Micro League, Hardball, Earl Weaver…there are many, many names that the user will recognize immediately as classic examples of player/management in baseball video gaming. However, few of the other games available will match the depth and balance that Tony La Russa’s Ultimate Baseball has to offer. In the early nineties, Beyond Software Incorporated designed the Tony La Russa Baseball series of games, of which there are many. (There is a consecutive series and also a group of updates based on the year of play.) Later, Beyond Software Unlimited expanded to become the design gurus of Stormfront Studios.
This game is one of their earliest and greatest efforts, and was released by equally great strategy management publisher, Strategic Simulations Incorporated (SSI). It was obviously named after and endorsed by the famous manager of the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals, Tony La Russa. It was ported to several other formats, and also features a Windows version. There are many options available for play, including single player types of games, as well as head-to-head matches.
The balance between the management aspect of play, and the arcade style of play is what sets Tony La Russa’s Ultimate Baseball apart from the numerous other baseball management games available. Earl Weaver is a statistical mastermind, but the game play is somewhat sacrificed. Hardball, on the flip side, features some
great innovations in arcade style baseball action, but the accuracy of the simulation fails to match up. Tony La Russa’s Ultimate Baseball offers a great blend of the two features, so users no longer have to choose between the two styles of sporting play.
Tony La Russa’s Ultimate Baseball offers several exciting innovations that add to this great balance. Probably the greatest feature it offers is a real life necessity in the dugout. The user can view head-to-head statistics for each hitter against each pitcher. This information is indispensable in real life, and is a great addition to TLUB. Another great feature, which is standard today but was quite rare and innovative in classic baseball simulations, is the fly ball cursor. This allows the user to both hit fly balls and catch them as well, when previous to its invention, all balls hit were grounders. There was not three dimensional way of displaying a pop fly. There is a cool fantasy draft that the user can attend to boost his program, and even the stadiums are improved, graphically interesting, and accurate. Finally, the player can look forward to an AI with the decision making abilities of Tony La Russa himself.
This is a great play and it has something for both kinds of sports simulation gamers, managers and true players. It should be a satisfying play for anyone who downloads it.
