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Baseball Mogul 99 (PC) ReviewBackground Info
Graphics : N/A
Audio : N/A
Interface: 80
Gameplay : 70
BBM is a management game in its truest sense--you are responsible for signing players, making trades, setting starting lineups and pitching rotations, placing and removing players from the DL, and setting prices at the ballpark, among other things. The main objective is to produce a consistent winner, which takes a little planning and financial sense. There is no bonus awarded for making a huge profit, but making money is a necessity when contracts come up, or when signing free agents. The financial aspect isn't just an afterthought in BBM, but an integral part of the game.
After choosing the team to control and a difficulty level (there are 4), you can be as involved in day-to-day operations as you choose to be. Games can be played in blocks of one day to a month at a pop, and there is the option of watching a play-by-play of each game (which is sort of fun, but very time-consuming). During the season, you can fiddle with the lineups, promote and demote players to and from the minors, and try to keep a handle on the team's finances. Once again, the goal is winning--but keep an eye on the bottom line, or your best players are liable to leave at the end of the season if you don't have the funds to pay them.
There are several ways to make and spend money in BBM--profits come from ticket sales, concessions, and television contracts. Each of these is adjustable, and tracked on a game-by-game basis. Expenditures are in the form of salaries, farm system costs, medical staff (more money spent here will reduce injuries to players), scouting, and, of course, taxes. Keeping these in balance is an important aspect of long-term success in BBM.
The biggest drawback to BBM is the lack of a MLB license--the teams are unnamed at the start, and all the player names are fictional (close to the real names, but still made up). All this can be changed by editing each player individually, but it takes a big time commitment to do it. There are a few bugs I happened upon, such as the pitching rotation not being utilized towards the end of a season, but no real showstoppers. The AI team owners seemed inconsistent, too--sometimes you could get a top player for a song, and other times they bargained like Attila the Hun, so making trades gets to be mostly trial and error.
All in all, BBM succeeds at what it sets out to do. It provides a little insight into the complexity of keeping the fans and players happy, winning games, and making money.
Difficulty : 70
After bumping up the challenge level, I found BBM a lot more realistic. Trades came harder, fatigue was more of factor, and the fans would simply not provide income unless you met their expectations. At Mogul level(the highest)BBM is quite a stiff challege, and I found one of the two middle settings about right.
Overall : 73
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