams change over. After both sides have been in nine times, the match is over. Each time a man gets round the bases, a point is scored. If the scores are level after nine innings, the game continues until one side wins.

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable
Joystick: Kempston, Cursor, Interface 2
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: better than average
Graphics: technically accomplished
Sound: spot effects and tune
Skill levels: one
Screens: two

This game has some of the slickest presentation I've ever seen on a Spectrum. The animation on the pitching screen is really nice, coupled with the use of some very pretty shading. And all through the game, there are plenty of decisions to keep your Interest up. Only two things mar an otherwise neat game: it's really hard to play, and it hangs around too long on the fielding screen. That coupled with the fact that I don't find baseball the world's most exciting game make this one a near miss for me, although I can see that a lot of hard work went into making it this good.

It's strange to see yet another Baseball simulation on the Speccy as it is a sport that has a relatively small following in the UK. This is more pleasing to play than IMAGINE's International Baseball as it has captured more of the spirit of the game. The graphics are a bit of a mixed bag. The pitching screen is very well drawn, there are some nice large characters and lots of colour. The playing field, however, leaves a little to be desired. The sound is adequate but not brilliant, the effects are fairly extensive but the tune is poor. The only thing that I really disliked about Hardball is that it takes a lot of practice to get anywhere, though once you do, it becomes very addictive and playable too.

With my limited knowledge of baseball and the fact I find the sport rather tedious to watch, I entered this game with a certain air of scepticism. To my surprise, I totally enjoyed playing it and as far as I can tell it covered all aspects of the sport, with the bonus of being able to change players as required. The graphics and animation of the pitcher and the batter are superb, some of the best I've seen on the Spectrum. I preferred pitching as I found I could do no end of fastballs and curves. On the other hand, I could never hit the ball when batting. All in all, a very impressive baseball simulation and I'm sure it will do wonders for promoting the sport.

Kixx
£2.99 (rerelease)

Hardball is simply a brilliant baseball simulation for one or two players. If you don't know how baseball plays, well, tough. It's too long to go into all the rules here. Basically, you have a pitcher (who throws the ball), a batter (who hits the ball as far as possible) and an umpire (who makes decisions you probably won't agree with!).

Whether you're batting or pitching, you determine your stroke from a menu of options at the top of the screen, and the ball flies off accordingly. If it flies far enough the batter dashes around the bases of the field to score as many runs as possible. The team with the most runs wins.

The presentation of Hardball is wonderful, and graphics are neat throughout (especially oh the pitching scene). Though a little tricky to begin with, Hardball is worth perservering with as it's a decent and realistic simulation.

Advance
£7.95

Yee-hah! The American sporting invasion continues with Advance's simulation of the all American baseball. I wouldn't know a silly bunt from a good screwball and my idea of baseball is mega rounders played by hunky chaps in pyjamas, Schulz headgear and radar dishes on their hands. A pitcher's what you hang on the wall and Hardball - well, I hope there's a cure!

Baseball's unfamiliarity to the average gamer is this game's main drawback - it just hasn't received the same publicity that's made Pro-Football popular and understood. And since Hardball, like Football Manager is essentially a management game where players have to be pre-selected and substituted according to their abilities you're going to end up in difficulties if you think Home Base is a Sainsbury's sideline.

You have the option of playing against the computer or another player. Many of the pre-game selections are purely cosmetic - home or away, Champ or All Star. Screen two is make your mind up time where you have to decide who you're going to pick from your squads with the player information provided.

Get on to screen 3 and you'll see the pitch simulation that gives you a choice of delivery, whilst a Sub-screen shows the base positions of your team mates. Like many cricket simulations this looks a hell of a lot better than it plays which is a pity since the graphics are truly amazing. The amount of control you have seems questionable since it's more of a case of wind it up and let it go. But as each game lasts nine innings you'll have plenty of time to work it out and suss the variations. Better than watching Arsenal. Just.

BARGAIN BASEMENT

More low-price goodies, baddies and indiffereties with Marcus Berkmann!

Kixx
£2.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann

Splendid Accolade baseball sim deservedly re-released for a new audience, and a bargain at £2.99. As with most of those US games, it's high on detail and atmosphere, and not exactly the easiest game to get into straight away - but that's no bad thing from time to time. When this originally appeared three years ago, we Brits were a touch less potty on baseball than we are now, and as a result it didn't create much of a splash. Viewed again, it clearly falls into the same sort of category as Leader Board and the earlier US Gold multi-game compilations - professional, detailed programming of a standard that we don't see too much of in these islands. Games in the US, of course, retail for much more than the ten measly quid we lucky oiks pay, but as a result their games are often that much more complex and well thought out. Hardball! is no exception, and this Speccy conversion does the original proud. Fun gaming, different from the rest and extremely addictive.

