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Cyber Stadium Series: Base Wars Nintendo Konami - 1991 In light of some of the recent “combat” sport game reviews I have decided to review Cyber Stadium Series: Base Wars. Ah yes, Base Wars. Take the all-America past time of baseball, throw in some sweet, sweet violence, and just to make Mom and Dad happy, add in some robots as well. This is one of the few “violent version of a professional sport” games that does not suck. Ah, I remember many a day coming home from school, and playing this game of robotic death before anyone else could come home and scream at me for use of the only TV. Alas, childhood, I hated you so very, very much. Anyway, this game has are two modes of play, an instant action mode, and a Season mode where you actually play an entire Season against all other teams. I shouldn’t have to tell you that the Season mode is where all the action is. And yet I still did, hmm. You can set any team to human or CPU mode, so you can play by yourself or with a friend. So, what makes Base Wars so good? In a word, Customizeablityness. In two real words Micro-management. When you start a season you get to decide the names of your players, their position, their dominant hand, and what type of robot they are. There are 4 types to choose from. They all look the same from the waist up, but each has different advantages and special attacks. Yes attacks, this is Base Wars after all. The Cyborg has ordinary Legs and is well rounded. The Flybot is welded to a UFO looking disk, giving them decent speed, but they are frail, and not the best in battle. The Tank has (oddly enough) the lower part of a tank instead of legs. They are slow but powerful, great for battle. Always make your first baseman a tank. And finally is the Mcycle, called that because one-wheeled-motorcycle-bot would not fit. These are really odd looking, being a human torso attached to a giant unicycle. Mcycles are very fast, but hard steer unless given expensive upgrades. After you setup your team you can change all the other team as well if you like. I usually made one or two theme teams, but mostly used the defaults because the edit process is very tedious. You have to scroll through 52 letters, 10 numbers and a couple of symbols just to find the one character you are looking for. Now multiply that by the number of letters in all the players’ names on a team and you get my point. After you have setup the season, you are given some money to spend on equipment you can use to customize your players even MORE. There are 5 different types of upgrades. From basic combat needs (armor, weapons, and engines which increase hit points), to more baseball-realated items (catches for catching and shoots than improve pitching). There is even “units” which are basically brains, that help your players turn better and move faster. These are a necessity for Mcycles. The actual Base Wars games themselves pretty much follow standard baseball rules with a few exceptions. Most important is when a player would normally be considered out, a one-on-one battle is instead used to decide the outcome. Think Double Dragon, but robotic. Being the virtual-blood thirsty jerk I am, I would often go on what I loving called “Hammer Runs” (Hey it was the early nineties ok! Everyone thought M.C. Hammer was cool then!!). A Hammer Run is where I would make sure a strong, well-equipped player would get tagged at all four bases, beating basemen into scrap along the way. Other than satisfying your need to see things destroyed, Hammer running also has another advantages. If a player looses all their hit points, which can take several battles, they will explode. If a team looses three players they must forfeit the game. What I liked: Pretty much every thing, starting with the concept: baseball but violent. As lets not forget the killer robots. What I disliked: It is tough going in the beginning until you win enough money to properly equip your team. What to expect: Robots playing baseball and killing each other. What not to expect: A “combat” sports game that sucks. What's so different from this and other games of it's genre: This game is a good three-way mix of games. You have the equipping abilities of an RPG, The one-one fighting of a… well, one-on-one fighter, and America’s former favorite past time. Ratings on: Control: 8 – The controls are pretty straight forward, but to steal bases you have to use the diagonals, which is difficult to master. Graphics: 7 – This game has a lot of good graphics, and a lot of bad ones. The large robot sprites look great, so does the floating head shopkeeper. But the Base Wars field itself is almost entirely solid colors with little texture. Sound: 8 – The sound effects are great, and even include speech. Yes it says things like “yea!” and “oof” and the largest phrase is “Play Ball!”. But come on, it’s the Nintendo! Style: 9 – Like I said, great three-way combo. I just wish they’d have made a Base Wars for the SNES, or one for a modern console. But I doubt it would do well now, it was a simpler time for gaming back then. 1st hour: Finally done making my teams, on to the game. 5th hour: Damn this AI is tough to beat; I gotta pump up my basemen. 1st week: Finally over the curve! I can afford a decent Unit for the Mcycle I put in the outfield by mistake. 3rd week: Alright, fire guns for everyone!! It’s hammer run time!!! #1 reason why I can’t hate this game: The thought of beaning a guy at bat with three hit points left just to see his electronic inners splatter before my face still gives me the giggles. Yes, I know, but therapy is so expensive.
- By Banthor the Unruly |
