The outstanding pitcher/batter interface is the source of fun in ASB2001. Pitchers have an arsenal of pitches to use, including fastballs, curve balls, changeups, splitters, sliders, screwballs and more. Some pitches will be more effective than others, depending on the pitcher. Also important, not all pitches behave the same for each pitcher; some pitchers will have monster curveballs that drop "from 12 to 6," while others may have curveballs that drag across the strike zone with lateral movement. An important new addition is performance conditions. If a pitch has been repeatedly thrown for strikes, it reaches its peak performance, letting it have the most movement or its best velocity.

A box represents the batters' hitting zone. The obvious objective is to move the box to where the pitch will be in order to hit the ball. Of course, there's more to it than that. Players have a choice of contact box or power box. The contact box is bigger but can also be directed to hit the ball wherever you want -- up, down, left, right, wherever you see fit. The power box is smaller and does not have directional control, but the tradeoff is made up in sheer power. Each batter has his own specific hot/cold zones, as well as an onscreen history of his last plate appearance. Hitters may guess the incoming pitch as well as the location; guessing right improves the hit. All of these components meld beautifully together, and the final result is a system that makes each at-bat an intense tjte-`-tjte with the pitcher. In fact, the best results are seen in multiplayer when two participants play off each other, a psychological game of cat-and-mouse that shows that no matter how much confidence you have, one mistake can send you plummeting back down. It's that good.

Control remains solid, as always. In the field, players use the Future Throw Technology -- where the player presses a C button to throw to the corresponding base -- which has rightfully become an entrenched part of the series. Running in the field feels a tad slow, but players can utilize a "turbo" button of sorts to make up for it. The baserunning controls, however, have remained pretty putrid. A mass confusion of Z, R and C buttons, the baserunning system can be gotten down with intense practice, but the effort put into learning all its intricacies is not worth the pain.

Acclaim always does modes well, and this is no exception. All the regular baseball fixings you could ask for are here: Exhibition, Season (with included streaks that enable players to go on hot streaks or regress into cold slumps), Playoffs, Create-A-Player, Quickplay and the ever-so-lovable Home Run Derby(tm). New modes include a simpler Arcade mode that will appeal to the arcade gamer (though not too much) as well as an in-depth Batting Practice mode that lets you hit any pitch in any location, all by your own choosing. A robust general manager option is included, offering free agents, farm systems, multiplayer trades, fantasy leagues and more. For even more hardcore fans, there are in-depth scouting reports of every player and enough statistics to drown yourself in numbers. Obviously the MLB license is included, which means all the teams and stadiums are accessible, as well as rosters reflecting many of the recent moves. Newly included in this year's version is a Cooperstown Legends team, carrying the greatest Hall of Famers alive today. Just the sight of them playing in the classic cornfield stadium is enough to induce anybody to break out that old Field of Dreams tape one more time.

One word for the graphics: yowsa. Sports will never look better on the N64. Running off a modified version of the Quagmire engine, ASB2001 is really a sight to behold. The stadiums are captured in all their photorealistic glory and really give the impression that you're there. The player models are very well built, and, more importantly, the animation is dead-on, whether the players are running, sliding, diving or throwing. The instant replay is insanely beautiful, and while sometimes it may reveal stray animations of the players, the value it holds in looking at the beauty of plays is worth its weight in gold. On the aural front, Yankees commentators John Sterling and Michael Kay have been retained, but this year it seems they have been given a gag order due to the paucity of comments in comparison to last year. The most important thing about Acclaim's game is that it looks and feels like baseball, and that is enough to please any rawhide fan.

What is disconcerting is that High Voltage failed to correct many of the small oversights that affected last year's game. Noticeable bugs include the fielders "forgetting" to put the tag down on what would be sure outs, or catchers reaching for imaginary popflys before throwing the ball to second to get a stealing runner. Diving outfielders will catch the ball as long as it is near them, even though it is sometimes plainly obvious that they would not catch that ball in real life. Thankfully the statistics bug of years past is nowhere to be found... yet. These simple little bugs should have been fixed, but instead they seem like stale leftovers that the developer was just too lazy to take out. The AI also makes some dubious decisions, such as leaving exhausted pitchers in for no reason, or taking pitchers out at bizarre times. These, too, feel odd, and curing these little inconsistencies would have gone a long way to help the game.

The final question that begs to be answered is this: Is All-Star Baseball 2001 better enough to warrant a purchase if you have played ASB2000 to death? The answer is up in the air. The improvements -- two new modes, a Cooperstown team, hot and cold streaks, slightly improved AI, the addition of fielding errors -- are all good, but their effect is only minimal. It still plays like ASB2000 through and through, with that same great hitter interface, the same smooth control, the same heap of modes, the same lush graphics. We'll put it this way: Everybody who loves the ASB series will love ASB2001 even more, but it's up to you to decide if it's worth getting a slightly improved version of an already great game. The All-Star Baseball series has bottled the soul of baseball within its cartridge walls, and All-Star Baseball 2001 goes to show how great games only get better, if in small steps.