Label: Advance
Author: B Whitehead
Price: £9.95
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: John Gilbert

Baseball in the US is a good deal tougher than its UK equivalent - as the C4 screenings this autumn will prove!

Big bucks, fast action and battling bravado both on and off the pitch. Sponsorship, hot dogs and hype. It's the American way of sport.

And now its all being brought to life in Hardball a sports simulation from a new company, Advance. Judging from a first look, Advance is hoping to find a gap between the poorly animated Ocean-style sports simulations and menu-driven programs like those from CCS.

Hardball manages to be a very neat combination of animated perspective graphics - covering the main action - and clever joystick controlled menus giving the strategy.

The two teams - Champs and All Stars are already set when the game begins. Unless you want a two-player game the Spectrum takes the All Stars. They're favoured as the home team but if you're not confident of a win, you can change the venue in your favour.

The only other setting you need to worry about, before you can start the game is something strange that goes under the term 'Intentional Walk'. This turns out to be to do with deciding if your hitters standing on first, second or third bases run only if your batsman runs or if they can take it into their own heads to run, even if the current batsman hits and chooses not to. It doesn't crucially affect the proceedings if you're just getting started.

The great strength of Hardball is you can switch between all three parts of the game - team selection, batting and running - by using the Break key whenever you choose. It doesn't matter if you're about to bat - you could still press Break to take a look at your team and bring on a substitute.

The team lists initially show the name of a player - Cram, Tramiel and Lineker to name but a few - quite what any of them are doing here is beyond me, but there you go. The selection board shows a player's position in the team, type of batter or fielder - whether he's left- or right-handed - and his game details.

The performance data isn't just there for decoration. It tells you how well a player's done during the season while his position and the way in which he holds his bat or catches a ball will determine how you play him.

If you select to bowl, your bowler has four speeds at which he can pitch, selected by menu from the top of the screen. Then there's the pitch angle menu. Here again, four types of pitch including Outside and High Pitch. Once you've chosen your bowling attack the ball will shoot towards the batsman. If he misses the catcher might catch the ball in his glove. The umpire will shout 'strike!'. If the throw was legal the batsman will then have one strike against him. Three strikes and he's out.

When you're into bat the batsman has only one menu to control - whether he uses the bat to take high, low or body shots. Selection is part guessing game and part skill, watching the bowler in front of you for the slightest move. In the real thing the batsman shouldn't look behind him but here you can tell where the bowler is about to pitch by the way in which the catcher moves his glove.

Smash the ball as hard as you can and pelt for the first base. All nicely shown in animated close-up.

When you run the screen view switches to an overhead one with tiny dots representing the players and fielders. If you get to first base you bat again with your next team member..

The action is fast and as each player comes home your score-board at the top of the screen racks up the runs for the team while keeping a log of your innings, the balls pitched and the number of batsmen who have struck out.

Advance has got itself a winner here with Hardball its conversion may not be as colourful as the original Commodore 64 game - published by Accolade in the US - but the animation is fast and there's little hint of attribute clash.

Actually it turned out to be the most addictive sports simulation I've yet played. It's mainly the variety of graphics screens - close-up, birds-eyeview, and the menus - combined with easy-to-operate joystick-selected options which makes programs like Football Manager look dated and very primitive.

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: Advance
PRICE: £7.95

Is this a Spectrum? That's what I said when I first saw the amazing graphics in this new conversion of Accolade's brilliant baseball game. Apart from a few colour changes the screen display looks a lot like the 64 original. Incredible, but true - just look at the screen shots.

Hardball is the computer version of America's favourite game - baseball_ it's a game where the word strike doesn't mean all the players have walked off the field and formed a picket line. It's also a game which I American football has some complex rules.

Like all simulations this isn't an arcade game. It's a mixture of strategy and action so you'll have to be prepared to do a bit of thinking if you want to get to grips with it.

Basically you play the part of a team manager, selecting your team, working out your game plan and making on the spot decisions on pitchers and batters if things start going wrong! Four screens appear during Hardball. You kick off with the manager's decision screen, a sort of menu in which you set up your team and check out the opposition's strength.

Then there's the graphic representation of the batter/pitcher screens and two others whch show left field and right field. Here you set up your fielding positions if your team isn't batting.

Batting and pitching are controlled by a series of options which appear at the top of the screen and which are selected by using the joystick or keyboard.

For example, if your team is pitching, you can tell your pitcher to throw a fastball, a screwball or a sinker! just watch the action and you'll soon get to grips with it.

