R.B.I. Baseball 14 First Impressions

There is a lot of nostalgia at play with the newly released R.B.I. Baseball 14. The entire concept for the game revolves around playing a baseball video game how it once was in the older 2D generations of video gaming, complete with the same gameplay mechanics (and inherent flaws of those mechanics) within the gameplay package.

Here's our first initial thoughts on the game:

• The control layout is simple enough, you should have the game figured out by the time your first game is finished.
• Not having any outfield ball-landing marker and also not being able to see your outfielder until its too late on some hits is just bad. Any line drives in the outfields are almost guaranteed hits against me to start.
• The controls sometimes have a weird problem where they don't work. I don't know how to explain it, but sometimes I want to throw a slow pitch and I throw a fastball instead. Perhaps that's just part of the game mechanics but given no documentation within the game that's impossible to tell.
• The computer A.I. will do some really dumb things at times (like a double steal of 2nd base and home plate).
• No stats are tracked...other than wins and losses. In a game built by MLB based on MLB (a sport which revolves around its stats), this is a huge gaffe.
• This would seem a game built for online leagues. Games take 10-30 minutes to complete, which would seem to play into an online component.
• The game is actually a fun experience, especially once you get over the quirkiness it presents. However, whether the experience as a whole is worth the $20 price tag is another thing altogether which we'll need to figure out in the coming days.

Look for our full review of R.B.I. Baseball 14 later this week. In the meantime, let us know what do you think of the game in the comments below!