I hate sports games. This is a fact of life - which, admittedly, has something to do with the fact that I also suck at them. Generally, my life motto when it comes to sport is to play it for real, rather than a simulation of it. However, all of this changed when Baseball Advance landed on my doorstep.

Being the sports game newbie that I am, I wasn't able to judge Baseball Advance on its authenticity to the Major League Baseball licence. But that didn't really matter, as the game was so easy to play that I was playing reasonably well in a matter of minutes. The first thing that impressed me upon powering up was the menu system. Clear and concise, I had no trouble in finding my way around and getting into the game.

In Baseball Advance, you have four modes: Exhibition, Season, Playoffs, and All-Star Game (which lets you play with the teams and players chosen from the 2001 All-Star game). You have the choice of thirty MLB teams from both the American and national leagues. Furthermore, you can play on four different stadiums: Pacific Bell Park, Wrigley Park, Fenway Park, and Safeco Park. At first, this didn't seem like much choice, but this quip was soon forgotten as I started play.

During the game, you can do all the standard things such as tinkering with players - and this plays a major part, as players get fatigued, and as the game progresses, they begin to miss when pitching or run slower when fielding.

But it's the ease of play that is Baseball Advance's strongest feature. Batting is a simple matter of aiming with the cross-pad and holding A to charge up the bat. When the ball flies towards you, release A to swing the bat, and (provided you didn't miss) the ball will fly away, hopefully taking out a few spectators. Likewise, pitching is easy, with throw selection being controlled by the cross-pad. Press A to throw, and use the cross-pad during the pitch to aim. It's this system that will attract many more potential users (myself included).

This isn't to say that the game is downright easy. The AI is challenging and will make for a close game whichever way you play. There are four difficulty levels, ranging from Rookie, all the way up to Legend - and believe me, "Legend" will provide you with plenty of challenge. Luckily, the Season mode comes with a save feature that works on a per-game basis - no saving in the middle of the game, unfortunately. Also, the save feature doesn't work in the other three modes, either. This is a shame, but it doesn't really detract too much from the gameplay.

Graphics in Baseball Advance are simply beautiful. During the batting and pitching sequences, the batter is very smoothly animated, especially when hitting the ball. As you (or the computer) prepares to swing, you can see fielders moving into position, which is also a great guide as to where you should be hitting the ball. If there's a runner on second base, you'll also see him edging away from the base as you swing. This attention to detail makes the game a joy to play, as it can be amusing to watch the runners trying to evade the attention of fielders - that is, until the ball whizzes past you.

Sound was equally proficient. In-game sounds such as hitting the ball and catching the ball sounded meaty, and music in the menus sounded very nice. The only things that sounded out of place were the menu sound effects. They had a very Japanese feel to them, as if they had been taken out of an RPG. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it took a bit of getting used to.

Overall, Baseball Advance works very well on the GameBoy Advance. I was very impressed with the way it managed to woo a sports game-hater like me into the world of baseball. Highly recommended.