An interesting point of depth for this clear children’s game is the element of rivalry or chemistry between two players. Do I want a run heavy team, or do I want to swing for the fences? Do I want to be defense savvy, or perhaps just focus on offense? The choice is all in the group of players you select. I had a blast with season mode, loving the different combinations you could have your teams be composed of.

You have a wide arrangement of stadiums to choose from, all with their own strengths, weaknesses, and quirks, and then, you’re off for some baseball fun! In the season mode, you can be a coach of a backyard baseball team, choosing whatever group of players you’d like, a difficulty, a home stadium, and then playing a long season to determine the Backyard Baseball champion! You can then play them in 3 inning games, 6 inning games, or 9 inning games. In free play mode, you can pick whatever players you want for your team in a draft style of choosing against a computer player. Loading up the game, you have two distinct playing modes and a practice mode. Always giving their games some charm, all of the characters, sounds, music, and unique playing elements add up to create an incredibly interesting and enjoyable playing environment. I was quite impressed with the depth to the characters, and yet not when realizing that Humongous developed this game. In addition to one kid MLB player for all 30 teams, you also have a large roster of “backyard” characters that all have unique and comical voices, nicknames, playstyles, and demeanors.

Backyard baseball 2003 fields