Bases Loaded 3
System: NES
Release Date: September 1991
Developer: TOSE
Publisher: Jaleco
Genre: Sports
I don’t know if this matters to you or not, but Ryne Sandberg Plays Bases Loaded 3! Who wants to play a season of baseball? Not Jaleco. They’ve already done that in previous Bases Loaded games. This time they want to grade you and your performance. If you want to win this one, you need to beat the hardest difficulty team with a perfect score! Do you have the guts and the fortitude to show that you’re absolutely perfect?
The pitching is absolutely pathetic. The controls don’t work like they are explained in the manual. You choose a direction with the d-pad and then press the A Button to aim. Then you’re supposed to tap the A Button to increase the degree of your pitch. Then the velocity is set by holding the up button. This didn’t work properly. Unless the top speed for pitching is in the 70s.
I don’t like the batting, there’s a bit of lag between when you press the button and get the swing. Now, after awhile, I learned this helped me do a check swing on bad pitches, but that benefit doesn’t outweigh the bad. You can swing high by holding up or low by holding down. Bunts are done by pressing the Select Button. Teams either have a DH or don’t. This gives DH teams an advantage because they never have to use a pitcher to bat.
All of the views in this game are wrong. You pitch and bat from behind the pitcher. You field upside down, so good luck having any idea where your outfielders are. I gave up so many errors because there’s no indicator of where your fielders are. Very frustrating. The velocity of your throw is dependent on how quickly you throw after picking the ball up, so don’t contemplate your plan. The computer is great at forcing fly outs when it looks like the ball is low. I felt this was weird. If you end up down 9 runs at the bottom of the inning, the game is automatically over.
If you happen to win the game, you’re graded on your performance. Bad plays are indicated in the game by a high pitched tone. Each bad play subtracts three points from your total, but you can earn a few points back by making a great play or earning a bonus somehow. Your ending score decides the difficulty level of the next team you face. Score a 90 or higher and you get to play a level 5 team and try to be perfect. Lose and it’s back to facing off against a level 1 team.
Graphics: 1.5
The graphics haven’t improved over the previous version in the least.
Sound: 2.0
Some of the music was pretty decent, but I won’t say the same for the sound effects.
Gameplay: 0.5
Pitching is awful. Fielding is awful. Batting is almost passable.
Difficulty: 1.0
Because pitching doesn’t work, doing well is incredibly difficult.
Fun Factor: 0.5
There are so many more fun baseball games that this one is really bad.
Overall Rating: 1.1
Bases Loaded 3 earns a D. I hope Ryne Sandberg made a bunch of money for his likeness and understood that this game sucks.