Download issue cgw_37 - Computer Gaming World Museum

Lance Haffner has finally stepped up and taken his swing at
statistically-based baseball games with Full Count Baseball
(Apple II, $39.95, hereinafter FC). FC may be played as a strict
simulation or allows creation of teams and trading of players for
hypothetical league play.
In play, starting lineups are selected from the twenty-eight
man roster (for realism, up to four players can be deactivated).
During the game, the center third of the screen incorporates a
baseball diamond display with names of the pitcher, base runners,
batter, and on deck player. The upper third of the screen is an
inning by inning linescore, while the bottom third contains the
actual play choices. After the play choices are made, the bottom of
the screen gives a text description as each play unfolds, providing
just enough delay to create tension. For instance: "The ball's hit
deep to right field ...(pause)it's going, going,. . .(pause)no,
Strawberry just pulls it down for the out."
The final boxscore prints out with Haffner's usual attention to
team and individual statistics and can be viewed on the screen or
printed out. The program also contains a compiler that provides a
game by game update of each team's statistics (a must for those
who create their own leagues).
The design contributes to detailed simulations because each
major league player has twenty-two different offensive and
defensive factors coded into the program and the pitchers have
sixteen factors considered (including home runs allowed and
percentage of ground outs). The program also factors in how each
individual ballpark's dimensions affects the number of home runs
and extra-base hits (the difference between Minnesota's "Homer
Dome" and Houston's "Astrodome," for instance).
A major strength of FC is the computer manager. He usually
makes the right percentage moves: bringing the corners in for a
bunting situation; playing the infield in with a runner on third in a
tight game; or deciding when to steal or sacrifice.
Several other features of FC aid play. First, the variable speed
of the screen display enables one to speed up play (after becoming
accustomed to the game) and setting the screen speed to one
second allows a computer vs. computer game to be reeled off in
minutes. Second, the game can save a number of team lineups on a
separate disk, so one doesn't have to input an entirely new lineup
for each game.
Negatively, the forty column screen causes the baseball
diamond to appear somewhat squeezed in and hard to read. The
worst problem, however, is that the game is not "idiot-proofed."
For instance, if one is switching disks and inserts a wrong disk, it
puts a break in the program and the entire process has to be
completely restarted. This has been true of Haffner's other games,
as well. Other than this, FC is first rate, by far the best game in
Haffner's line of sports games.