PC Replay Baseball Review Part 2

After taking advantage of all five days of the PC Replay Baseball game, I'm ready to give a more detailed review than previously.  Since I was reviewing the demo version of the game, there are many aspects of the game I wasn't able to review.

I played 13 full games and "watched" parts of others.  What do I mean by "watched"?  Replay has this really cool feature called simulcast games.  While you are playing your game, the other games are being played by the computer at the same time.  You can click on the out of town scoreboard at any time to watch or even take over as coach in another game.  So, after I was done with my Reds game, I would watch whatever game was close late in the game.  Awesome feature!

Another great feature is the Daily Recap available after a day's games are completed.  It shows the updated standings, has all the days boxscores available for viewing or printing, and shows the player of the day, the play of the day, and the game of the day.  What a great way to see if you missed anything.  Here's a sample of that screen.

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So, how were the results?  The results felt authentic.  When I played as my Reds, I was excited when Joey Votto came up.  I expected lots of strikeouts when Drew Stubbs batted and, of course, he complied.  I expected good defense and that's what I got.  I was confident if I gave a lead to my bullpen, we'd win and we usually did.

Unfortunately, the demo doesn't allow for full season replays.  That's my preferred way to determine how accurate the engine is.  Because of how the cards are constructed it looks like the game will produce very good results.  For instance, pitchers who walk very few batters will perform better with regards to walks than games that support a straight 50/50 batter/pitcher result model.  The same with strikeouts, homers allowed, etc.  Here's one of many available stat reports for my replay.

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As you can see, Joey Votto was absolutely on fire and would certainly be the MVP if the voting were done at that point.  Before Votto got hurt last year, he was a very strong MVP candidate so that start is not surprising.  I was using the "as played" schedule so starting pitchers and starting lineups were exactly as they were played last year.  That's really a must have feature for replayers.  I enjoy that feature, but I'd also like to see how good the injury system for the game is as well.

So, what did I not like about the game?  Primarily one thing - the computer manager was not as robust as I'd like.  The computer manager makes some downright funky decisions from time to time and doesn't seem to take the lineup due up into consideration when making decisions.

In the 4th inning with men on first and second and 1 out, the computer manager had the 8th place hitter sacrifice with a pitcher with a sub .100 batting average on deck.  That's almost guaranteed to kill your rally.  What a waste!  I mean I don't sacrifice with 1 out unless the pitcher is the batter or in a squeeze situation.  I surely don't set up the pitcher with two men in scoring position and expect him to drive in the runners.

Twice I saw Jason Motte brought into tie games early.  Once in the 7th and once in the 8th.  That's a 1970's use of relievers and I'm not saying it's not the best way to manage, but replayers want realistic results and bringing in your closer that early means he's not going to get saves.  Now, I didn't try to tinker with the computer manager, but my thought is that the manager should be pre-programmed to manage like the real life team was used.

I also saw two occasions in which the AI let a relief pitcher bat in crucial situations.  Once with men on first and third with 2 outs in the twelfth inning, the reliever batted.  Now I was "watching" this game so I don't know if there were no pinch hitters left, but even if they were all used, I'd imagine there was a starting pitcher with a better shot at getting a hit.  To make matters worse, the reliever was immediately relieved to start the 13th inning.  Ouch.

The second time occurred with the home team batting in the bottom of the ninth down a run with runners on first and third and two outs.  The AI left he reliever in with 0 AB and presumably very little chance of driving in the run.  Surely there had to be a better option especially in a do or die situation.

Finally, I saw a pitcher relieved with 0 outs in the 7th who was throwing a 1 hitter and had just allowed his second walk of the game to the leadoff hitter of the inning.  The pitcher wasn't tired yet and I just don't picture a manager going out and asking for the baseball in that situation.  Less aggregious than the other situations, however.

In summary, I very much enjoyed Replay Baseball PC and recommend a download of the demo.  The game is very visually appealing and there are even downloads that allow you to get pictures for the players to further improve the graphical quality of the game.  The game looks quite realistic with the stats it will generate.  My only complaint is a common one - the computer manager is not anywhere near a human level of intelligence.  If that computer manager problem gets resolved, Replay will be a Grand Slam!

Leading Off...PC Replay Baseball Review

I've wanted to try Replay Baseball for years as a board game, but events have always conspired against me. When I saw that Replay has a PC game which includes a free demo, I had to give the game a whirl.

Now, if you want to play a game where you use your mouse, gamepad, joystick, or keyboard to move your players around the screen, this game will not be for you.  Replay is a baseball simulation game.  Players are represented with cards and these cards along with dice and charts help you determine the results of each individual plate appearance.

Instead of manual dexterity determining the outcome of the game, your wits coupled with some luck will help you win the world series.  Games are won and lost based on lineup decisions, when to pull your pitchers, whether to pinch hit, and whether you should bring in your defensive sub for your lumbering slugger late in the game.

