MLB Slugfest 2004 is the sequel to Midway's first attempt to bring arcade baseball to home consoles. With any amount of success, a sequel is always to be expected, and just in time for the baseball season Slugfest 2004 arrived on store shelves. It sports updated graphics, new commentary, more pop and pizzazz, updated rosters, and a few new features guaranteed to give gamers more action down on the field. But before all this typical video game mumbo jumbo gets started, some may ask, "what exactly is arcade baseball?"

All right, picture this, the score is five to four, and we're down a run in the eighth inning to the Houston Astros. If we don't score now, we're going to have the paint stripped off our bats swinging at 120 mph fastballs from Billy Wagner in the ninth. On top of that, we've just barely been keeping the Killer Bees (Berkman, Bagwell, and Biggio) from doing some real damage on the scoreboard. We've got a runner on first base, and our batter has got some pop. We manage to drive one into the right field gap, but before we know it the ball is blazing a trail to third base and our leading base runner is a goner! He's out by a mile, isn't he? WRONG! With a little juice from my turbo and a good hard slide, I knock that punk out of the way, and the ball goes rolling toward the dugout. My guy is on fire after that incredible move, and I think I can score this run! With some grit, determination, and good strategy, I've tied this sucker up… and if I was playing with a friend just now, he's probably throwing a fit, he he.

This is the magic that Midway brings home to the living room with MLB Slugfest. With this year's addition, we have improved graphics, new commentary, more moves, updated rosters, and some of the most beautifully rendered stadiums in a baseball game today. This is a baseball game geared toward all fans looking to have an action-packed experience, or maybe just looking for some good hard revenge against a certain team.

Gameplay:
The heart of arcade video games is in gameplay, and the core of Slugfest is in its arcade feel. It brings fast-paced action to the diamond the only way it's possible - lightning speed plays from the crack of the bat to the sound made when a ball whizzes into a glove. At times, it can be like a highlight reel put together seamlessly into a game of baseball from play to play, and the best part of all is the unpredictable nature of Midway's arcade baseball game. It's not as if the same big plays happen over and over again, because there's such a variety of what can take place on the field. Big plays happen all over the place just like they do in real baseball, whether it's a diving catch, a collision, a run down, or perhaps it's a quick grab and throw of a ball that blazes to the infield in time to get a runner out. Maybe it's the out that should have been where the runner got dirty and sent the fielder flying with the ball being knocked loose. It might even be on a bad pitch that hit the batter and ignited a fight. There's no predictability in Slugfest, which means it won't get old fast.

The premise of Slugfest is to take all of the hard knocks of Major League Baseball and highlight them in a game that essentially revolves around such action. The heart of baseball remains intact, but on a scale that even the most casual fans can enjoy. This is not, however, a simulation style baseball game. This is strictly arcade with the bare bone essentials used as guidelines. By default, Slugfest offers 7 innings of baseball, which can be altered to 9 innings if that is what's desired. No amount of tweaking can remove the arcade feel of the game, which is geared for light-hearted fun and entertainment. Statistics freaks may exit stage left now if you're only getting one baseball game this year, and you want it to be the traditional game of baseball. This packs the humor and excitement and never really touches on the stat books. Season mode is a reduced version with fifty-two games that lets gamers play toward winning the championship. It keeps some of the more vital statistics recorded and tracks wins and losses in the standings. There is also a tournament mode that can allow up to eight players to play alternating from game to game, with a max of two playing simultaneously.

The depth of modes is sufficient for any sports fan, and no baseball game is complete without homerun derby mode. This is perhaps my personal favorite in Slugfest 2004. Homerun derby is represented in a more accurate fashion than I've seen it in most other baseball games. Depending on the number of players you choose, you'll watch homerun derby unfold just like it does on television, with each round having players eliminated. In an eight-player derby, round one will conclude with four players being eliminated. Round two features the other four sluggers battling it out to see which two will advance to the final round. At the end of three rounds, it's the last two batters swinging for the fences with whatever they have left in their bats, making for a very exciting finish. So far, I've had a slugger to hit as many as twelve homeruns in a round, which is very close to a single round record of fourteen held by a certain Mr. Giambi and Mr. Pujols.

