#065 – Bases Loaded 3

Ryne Sandberg Plays so You Don’t Have To!

PLAYERS: 1-2 simultaneous

PUBLISHER: Jaleco

DEVELOPER: TOSE

GENRE: Sports

RELEASE DATE: September 1991

If it weren’t for Bases Loaded 1 and 2, there would be no Bases Loaded 3. It’s the best of the three, thanks to TOSE righting most of the wrongs of Bases Loaded 2. While they retain the annoying “camera-behind-the-pitcher” feature, you are allowed to move your batter around the plate now (go with God, my son). This makes it easier to actually hit the balls, which allows for actual gameplay. The field camera is now above the entire field, as it should be. The camera still starts from behind the pitcher, but it’s such an improvement, it’s hard for me to care. Also, the speed of the game is finally top-notch. It feels even tighter and more fluid than the speed of the first game, which was already well-done.

Controversial new feature alert! Instead of simply playing a good ol’ game of baseball (hats down, cups up), Jaleco challenges you to play “the perfect game.” At the end of every game, they rate you in thirteen different categories, many of them pathetic and pointless. Example: if you’re caught stealing a base, you get three points off! What is this, the Middle Ages?! Stealing a base is one of the best parts of baseball! At any rate, the point of a perfect game is to get a score of 100. Otherwise, even if you beat the other team, you won’t actually “win.” My reasoning: it’s baseball. Just because TOSE tries to shove new features down your throat, doesn’t mean you have to care.

Bases Loaded 3 is well-programmed baseball designed to profit off of the crappiness of Bases Loaded 2. Jaleco’s strategy: Bases Loaded was a decent, if unspectacular game that managed to capture some decent sales. Bases Loaded 2 was as bad as Mattingly’s mustache. Bases Loaded 3 is the triumphant return to decency and good taste, no thanks to solid every-man, Ryne Sandberg. Consider me brainwashed. Thumbs up, Jaleco!

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