Let's start at the beginning.  The folks at Replay strongly recommend that you download and take advantage of their five day free trial before purchasing the game.  There are two reasons for this.  First, they say the game requires some basic computing knowledge, but so far I'd say even my dad could figure out how to play a game.  Second, there is no refund once the game is purchased.  I would certainly take them up on their offer prior to purchasing the game just to make sure it meets your gaming needs.

This review will focus on the actual gameplay of PC Replay Baseball.  There are many other aspects of the game that I will cover in a second post.  There's just too much to talk about in a single article.

I decided to see if my Reds could get revenge on the Giants for knocking them out of the playoffs last year. A single game playoff should do the trick with Matt Cain going against Johnny Cueto.

Let me say that the field used as a backdrop is a nice touch and looks very nice.  Also displayed are the fielders range ratings and error ratings.  There is also a place for player pictures, but the pictures in the game are all blank.  I'm assuming that's a licensing issue, but if you spent the time you could put all the players pictures in the game and it would be even more impressive.  It looks like there's a pitcher fatigue rating as well.  Left of the field the current pitcher and batter cards are displayed.  At the bottom of the screen you have the pitchers and hitters stats.  I really like the layout of the screen for gameplay.

The game proceeds with the offense deciding whether they want to swing away, bunt, or hit and run and the defense deciding how they want to position their fielders and if they want to intentionally walk the batter.  Additionally, each side can make substitutions at any time.

After decisions for the at bat are made, you "roll the dice" and the numbers are cross referenced to both cards.  Now this is where I get a bit lost having never played a game of Replay before.  I'm confident the numbers on the card mean something, but as of yet I have no idea which numbers are "good" for my team.

If I play a game of Strat-o-matic, for instance, I can glance at the cards and see which column I want to roll on for a particular hitter because the shorthand is baseball shorthand.  That's not the case with Replay.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's just something that actually makes me want to get the board game so I can follow along with what's going on in the engine of the game.

The game felt like a real Reds/Giants game.  The computer manager did a reasonable job with the Giants, but I'll need more than a single game to determine the computer manager's acumen.  At least there wasn't a situation in which the pitcher hit for himself in the top half of the inning only to be removed for a reliever to start the bottom half.  I've seen that happen before and it really annoys me.

My game had lots of cool stuff that happened.  There were stolen base attempts, hit and run attempts, a balk, close plays on the bases, a rain delay (which would have reduced the stamina of the pitchers if they were older), and extra innings!  I had an absolute blast and was on the edge of my seat.

My Reds scored in the first but left the bases loaded.  There was no more scoring until the Giants knocked in their run in the 7th.  The final tally came in the 14th when Joey Votto led off the inning with a homer.  Wow!  Chapman had some trouble in the bottom of the inning, but struck out Pill to end the game with runners on the corners.

After the game, I checked out the stats and was very impressed.  The boxscore is clean and has everything I want in my stats program.  The final screen even shows the MVP of the game.  What a nice touch!

My nitpick, besides the not understanding what is good on a card and what isn't has to do with the basestealing.  And I'm really not sure I'm right.  I like having the extra tactical option to decide when to attempt to steal a base.

I can see their point though.  A low percentage basestealer won't have nearly as many stolen base attempts as he should if you are trying to accurately simulate each player's season.  For instance, I'm not going to attempt to steal a base with Dale Mitchell the year he stole 13 bases and was caught 18 times.  Oh, and I did some searching and there is an option within the game to allow players to make the stolen base decisions.  The best of both worlds.

Oh yeah, I have one additional area that needs improvement.  There is an "announcer", but it's nowhere near what APBA did with Ernie Harwell 20 years ago.  I was bored with it before the first game was over.  I will probably turn it off for the rest of the demo period, but I'd love to see them expand on that feature.

Overall, after 1 game, I'm very impressed with Replay.  I'm certainly looking forward to giving this game the 5 days I have on the trial and if my initial impressions are correct, I can see myself becoming an owner of PC Replay Baseball.  A final grade will be given with part two of the review, but so far it looks the ball is hit deep in the alley, it has a chance to go.....

Sports Gamer Anonymous

Hi, my name is David and I'm addicted to sports games.  Whew that feels better.  The only issue is that I don't see that I have a problem.

I enjoy sports board games, computer games, video games, and simulations.  I love to play solo,with a single other player, or even against a whole league of players.

I'm going to share some of the games I play, review different sports games, and even share some of the results from my game playing.

I don't want this to be a one way street.  I want to hear about your favorite sports games.  I want to know what games you want me to review.  I want you to express your opinions even if they aren't in line with mine. Most of all I want this to be fun.

Well, since the dog days of summer are upon us, let's play ball!