The controls are fairly simple and easier to make use of than in other baseball games. Since the center of gameplay is on action, gamers need to be able to run the bases, throw the punches, hit the turbo and slide, and be able to make plays happen. The control scheme is not complicated, and it literally does come down to a jump/dive, throw, and run. Combining the X button with the turbo button will allow for hard tags and door kicks. Anything combined with the turbo button (just about) leads to a faster more powerful action. When advancing a runner, the base runner is more likely to get to the next base before the ball if you use a little turbo. Be careful, though, because using too much turbo will run the turbo meter dry and it'll be drained when a more important situation comes along, and you need to make the play. Also, new to this year's Slugfest is a pitching bar for each pitch type. This little meter measures the strength the pitcher has at throwing each pitch. If I'm using Greg Maddux, my screwball or curve may not be the tops in the league, and using such a pitch is not going to be as effective as if I were using Pedro Martinez. If I start to rely on the fastball too much or try to get by with only two or three pitches, I'll have drained the meter on them once the game gets into later innings, so variety and pitching knowledge are also important.

Graphics:
Any good game will be complimented by graphics, and Midway's team has done a fine job rendering players and stadiums into the cyber world. Each player's face is recognizable with expressions, mouth movements, and eye blinking. The stadiums are something else to smile about because they are beautifully rendered and look like their real-life counterparts. What makes the stadiums stand out is in the presentation when choosing a ballpark to play in. The selected stadium appears on the screen and rotates for you to get a good look at it. It's a nice touch to the menu screen that adds to the quality factor of the game.

The real meat and potatoes of Slugfest 2004 are the different actions of the players. There's an assortment of animations that make Slugfest stand apart from any other baseball game. For instance, in the first homerun derby I set up (which happens to be the first thing I played) I had Barry Bonds facing Sammy Sosa. When Sosa approached the plate, the crowd was cheering him on and he began to do some hand-to-ear gestures to help him hear the crowd better in much the same fashion as Hulk Hogan, which was very amusing for the big slugger. Players coming up to the plate are lively and usually do something out of the ordinary. My favorite is swatting at flies, or if the catcher isn't human, the batter will act somewhat aggressive -- for instance, homerun derby sports some very odd-looking midgets. It's hilarious to see the batter threaten one of them as if he feels threatened by the little guy.

Overall, Slugfest has some nice graphics, but they're by no means heads over other games. They're put to use with some thought, though, and it's noticeable and appreciated. However, even with the nice perks that are included, it's hard to overlook some of the issues with Slugfest. One monster that tends to rear its head during a baseball game is slow down in the framerate. Every time four or more players are on the screen at the same time, the framerate drops as if someone hit the slow motion button on a movie. In most cases, this is not the worst possible glitch in a game, but it happens every time there are four or more players on the screen, which means between every inning when the camera goes to give us a beautiful panning view of the field and stands, there's slow down. Something as minor as this is survivable for most, but this rule holds true in other scenarios, too. When a runner gets to second base, the slow down arrives on queue. This is the worst possible time to have such a glitch appear in a game. A runner is in scoring position and suddenly the timing of the pitches is all out of whack. The 105 MPH fastball now moves like the 70 MPH changeup. The changeup now acts like it's moving underwater. It's hard to hit when it gets like that, and to top it off, I've yet to get a ball by the computer with slow down. It seems to clobber it when this effect is in play. This is not something that can go unnoticed, and it's my guess that this is probably a result of porting the game from console to console.

Sound:
The sound in Slugfest 2004 is one of the more entertaining features in the game. The commentary duo of Tim and Jimmy is just what a sports fan would expect from a light-hearted offering of America's pastime. I haven't heard anything this humorous since the Major Leagues movies. One plays the role of a real goofball who doesn't seem to know much of anything, and the other remains straight and does play-by-play calling, which makes for a comical pair that meshes well with the game. This is some of the best commentary I've heard in a baseball game, yet - granted it's goofy.

The rest of the audio for Slugfest 2004 is on par with what gamers should expect from a baseball game, but nothing else about it stands out. The crowd is present and does different chants for when the home team is on offense, which is a nice touch for any sports game. Other sounds are appropriate, such as the crack of the bat on a rocket shot headed out of the park. As such, MLB Slugfest 2004 does a fine job providing all of the expected audio for a ballpark setting.

Summary: As a complete package, MLB Slugfest 2004 is a solid arcade style baseball game that can satisfy anyone's craving for a good head-to-head clash against other teams as well as other players. There's plenty of depth and entertaining media to keep even the most casual fan entertained. Definitely worth a rental to anyone looking to play a game or two, and a good buy for anyone who has friends over often.