Got Triple Play

I just picked up Triple Play (and Daytona for DC) at Babbages. I\'ll pst a review later in the afternoon when I get home from work.

Mmmm...I\'m so happy.  I\'ve loved EA\'s Madden 2001 from beginning to end.  I\'ve [personally] enjoyed EA\'s Nascar 2001 -- tho\' panned by many on this forum.  I sadly and promptly returned EA\'s NBA Live 2001 [retch!].  So, with great enthusiasm I applaud EA\'s Triple Play return now to the PS2!!!  What a great game!  I have to admit, I love this game (always have, so perhaps expect some bias here...).  The series, however, was a tad too arcadey for me at times.  This go round, I personally believe EA\'s done a commendable job at toning down some of the flare that can be viewed as "arcadey".  A better realistic representation of the game.  Great announcers offering properly cued play-by-play commentary.  More animations in the fan/crowd area is appreciated (although, really now...this *IS* the PS2 & I must admit I would have thought there could have been a more 3D approach to fans -- based on what I\'ve seen thus far anyway kinda disappointed there).  Love the batter/pitcher interface!!!  Also appreciate the graphical interface during pop-ups, etc. to identify angle & ultimate arrival/position of pop/fly ball.  Player animations are *slightly* stiff at times, but overall, the players move quite smoothly.  The stiffness is sometimes apparent right as the infielder receives a throw from the outfield and needs to turn to throw infield, etc....just kinda jerky if you ask me.  

Bottom line, I am enjoying this game for all the right reasons.  Now I need to play some more!!!

I had no idea that this game was out already.  I haven\'t even read a review of it yet.  I liked the last offering of Triple Play on PS1, but I had a few problems with it.  Are the graphics a leap ahead of PS1, like Madden, or are they just a small, jerky update, like in NBA Live?  Can you actually field balls well now?  Do your third and fourth starters actually have the stamina to make it past the fifth inning now?  Also, I had a weird thing happen any time I used my points to enhance a pitcher on TP 2001:  it would change his pitches to weird things like screwball, knuckler, etc.  but basically just make all the pitches 115 mph fast balls.   Anyone else experience this?  Does this happen now?  Did the game lose a whole lot of options on account of being rushed out, as was the case w/ NBA Live and Tiger Woods?  Please answer these; I am very interested in this game.

Dood!  The game JUST came out!!!  What a mouthful of questions you have!!!  Speaking only for myself, your questions are a bit premature to be answered on this particular thread I\'d suspect.  In other words, this thread will likely get buried before someone has played the game enough to get you your answers.  Hang tight and ask these questions again in a few days...or rent the game when it comes out at a local rental shop...

Thanks!

w1ngman...

Yeah, man, looking back at that post, I realize that it\'s a whole bunch of crap to ask; it\'s just that I was really into the old Triple Play, and weird stuff like I was asking about started to happen.  I just absolutely get lost in sports games usually, and I had no idea that this one was even coming out soon, much less already out.  Although if it\'s out already, that probably means that the rosters are going to be way off compared to opening day, but that\'s a whole other thing...

Point being, though, I just got a little excited, and wanted to throw some of this stuff out there.  Sorry for just tossing off twenty questions there, though.

Cridgedaddy, you\'re alright man.  Quite an objective catch on yourself there!  I appreciate your enthusiasm, however, cuz it is my *shared* enthusiasm that had me burn outta my corporate office parking lot this afternoon at 1:30 (right AFTER I\'d enjoyed my lunch break) to see if my local TRU had a copy of this come in today.  They did...I\'m happy...end of story!

Bottom line on the questions: I\'d suspect that if you\'ve liked the prior outings, you\'ll love this one!  

