Baseball with fighting robots... Awesome!
THE GOOD
-Fighting robots and baseball are a great combination
-Lots of cool upgrades
-Multi-player season is lots of fun
THE BAD
-Mcycle robots have horrible fielding controls
OVERVIEW
Base Wars is a game that doesn't just test your skills as a player but as a team manager of a baseball team. You control a team of robots with four different types: Cyborg, Tank, Mcycle, and Flybot. The cyborg is a human-like robot with arms and legs that is average at everything. The tank-bot has the upper half of its body like a cyborg but with tank treads for feet. They are slower then the rest but have lots of hit points and attack power. Mcycles have the same upper body as a cyborg but with a single wheel replacing its legs. Mcycles are very fast but have very poor fielding control which makes catching fly balls annoyingly difficult. Lastly, the Flybot is half cyborg and flying saucer. Their hovering ability makes them great fielders but poor fighters. This game is basically a baseball game with robots and slightly different playing rules.
GAMEPLAY
In Base Wars, most of the rules of baseball still apply. There are still three strikes for an out, three outs per team per inning, nine innings, fly outs are automatic (no fighting) and you have the option to "tag up". The differences are the following: your pitcher can control the direction and speed of the ball through out the pitch, you can carry weapons with you to aid in fighting, and all tag-outs and force-outs are determined by the winner of a one on one battle. These differences really make this game worth playing.
Base Wars gives you the option to play a quick game or a season. The quick game lets you pick two teams with random upgrades given to the players on each team. In the season mode, which is lots of fun playing against friends, you not only play each game and control your players on the field but you take on all the managerial tasks for you team. Every team starts the season with the same amount of money. Winning or losing the games in your season reflects how much money your team receives. Before each game you can change your roster, change the make (style robot) of each player, make repairs to damaged robots, or upgrade your players. Base Wars lets you upgrade your robots with weapons (for fighting), catch (for fielding), shoot (for faster throwing / pitching), unit (for speed), engine (for health regeneration), and shoulder (for batting power). So, you can completely customize your team but you have to manage your funds wisely in order to prepare for your next game.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
The graphics for Base Wars are good. There isn't much to look at on the baseball field but once you get into the close ups of the robots (batting and fighting) there is much more detail.
The music is catchy and the sound effects fit the game. Especially the sound of a robot blowing up.
CONCLUSION
Base Wars is a great game that brings a cut-throat excitement to the game of baseball. If you are willing to break away from the normal baseball games you'll find that this game has much to offer. And you can't go wrong with fighting robots.