I was first introduced to Pro League Baseball by Micro Sports about five years ago. What caught my attention about the game was its claim that ALL rosters for ALL teams from 1901 to 1995 were included! Sure enough, this is true! There must have been an incredible amount of research to put this game together. But all of the players from 1901 to 1995 seem to be in this game. And all of their statistics too. So for baseball history nuts this game is almost a must.
Actual gameplay is good in either one or two player mode. The whole gameplay sequence is started by the pitcher choosing one of five pitches (fastball, curveball, slider, change up, or knuckleball). Some pitchers are better throwing some pitches than others…there’s a meter that lists pitch speed after every pitch. Nolan Ryan can get away with throwing a lot of fastballs but other pitchers who have trouble throwing over 85 MPH will get clobbered if they rely too much on the fastball. Batters who reach base can steal, hit and run, etc. Most of the real life options are there for the managers. This is where in the one player mode the computer makes some odd choices. Sometimes the computer will steal at inappropriate times.
Other
times the computer will make bizarre pitching changes. Ninth inning in a 3-2 game with everything on the line, you’d think the computer would bring in its closer, but sometimes it chooses instead a mop-up pitcher with an ERA of 5.00! These types of weird computer moves don’t happen too often, but when they do they almost hand a victory to you the human player! So this would be a downside to the game – questionable AI at key moments of a game.
Graphically, the game is good. Keep in mind this game came out in 1996 so it does not have the state of the art graphics that some gamers demand.
All of the modern stadiums are represent and a few of the old time ones, too. Games take about thirty minutes to complete.