The same menu system applies to batting - and if you decide to play with a friend you'll have to ask them not to watch while you make your choices! The basic idea of the game is to score more runs than the opposition. There are several ways to achieve thisbut the most satisfying is to hit a home run. The batsman blasts the ball out of the park at least into the crowd! if you've ever played softball or rounders, you'll know the drill.

The - a I " e a l animated and it's just as hard to give the ball a good clout as it is in real life. But when you DO get it right. Wow! You also have to be quick off the mark if you're fielding, Once the ball is hit the screen display switches to the field view where you have to control the fielders and return the ball as quickly as possible to the pitcher or throw to the bases if the opposition looks like scoring a run.

Hardball on the Spectrum has appeared just in time to coincide with Channel 4's coverage of the World Series.

So if you really want to know more about the game you should watch.

The game loads all in one go so there's no fiddling about with the tape, surprising for such a complex program.

The game comes with a set of comprehensive instructions which MUST be studied before you begin to play.

Hardball won't be to everyone's tastes. It is a complex simulation of a sport unknown to most English games players.

It takes a bit of time and trouble to get to grips with the rules and the layout of the game it's well worth it, Sports fans won't find many simulations as slick and well put together as Hardball - especially on the Spectrum.

HARD HITTING ACTION ON THE BASEBALL DIAMOND

Advance Software
£8.95

With Channel 4 hoping to turn the nation into baseball fanatics by showing the World Series for the first time this is a timely release for those who want a taste of the simulated action.

Originally marketed on the Commodore 64 by US Gold, Hardball was considered too complex for conversion to the Spectrum and the rights passed to a new company, Advance Software, who have proved it could be done successfully.

Hardball can be played against the computer or as a two player game (keyboard v joystick) and Kempston, Interface II and Protek joysticks are supported. There are three screens and the first to confront you is the Manager's Decision Screen which allows you to choose a well balanced team.

You can make changes and substitutions throughout the match too. Perhaps realising that baseball players who are legends in the States are unknown in Britain you can pick a team of colourful names such as Einstein, Lineker and Asimov.

Alternatively you can hold off from tinkering with the team and get straight on with the game. Pressing the Play Ball option transfers you to the pitcher/batter screen. A state of play display hangs over the batsman and both he and the pitcher are large, impressively animated figures. In the right hand bottom corner of the screen is a small map of the diamond which indicates how many batting players are on the bases.

Pitching offers plenty of variation. You select from no less than eight types of delivery, from the Fastball (straight and very fast) to the Slider (a curving ball that veers at the last moment). The actual target area you select is cleverly indicated by the backstop's moving glove.

Batting success relies entirely on liming and in general it seems that a good clout is made by hitting the ball a split second after you think you should.

Once a ball is hit the outfield screen comes up. This shows the diamond and outfielders. The batter has the option to get his players running round the bases while the fielder can move his receiving fielder (the one who is flashing on and off) to catch or retrieve the ball. He can then throw it to any of the bases and get a running batter out.

The flurry of activity as batter and fielder take appropriate action is exciting but unfortunately a lot of hits are set pieces, either being homers where the ball is knocked out of the ground or going straight to fielders for an easy catch. It's a small point but the game would have benefited from a greater proportion of action dealing with fielding and running decisions.

Despite this Hardball offers sports simulation fans a whole new ballgame - it's addictive, well presented, contains a lot of variation and is an excellent two-player game. Playing against the computer is fun too. I lost the first series by an embarrassing margin but now I can give it a competitive game. The computer sometimes even takes pity on you and does something irrational like send a player on a run to a base with no chance of making it.

Overall Hardball can be highly recommended as good value entertainment and will undoubtedly convince a lot more people that Baseball is not just a game of rounders played on the other side of the Atlantic.

Advance Software
Strategy
£8.95

When US. Gold, In all its wisdom, decided not to convert Hardball from the Commodore 64. most people felt it was because it could not be done. It has taken a new software house, Advance Software Promotions, to attempt the conversion and a very creditable job it has done, too.

When the first screen shots arrived at the Your Computer offices, everyone believed that the pictures were of the original 64 version and that Advance had probably made a legitimate mistake. Eating my words has never been a favourite pastime but when Hardball was loaded on the office Spectrum I chewed for five minutes.

The game follows the rules of baseball closely, with excellent depiction of the three main characters of importance - the batter, pitcher and catcher. Playability, too, has not been sacrificed and once perfect timing, in both pitching and batting, has been achieved, it is possible to give the computer a good run for its money.

So far as sports simulations go, it is one of the best of the arcade type. What makes the game more interesting than most of this genre is the ability to manage the whole team.