Visually Inside Pitch looks sharp, with a few noticeable issues that keep it from the gorgeous area. The stadiums are remarkable, accurate, and have a great sense of scale in size. Complete with bump mapped textures such as grass, live scoreboards and billboards, and a nice assortment of HR fireworks displays, the stadiums are some of the best any console game has to offer. The players, on the other hand, are a mixed bag. The player models are disproportionate in size, with big upper bodies and even bigger hands. The player's faces are done well though, and have more superstar and common star face displays than WSB 2K3, but less than All Star Baseball, MLB or MVP. The animations are very fluid, yet some animations seem a bit off, especially in the swing department. The front end and displays seem a little dated. This use of poor fonts, colors, and lack of depth on stat overlays makes the game uglier than it should be. All in all the game is a mixed bag of visuals, but still comes off looking very nice in the end.

Audio has also been given the, "great in some places, poor in others" routine. The commentary is really diverse and interesting with very little repeating in a nine-inning game of phases and one-liners. The sound effects on the other hand is weak at best. The crack of the bat is more like a smack from a paddle, the crowd, while decent, never really gets into the action presented before them, and the other on field effects need re-tooling as well. Another bright spot in the audio department is the first ever inclusion of custom soundtracks. Now you can select 50 of your favorite tracks and they will be used as batter walk up and between inning music. Your songs are even reverberated for that stadium effect. The songs are unfortunately randomized, so you can't select a particular song for a player or situations, but it is a start. I hope more sports games take advantage of this option as it really personalizes a game for players. Overall Inside Pitch won't win any awards for achievement in audio, but it does the standard job with a few bright spots shinning through.

Game play is the most important aspect of a baseball game, as if the game plays unbalanced or over the top, it will kill the appeal instantly. Thankfully Inside Pitch lies somewhere in between arcade and simulation, leaning more on the arcade side. It's this decision that will appeal to more casual fans than hardcore fans. The pitching and batting interface can be compared to a watered down version of Heat Heat's interface. No cursors here. Unfortunately you only have nine points of possible locations to choose from, then the ball will go where it wants to there after. This brings a somewhat realistic curve to the game, but hitting the corners is more of a luck issue here. The batting style allows you to select a strike zone position and time your swing. This is a great idea, but the ball's speed never really gives you that challenge that keeps you from finding your groove and keeping it. Even on the toughest A.I. you will learn the timing of the game and be hitting like Tony Gwinn in no time. This is unfortunate, as it keeps the single player experience from being great. Fielding is very well done with accurate placements, fielder speeds, and ball physics. Getting the ball from deep center to the second basemen may seem a bit floaty, but other that the physics seem pretty accurate. There are wild pitches, plenty of foul balls, and enough realism here to satisfy even the most fickle baseball critic. Thankfully the game, while easy to get hits after a while, isn't a homer fest. Your box scores should end up accurately after each game, with a nice assortment of variance throughout. The game even plays well online with no lag issues. Making your way online and finding an opponent is easy thanks to Xbox Live's friends and custom game options. If you're looking for a fun baseball title, look no further.

Finally, the game's options are what keep this game from a B rating. Yes, there is online play and it's fun as hell, but what about building your franchise for solo game play? Oops, looks like Microsoft forgot that part. Sure the season play is really good, with your standard trades, bullpen swaps, injuries, etc. Unfortunately there is no multi season options, no minor leagues, and no GM issues to deal with, just play manager and that's it. This is very disappointing as it really hurts the lasting appeal of the title. One feature besides the online feature that does set Inside Pitch apart from the others is in the Create-a-player option. Sure you have your standard, make a fantasy guy and make a run for the All Star team, but Inside Pitch takes it a step further in player development. You are handed a few points to add to your player's abilities, then you take your player through a number of drills in each position and batting to increase the attributes of your player. This is a feature I hope gets cloned in other games as well as it brings something fresh to the fantasy player. The game has your standard Season and Exhibition matches, and of course online play to test your skills around the world. To tide you over between games, you can choose the Championship Challenges and change the history of some of our most remembered games of baseball. Sure the lack of Franchise Mode really hampers you from signing a multi year deal with Inside Pitch 2003, but the game does have enough to last you one season on Microsoft's team.

All in all, if you've played all the games out there and still haven't found the game for you, it can't hurt to take a swing with Inside Pitch. For the rest of you, it's the only game online, and that in itself is enough for my money…and I hate owning two baseball games.