Tony La Russa Baseball II

Tony La Russa Baseball II is the second in a long line of Tony La Russa baseball games. Developed by Stormfront Studios and designed by Don Daglow and David Bunnett among others, Tony La Russa Baseball II has appeared on many different ports. Different versions of this game have even been released by Electronic Arts Sports, a world renowned leader in sports video gaming, and Strategic Simulations, Incorporated, an equal leader in strategy and simulation games. The game is obviously named for Tony La Russa, the manager of the Oakland Athletics, who provided the artificial intelligence for the game.

He later went on to manage other teams, but in the early nineties when the series was released, he was with Oakland.
In Tony La Russa Baseball II, the user serves as the player/manager of the team of his choice. He can choose any team from 1901 to 1968 or create a custom team from the over two thousand players available within the game. Each player is ranked in one-hundred-and-thirty-four categories, giving the user a really in depth idea of how each player stacks up to the competition. Custom teams and leagues can be created in the style of modern fantasy baseball drafts, which will allow thirty gamers to draft and manage different teams through player selection, bench management, trades, and bargaining.
The user can choose to play in both traditional old ball parks or modern stadiums. The stadiums were all very richly detailed. All of the statistics on these fields are accurate. Outdoor conditions apply, just like in real life, and wind can become a particularly influential factor. Plays are called by announcer Ron Barr.
The Tony La Russa series, including this installment, features the innovative fly ball cursor that helps the user understand the play of the ball when fielding. The cursor appears roughly where the ball is going to land to help the user judge the angle of the pop up. The cursor’s size also changed to display the ball’s height. The cursor also fluctuated with the influence of the wind on the flying ball.
In total, Tony La Russa Football II is a very solid simulation game. It has some great features that were firsts for its time and still help to make it very interesting and playable. It is recommended for download by baseball fans and micromanagement enthusiasts alike.