Baseball Mogul 2004 (PC)

CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
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Overall score: 6.7 (3.0 stars)
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Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: Brett Todd
• Reviewed on: 03/10/2003
• Updated on:03/18/2003
• Released on: 03/06/2003

Only serious fans will immediately notice any differences between Sports Mogul's latest sports management game, Baseball Mogul 2004, and its predecessor. The new game is almost identical to last year's, featuring much of the same graphics and sound effects. But even though it's tempting to dismiss the game as a retread, there are a fair number of tweaks and additions under the hood. Sports Mogul has adjusted aspects of the artificial intelligence to make play more satisfying in key areas like trading and finance and has tossed in a few sorely needed frills that make the game at least a marginal improvement over its predecessor.

The play-by-play screen provides the most color.

At a glance, the text-based baseball management series hasn't changed much since it debuted in 1997, with little evidence of real evolution even after six games. All of the core concepts remain firmly in place. You still battle your way to the pennant by juggling your lineup, making trades, and setting the going rate for tickets, hot dogs, and beer. The economics are simple; you mainly use slider bars centered on average league prices, and contract negotiations involve nothing more than choosing the length of the deal. Just pick your terms and the money automatically adjusts itself. Player development is confined to a single AAA farm club with a small roster size and prospects that always seem to live up to their ratings. Free agents can be signed with no competition from rival clubs as long as you meet the player's financial demands. The game continues to be very easy to play, even for those with almost no knowledge of baseball.

This ease of use is both a blessing and a curse, as it allows beginners to build a dynasty right away, but it doesn't afford real depth of play. Its new additions don't change the game much, but at least they change the game for the better, for short sessions anyway. Most notably, Lahman Database support has been added, providing access to more than a century of Major League Baseball history. You can begin play in any season from 1900 to 2003, giving hardball historians the chance to run classic clubs like the 1927 Yankees with Ruth and Gehrig or the 1919 Black Sox. This amounts to little more than a roster patch, however, so don't expect to simulate the dead ball era or even scale down salaries. Take a trip back in time and you'll find Babe Ruth making $20 million a year in the 1920s. Player abilities aren't scaled in any way, either, so legends often seem to put up absurd numbers.

Sports Mogul also has better artificial intelligence when it comes to trading. Unlike last year, in Baseball Mogul 2004, you don't get stuck with nothing but poor trades, and you can even receive a series of fair offers on a regular basis. However, the game offers far too many trades each season, including some rather unrealistic multiple-player trades that involve a dozen or more players packing up and moving to a new zip code.

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