Are the graphics a leap ahead of PS1?  Definitely.  Do they rival Madden?  Yup!  Do they surpass Madden?  Questionable.  Are they better than PS2\'s NBA Live 2001?  I\'d say so.  All this might be subjective answers, but I\'ve tried to be objective.  I like the 3D depth of the player models.  Little things too, like the ability for the programmers to have "brought to life" a player catching the ball inasmuch as the player\'s catching arm (and general body english) seem to be *real* [for lack of a better term...and perhaps the *best* term -- surely you\'d have to see for yourself...or take my word for it ].

Can you actually field balls well now?  Field \'em well?  Yeah, I\'d say so.  You have better control of your players.   But I\'d tend to agree with other reviews and say that bullets in the infield are damn near impossible to snag [but then again, doesn\'t that tend to prove true in real life as well???].  Outfielders are pretty controllable as well -- although I recognize I\'ve still got to get use to moving them around as the AI in the game can out work my a$$ anyday thus far.

Do your third and fourth starters actually have the stamina to make it past the fifth inning now?  Workin\' on answering this, but as I understand it you have less player management in this outing...  Sorry, but things like warming up a relief pitcher, etc. just really don\'t seem to be there...

well, judging by w1ngman\'s little mini-review I\'m gonna go get it tommorow and not wait to get All-Star Baseball.
It seems like this year EA might have finally semi-fixed the only problem I had with Triple Play and that is the arcade style play.

And god, that picture of Big Mac is just ridiculus. I can\'t belive Acclaim forgot about one thing that I think makes a big difference in Sports games. Making the players actual size. Making Big Mac buff and A-Rod slim.

Lucas...

After getting involved in this thread, I went around a little and checked other reviews.  The impression I got is that it is still very arcade-oriented play; according to IGN and Daily Radar, a lot of scores end up in the teens.  Whether or not the reviewers are playing American League baseball, where this is routinely the case, is not addressed...also, in the last game for PSX, if you were playing on the lowest difficulty, it was not uncommon for me to beat a team 12-0; but when you actually jack up the difficulty and involved the cursor for batting, the scores often went to about 4-3 (I also played with the Astros, therefore NL baseball, technically).  

So apparently, the "arcade style" play hasn\'t changed.  Many reviewers never seem to play a game beyond the easiest level, which seems to be why games such as Timesplitters get dismissed sometimes.  For me, though, I prefer a game of baseball to have an arcade feel; watching real regular season baseball is sometimes comparable to watching ants mate...boring but somehow still strangely interesting (sorry for the weird analogy, it\'s quite late).  Anyway, so far, the game sounds good; the bullpen thing bothers me a little, but not much.  Can you still earn points for things such as number of steals, homeruns, etc.  with which to upgrade players or unlock things, though?

yeah, I know that it is still kinda arcady but at least it\'s not like last years game which was ridiculus. Sammy hittin 90 homers and all.

I don\'t care about that though. I also read how there is no big hoopla when you hit a home run in All-Star Baseball. That is just unforgivable.

I know if I get Triple Play, sure I\'ll get pissed at the really high scoring games, but at least the game itself won\'t piss me off. as I\'m sure All-Star will, with thier skinny mark mcgwire and no home run trot.

pretty much I guess I have to choose the lesser of 2 evils.

I never really cared about that whole earning points thing but I haven\'t read anything about it so I don\'t think it\'s there anymore. And Yes, I gad that problem where you upgrade a pitcher and he gets a 115 mph screwball. very stupid glitch.

Yeah, that\'s all I meant about this incarnation being less arcadey...and that is that its "more even".  Now thats not to say that its "even"...just moreso.  Also, and perhaps I\'ve just not hit the right pitch yet, but I appreciate that I am not seeing (on homers) that "brilliant motion-streak" and the words "HOME RUN" slam up on the viewscreen.  That use to annoy the heck outta me, personally.  Anyway, lovin\' tha game...now gotta share some time with Onimusha!!!

my buddy who works next door to a babbages picked the game up for me today. he\'s on his way over with it right now so I guess soon i will see for myself how the game is I can\'t wait.

The Blue Falcon just picked it up today!!! Can\'t wait to open the Shrink Wrap!