basketball

My oldest son has been playing baseball every since his little hands could hold a bat. If you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, his answer is always "a baseball player" so it was no surprise to me that when he saw the software for Backyard Baseball that he would want to buy it.

As much as I LOVE baseball myself, I really had no interest in learning the video game. After time however, I found myself asking questions and coming to an understanding that there was more to meet the eye than just your average virtual baseball game.

The first concept about this game that is really cute is there are 2 different stages and different levels. You can play t-ball or your standard little league baseball game. I thought that was a great addition to have both versions in one game because my little one can play this game as well and understand the concept since he too is in the t-ball league.

The second thing about this that makes it appealing to children is the different baseball fields the games take place in. Sometimes it's your typical baseball field, other times they're playing in a make shift baseball field out in a lot, a school baseball diamond, there are several and they're all very unique.

The third thing that I personally like is the kids that are in the game that play the baseball players are all racially diverse. There is even a player who is in a wheelchair but has one heck of a throwing arm! ;)

My husband really likes the fact that the game allows you to not only PLAY the game, but to also be the coach of the teams you select. Your child will actually pick the players on your team based on the players stats, and create a play list. You have a baseball schedule and everything and my son printed his out and played the games according the schedule like any other baseball game. His learning knowledge of how a team is put together was taught in a way we never could have explained.

After you play your team scheduled games, there is a little league series complete with a trophy for your child to print out!

I strongly recommend this game for every little baseball player or baseball player to be. My God-daughter also has this game and she loves it, so it's not just for boys. So give this one a try, I can guarantee you'll score a homerun for the person you buy this for!!! ;)

This is a fun game just it makes my computer slow down. It also gets pretty boring after about a month. I already beat the whole
game. The good thing about this game is that you can make a whole custom player team. None of the other backyard sports games have that. It is really easy. If you are a basketball fan you'll love this game. If you don't really like basketball, stay away from it and don't think about buying it.

Don't get me wrong, this game is pretty fun. At first. When you get used to the controls(that'll take 1 minute), the game loses interest. Why? You can't lose. I don't think I've ever seen a basketball game that has ended 140 to 2. If there has been, I know one team that's pitiful. You can draft the worst players and still win by 100 points.

The game starts by picking your team and making your coach name. Then, you can pick through an average amount of players for your team. It doesn't matter what their stats are. You'll still be undefeaten after the season. Then, you play the game. Why is this game so easy? But, the only thing keeping you from a 200-0 game is the fouls. They call an unbelievable amount of fouls. Can you move without getting a penalty?

But, after you turn the fouls off, it's not fun. But, it's not fun with fouls, either. That's a problem. If this game was harder, you'd have a great game. But, it's not hard, so it's not fun. It's fun to have KG on your team scoring dunks from half-court. You can substitute when a quarter gets over, but if you do it, the commentary doesn't pick a Player of the Game. That's a good thing about the game. Who will get the Player of the Game? The best player doesn't get the prize, though? It's usually the amateur player that scores 2 points.

Oh, well. There's NBA Street for a good power-uppy not real basketball game. There's NBA Jam for big-headed weirdos playing basketball. And, you can't abandon the NBA Live series for good ol' regular basketball. I'll give Backyard Basketball an average 3 out of 5.