Backyard Baseball Review

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Fast Facts

Do you want to play Baseball with your friends without the pressure of playing 100+ games? Well, Backyard Baseball might be for you.

A Home Run in Personality

I’m not familiar with the Backyard Baseball franchise, but from looks alone, it’s giving me a good 1^st impression. An art style that is very clearly inspired by 90’s cartoons is a good foundation, but things like the voice acting that plays up the personalities of the various characters you can choose, and unique animations for when each character steps up to bat make this game more memorable than most.

All of this contributes to a game that’s very nostalgic feeling and takes you back to the days when all you wanted to do was hang out with your friends, and you had nothing to worry about. The UI also adds to that, with a juice box as you’re pitchers energy meter, and a clipboard as your pause menu. It’s a game that really has a lot of character, something that I think is worth a lot in this age of similar sports games.

An Unsteady Base

Backyard Baseball gameplay-wise is a pretty familiar experience, as the game is made up of batting and fielding. If you’ve played a baseball game before, the idea will be familiar to you, but this game has some odd quirks, one being the strike zone. There were times I saw a ball that I thought was absolutely going to be a ball become a strike, as usually there’s some leeway in other games I’ve played, like Baseball 9, but here it’s much stricter, and honestly kinda hard to get used to. That being said, when you can pull off a swing, it’s pretty satisfying.

On the other hand, fielding can be a bit of a pain, as it can be unclear at times to what teammate you’re throwing the ball to, and honestly, it can be hard to set up defences at times, though I do appreciate the options you have to set it up with just the click of you’re D-Pad, as it makes it simple to understand for new comers.

It also doesn’t help that there were some small bugs that I needed to work out, like the game not recognising that I was at home base, and then somehow still saying I was out, as well as not telling me certain rules, such as the fact that you get a teammate at 2^nd base while playing extra innings.

Only one way to strike

It also doesn’t help that, aside from single games and season mode, there’s not much to do beyond the home run derby and 4-on-4 mode, which is admittedly a nice touch. This is a game with its bursting personality that you think would have a silly story mode, or at least some mini-games, kinda like the practice mode offers with the balloons. Still, there’s nothing, which shocks me given how the characters are a big part of this game, and more importantly how much the game is, as it feels a bit empty without another mode to prop it up. There’s also no way to play online multiplayer as of the time of writing, and while I understand that this is a smaller team, not having a mode like that can be a deal-breaker to a lot of customers.

Final Thoughts

I like Backyard Baseball. In an era of realistic simulation sports games, it stands out with its art style and animations, giving it a personality that so many other sports games wish it had. While fielding can be a bit of a struggle, going up to bat is always great. However, it’s also like the early 2010s Philadelphia Phillies. Overpriced, as £33 for a game with no extra modes and no online gameplay is a lot to ask. I would say if you’re a big fan of Backyard Baseball, or Backyard Sports in general, it’s probably more worth it to you, but I would say wait for a sale otherwise.