I remember the first baseball game I ever played on a video game system; it was RBI Baseball by Tengen for the old Nintendo Entertainment System. It was a crude little game, it had no real players or real teams, the players themselves looked like fat teddy bears, and the music was made up of little beeps that continually looped. That was the standard in graphics and sound during that time, so it was no big deal. Plus, the AI was really cheap but what could you do? They didn’t have a lot of time, money, or processing power to program lifelike characters back then. That was 1987. It’s kind of sad that I’m forced to compare a game that came out almost 15 years ago to a game of today, but that’s about how bad Sports Illustrated for Kids: Baseball actually is.
Aesthetics:
The visuals are probably the only department where Sports Illustrated for Kids: Baseball actually excels; the graphics made a very nice first impression. The game has a very nice 3D engine that zooms in and out of the field when you hit the ball. One might mistake it for a Playstation game at first glance, but players in the distance tend to get rather blocky and use less animation. The players animate rather smoothly when standing still or walking to the plate, although they walk as if they’ve got a pole in their pants. The colors are also a little on the dull, dreary side… but it’s not the worst color I’ve seen in a GBA game. Overall the visuals are pretty good.
Sound:
In this department I think I’ll compare the sound of SIFK: Baseball to Tengen’s 1987 RBI Baseball because in overall quality, the sound isn’t much different between the two. In all actuality, I think the sound in RBI Baseball is BETTER than in Sports Illustrated for Kids. For one, the music in Sports Illustrated for Kids is HORRIBLE. It sounds like the annoying beeps of a Coleco Vision game. At least in RBI Baseball the music was kind of catchy and tolerable. Thankfully, Sports Illustrated for Kids has very little music. However, the sound effects that play for most of the game are equally bad. There’s nothing more annoying than playing the game for an hour with the same two second clip of a crowd cheering looping again and again and again. Let’s just say that you’ll most certainly want to play this game with the sound off.
Control:
Not only is the play control sluggish, it’s also idiotic. In most baseball games when you want a person to run to the next base you would press the directional pad in the direction of the base you’re targeting (press right for first, up for second, left for third, down for home). In Sports Illustrated for Kids, you have to press in the direction of the base you’re already on in order to run to the next one. For example, if I have a player on first and want him to advance to second I’ll have to press in the direction of first base in order to get him to advance to second. However, if I was going to steal a base… let’s say I wanted to steal third, then it would be okay to press in the direction of third base (left). It just doesn’t make any sense.
Play control in the field isn’t any better. Since you control every player in the field, including the pitcher, one would think that you would use one single button to throw the ball. Well, too bad. If you want to pitch you have to use the A button. If you’re pitching and the batter hits the ball into the field you have to throw using the B button. Again, it just doesn’t make any sense. RBI Baseball on the NES made good use of the controls and it only had two buttons to work with. There’s definitely something wrong when you’ve got four buttons and can’t make a game with better control.
Gameplay:
Whenever I judge gameplay, it’s always based on fun. Unfortunately there’s very little of that to be found in Sports Illustrated for Kids. First of all, Sports Illustrated for Kids really should have a MLB team and player license since they’re a magazine that writes about real teams all the time. However, player and team licenses aren’t necessarily needed in order to make the game fun. My guess is that they just didn’t want to spend the money so they made up imaginary players and teams. You basically have two modes of play: Exhibition and Season. In Exhibition mode there are no stats or records kept for the players, you just select your team and then your opponent’s team and play ball. Season mode gives you the option to build the stats of your players. The more games you play the harder it gets and the more experience points you earn. If you can tolerate this game, Season mode may keep you occupied for a while.
Multiplayer:
There’s not much I can say about the multiplayer except that it’s pretty standard. You and your opponent both need a copy of Sports Illustrated for Kids in order to access this option. Multiplayer actually helps make the game slightly more fun since you’re not forced to play against the computer’s idiotic AI, however, chances are that none of your friends will own a copy of this.
OVERALL:
Sports Illustrated for Kids: Baseball seems like a baseball game that Bam Entertainment decided to release halfway finished. If more time was spent on developing this game I bet it could have been pretty good. However, what we have here is an unfinished product that I wouldn’t even recommend renting. There are a lot of other good baseball games out there, and although there aren’t many out yet for the (still pretty new) Gameboy Advance, don’t settle just because you need to have a baseball game. Good things come to those who wait.
The Lowdown on  Sports Illustrated for Kids Baseball
| Aesthetics: Below Average |
Control: Below Average |
| Gameplay: Below Average |
Multiplayer: Average |
| Sound: Terrible |
Innovation: 1/6 |
| Lasting Appeal: 2/6 |
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Overall: Terrible!
"For use as a Coaster, Frisbee, or for Skeet Shooting Only"
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Sports Illustrated for Kids Baseball
