Was it worth the hassle? Why, yes. Indeed it was. It’s a brilliant baseball game where you make up a team using baseball cards you earn in games or buy with points.

Yay! I earned some points and got a card!

It’s not perfect. The interface is pretty shocking, but I’m learning it. The “tutorial” is just a link to some videos on the web and instructions are very skimpy. It’s odd that the game features real players, but not real teams. (I guess they could only afford one of the licences and, in my opinion, went with the right one.)

Still, though, the baseball is great and getting new cards is a thrill. I’m very much enjoying it.

It looks superficially similar to Baseball Superstars, but with a slightly more realistic look. That sums up how it plays, too. You don’t get any pirates or nurses playing baseball in this, just athletic-looking men. The pace is slower, the pitching requires that you time button presses and it seems a lot easier to mess up your fielding and it’s a lot harder to hit the ball anywhere useful. It lacks the mode where you create a player and play as them, but you get special tasks to perform in games to gain points to upgrade your coach.

It, like Baseball Superstars, is a very good game and I played it a lot. I think I’m coming down on the side of Baseball Superstars, mainly because I like the RPG-type mode and find it easier and quicker to play, but I’ve not made decision yet and both games seem very worth £1.79.