Rod Carew steps into the batter’s box, his bat angled back, waggling is a most distracting manner. Roger Clemens rocks back then fires toward home plate, a heater racing home in the upper 90s. Clemens has little choice; he has to retire Carew because the task will only get tougher. The lineup to follow has him facing Brooks Robinson, Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra and Lou Brock.

This is only one of the options available in Acclaim Sports All-Star Baseball 2003 Featuring Derek Jeter for the Xbox. Acclaim’s motto is “Where the Stars Play,” and that is certainly evident in this release. Not only are all the Major League Baseball players rendered here, but the Cooperstown Legends bring some of the most memorable players of the recent past back to the field.

You can go with a pitching lineup of Nolan Ryan, Fergie Jenkins, and Rollie Fingers just to play havoc with the opposing players.

If you want a different challenge, try creating an expansion team. How about the New Mexico Jakalopes? The Alaska Glacier? The Birmingham Ruff Puppies? Or the Portland Midnight?

Of course, if you do create an expansion club, you will need to hold an expansion draft. Letting the Xbox handle those chores (the draft) proved to be surprisingly pleasant. The starting lineup included Edgar Renteria, Jeremy Giambi, Ricky Gutierrez, Robin Ventura, Joe McEwing and Jason Varitek.

There are, of course, several different ways to run the program. There is the quick play, MLB Play (an exhibition, all-star or season-play option), expansion mode, franchise mode, home run derby and special features. The latter will enable you to take batting practice, or try your skill at baseball games where you attempt to answer baseball trivia questions in order to ‘hit’ the ball. Successful answers can get you anything from a single to a round-tripper.

Other game features include 500 new motion-captured animations, old school uniforms, signature pitching and batting stances, and three-dimensional cyberscans to render realistic looking player faces.

The game play of the Xbox version seemingly does not differ from the GameCube version. Defensive players still make neighborhood stops. The ball may appear to be a couple of feet away from a player when suddenly it will disappear into their glove. After a play is over, defensive players will crouch into a stance somewhat reminiscent of a football player in the defensive secondary. There are a few clipping problems wherein players overlap or run through another, and dugouts don’t appear to be dugout, but rather are treated like flat ground. There is no save option during the course of a game – you either complete it or quit the game and start anew later. And the announcer comments do not always agree with the action on the field.

All that said, it should be pointed out that this is one of the better baseball games released to date. You will have to warm a reliever up before he can enter the game. You can adjust lineups for left- or right-handed pitchers. The controls are kept rather simple (well, the batting control can be tricky and requires quick reflexes)

The animations are very smooth and quite exceptional. From the leg kick on the pitchers to the various batting stances, the return toss from catcher to pitcher and base coaches or umpires swiveling to avoid a batted ball, this game provides a lot of realism.

Outfielders do tend to get a late jump on balls driven toward the gaps, and there is a plethora of over-the-shoulder catches. To borrow a line from the pro golf circuit, these guys are good.

You can speed up the game, but you will get a replay of each fly out, ground out or safely hit ball. Stabbing the action key (A) will bypass them, but it can be annoying. However, that is certainly preferable to no replays on some of the better plays.

Thom Brennaman, Steve Lyons and Bob Brenly handle the announcing chores and do a very good job. Sure, the color commentary does feature its share of clichés, but there are some nice asides and observations submitted. This is, thus far in the season, the best announcing team in console baseball games.

Acclaims All-Star Baseball is quite enjoyable and clearly in playoff contention. While all aspects of the game are not realized, this program still does a solid job of bringing many of its aspects to life. Die-hard fans of the sport will immediately pick up on some of the deficiencies, but those can be overlooked due to the overall package.

Acclaim does a good job of taking fans out to the ballparks and providing them with a game worth playing.

This program is rated for Everyone.

Install: N/A
Saving baseball cards, which are earned throughout the course of a game, can take up a few blocks of memory, but the seasonal save will eat 79 blocks of Xbox memory.

Gameplay: 8
This program does a good job of realizing the flow of the game – from batters backing out of the box when a pitching change takes place, or the game player accesses the menu, to the setup and delivery of the man on the mound.

Graphics: 7.5
This remains a mixed bag. There are some drawbacks, and the crowd is rather flatly rendered, but overall the animation is superb and the game has realistic action – well, Ok, except for that accursed neighborhood defensive ability.

Sound: 7.3
When stacked head-to-head with EA’s Triple Play, Acclaim’s All-Star Baseball has to score higher. Brenneman is smooth, the color commentators are more polished and the sounds of the game (even with a theme that sounds like it was borrowed from the movie, The Natural) are well done.

Difficulty: 7
The controls are simpler than Triple Play and more user-friendly. The nuances of the batting cursor, though, will take time to get down.

Concept: 7.5
This game scores well with a wide range of options, and game styles. The Cooperstown Legends gives it an edge over the rivals. After all, what baseball fan doesn’t like seeing the legends of the game came back to play. Knowing that the human vacuum, Brooks Robinson, has seemingly everything covered on the left side of the infield is a joyful thing.

Multiplayer: 7.5
The single game and trivia contests may be fine for one player, but this game is really meant for several to play. Head-to-head with other humans is where games like this really do well.

Overall: 7.4
This program brings more of the game to life. While there still are elements missing, with only one month into the season, this is the frontrunner. The baseball cards you can collect (or points to earn cards) may seem a little pointless or arcade-like, but the overall package is well rounded. This is an enjoyable trip to the ballpark.