Bytten

A game which combines baseball and golf? I am usually awful with both games in reality, and have found little to endear me about either on computer, so I approached this game with some pessimism. I'm still not entirely sure what to make of it.

BaseGolf is a combination of two sports not usually spoken in the same breath. Instead of a golfer hitting the ball off the tee, a pitcher throws the ball and you have to hit it into the right area of the ball park / golf course. The closer you get to the hole, the more bases you get. As in baseball, you need to get round four bases to get them home and score a 'run'. A hole-in-one gets you a home run (four bases at once), while near misses will score you doubles and triples (two and three bases). Score par runs for the course and you move onto the next.

All you have to do is swing the bat at the right moment and knock the ball towards the hole. Like baseball, get three strikes and you're out. The pitcher doesn't always aim straight and getting the timing right needs some practice - rather like baseball itself - but you have a fair amount of control over where the ball goes by moving towards and away from the plate and timing your swing. Connect the ball with the end of the bat to send it miles away, or near the handle to keep it close by.

Once the ball has landed, bases are awarded according to the distance from the hole. If you manage to hit the pitcher's head a ring of little stars circle him - quite amusing and very satisfactory if you're getting a lot of strikes. Landing the ball too far from the hole, or out of bounds, counts as a strike. Knock it into a sand trap and you're out!

There are three different game types - the BaseGolf Challenge, where you play each course in turn and need to score enough runs to proceed to the next; the 9-Inning, where you move on when all your men are out (good for two player games); and the Hole-In-One Derby, where you hit ten pitches with the aim of scoring the least distance possible.

When I first started playing I found the controls to be terrible and the game to be unplayable. Then I got into the timing and learnt how moving into the plate could aim those balls a little better, and soon started to gather runs and move up the courses. This is a game where perseverance pays off.

The graphics seem to be aiming at 'twee', running smoothly with no obvious glitches. Strangely the batsman and pitcher seem to have no faces - rather like clothes shop mannequins that have come to life. The menus at the start are accompanied by appropriate, upbeat music which makes way to background noises in the game itself - the applause of the crowd, the organ music when you score a home run, the occasional chirp of birds.

Overall this is a game with one quality that has grown rare in today's market - originality. It is unfortunate, therefore, that I cannot see it appealing to those with little knowledge or interest in baseball, which is a far greater influence upon the game than golf. The controls are simplistic and the game concept is straightforward, and while these are great strengths they also lose out on the game's longevity. Each course is little different from the last. I hope that, with the talent they have demonstrated here, we will see more games from Alitius, with a wider appeal and more varied gameplay.

Keywords: basegolf review, alitius software reviews, alitius software games, basegolf scores, pc game reviews, indie game reviews, independent gaming.