Backyard Baseball Demo

Baseball is one of the most beloved sports in the United States, although it gained quite the recognition outside the continent as well, thanks to the exciting matches and the skilled players that are part of them. Naturally, players start training to be professionals from an early age and they also get to participate in various low-level competitions along the way, in order to become accustomed to the environment.

Backyard Baseball is a small video game that was designed in order to serve as an entertaining, but challenging experience for young children who are interested in the sport. Thus, although the characters and their behavior might appear to be silly, you need to put in quite the effort if you want to complete the rounds and win the matches against the other teams.

An interesting gimmick that was made popular by the game and reused throughout the franchise is the fact that the players are actually recognizable baseball legends, but re-imagined as kids. Thus, among the stars that are part of the competitions, you can find names like Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza and Randy Johnson, all of which have been designed to look like their real counterpart.

Since the sport is based on how fast can the players follow the ball and coordinate their hands in order to score a hit, the game also employs some reflex-oriented mechanics. Hence, the ball can come from three different directions each time it is thrown and you have to quickly choose the correct one, as well as swing the bat at the right moment, otherwise you miss it entirely.

Finally, the graphics are colorful enough to please the children and the characters are very nicely animated, complete with funny walks and silly celebrations after each successful action. The music is quite pleasant as well, while the sound effects are as wacky as you would expect from a game that features power-ups like “Butter Fingers” and “Fireball”.

In the end, Backyard Baseball achieves its purpose, by being as fun as it is challenging and educational. The variety of locations and the large array of players that can be unlocked are capable of offering you dozens of gameplay hours, especially since the difficulty level gradually increases as you advance further and further into the tournaments.