And it's adrenaline, or something else, that makes all the players in the BIGS huge. They aren't all universally muscle-bound, some are thinner or fatter, but they're all pretty big and athletic and have exaggerated physiques. If there's one word to describe the BIGS, it's exaggerated. The stadiums emphasize the unique aspects of each park - San Francisco's Coke bottle is huge, Baltimore's Bromo Seltzer tower is bigger than normal, etc. Everything about the BIGS is, well, big. Thankfully, it also looks good and not just larger than life. The stadiums, crowds and players are colorful, move smoothly and generally create a very consistent, exciting atmosphere. The aforementioned sweet spot includes graphics, and they hit it dead on. The players don't look inflated or goofy, they look powerful and athletic.

One thing immediately apparent as you begin playing is that the game is meant to move very quickly. You pick teams, home vs. away jerseys, approve the lineup and after a few seconds the first batter is up. There are no long-winded announcer introductions. The players run out and you play ball.

Pitching mechanics represent a fresh take on the game. Your pitch selection is on screen at all times, and each pitch is ranked by a number of stars from one to five. Above each is a green bar. Instead of pitcher stamina, the green bar measures the effectiveness of each pitch. If you keep throwing strikes and getting batters out, the green bar stays right where it is - full. But every time someone hits your fastball, for instance, that pitch's green bar goes down. The lower the green bar, the less accuracy, speed or break you'll get on the ball. If it goes down completely, you'll lose that pitch for the rest of the game and can't throw it at all. The more we played with this pitching mechanic, the more we preferred it over any other.

Choosing a pitch is done by holding down the corresponding button and letting go when the pitch meter is filled. As long as you release it somewhere near the top, your pitch will probably go where you aimed and do what you expect. If you hit the top perfectly, it's going to be a rocket. But if you miss, you'll tip off the batter and probably throw a ball or a nice, fat slow ball down the middle.

Hitting is very simple and is based on timing. The A button is for contact swings and B is for power. The left stick is used to aim where you want to place the ball - in the air, on the ground, pull, opposite field, etc. The mechanics are simple, but hitting is much harder to master than pitching. The ball moves fast and leaves you very little time to make a decision. So even though it sounds simple, it's definitely not easy.

The biggest drawback to the game is in the field. As shots go into the field, you'll have control over what is usually the most obvious fielder. If you can react quickly and jump or dive with an infielder, you'll make great catches which are also animated perfectly. But too often, balls will ricochet off a fielder because he couldn't make the catch. To get control of the next closest fielder you have to hit the left trigger, recognize which fielder you are controlling, and get him to the ball. There's almost no time to do all that, but the computer does it so routinely. That's one reason to play against live opponents.

That's the basics, but the BIGS has a layer of strategy on top of the standard game. There are two power-up bars, turbo and Big Play. You gain turbo every time you throw a called strike, and as a batter you get turbo for every ball you wisely allow to pass you outside the strike zone. Your turbo meter is broken into segments, and you can use each segment in a lot of different ways. You can speed up your runner on the bases or in the field, you can throw a bullet from the field and you can use it for the next pitch and or swing of the bat. Using turbo against your opponent can make every play tense, as he uses it to stretch a double to a triple you can try to trump him with a turbo throw. Every time they use turbo, you can use turbo right back at them. And once the ball's in play it happens very fast, which makes for excellent competition.

At the plate, if you use turbo as a batter your swing will have more power and the pitcher won't be able to throw a ball outside the zone. As a pitcher, your pitch will be much faster and more effective, but you still have to get the meter within the green zone or you?ve wasted the turbo. But maybe most importantly, all the pitches you lost during the game come back, and they all have a full green bar while you're using turbo.

The Big Play meter, however, is charged up by big plays, like hits, double plays, diving catches and strikeouts. Once that's full, you can use it for one full at bat. If you use it for batting, all you have to do is make contact - any contact - and it's a home run. For pitching, it makes all your pitches for that batter extremely nasty. If you strike him out while using it, you'll also steal a portion of your opponent's meter, which can be huge in a tight game.

Other big plays add more flavor, too. Most home runs, for example, offer you a chance to get to the wall, hit a series of buttons in a little mini game, and climb the wall for the catch. And collisions at the plate are settled by pressing buttons to win a tug-of-war minigame against the other player to see who gets run over. Overall, the BIGS does a great job of emphasizing the big plays of baseball while retaining the feel of the real game. The exaggerated moments aren't ridiculous and don't overpower the basics.

One disappointment is in stat tracking - there is none. Given that the BIGS is far from a simulation, it's no surprise that it doesn't keep a lot of stats, but there are absolutely none saved outside the course of a game. And the stats at the end of a game aren't even presented in standard box score format, which just seems silly.

Hitting that sweet spot and making a baseball game that emphasizes the big plays also means, without doubt, changing the basics at least a little. For one, the game defaults to five innings. Thankfully, you can choose how many innings you want to play and the nuances of baseball hold up over nine innings in the BIGS, which is important to some of us.

Other changes are more permanent, like rosters. Each team has only three starting pitchers, two relievers and one closer. Batters include nine for the field plus three on the bench, so the biggest cut back is in pitching. But there's no franchise mode, so it's not as if you'll miss having a full staff.

Instead of franchise mode, the BIGS includes the Rookie Challenge. You'll create a player with very low skill levels. Over the course of an abbreviated season you'll have to complete challenges to raise his skills in categories of contact hitting, power, speed, arm and glove. Sometimes you'll have to get a key hit in a pre-determined situation and sometimes you'll play minigames to practice hitting, fielding or running. Most of them are great diversions and complement the game very well. Over time, your rookie will get better and better, you'll beat other teams, steal their players and move on to the playoffs and World Series. Rookie Challenge isn't as deep as traditional season modes in other games, but it offers great challenges and a sense of accomplishment.

The default 5 inning games, lack of stats and long term franchise mode are things that set the tone for a game that's quick fun, meant to be consumed quickly and just as quickly forgotten, like M&Ms. The only reason the BIGS isn't a must-have is that it doesn't have those things and still costs $60. That's the same price tag as games with very long, very deep franchise modes. But the game on the field is still baseball, with some deep strategy and lots of fun, particularly when playing against live opponents in person or online. Even with touchy fielding and no stat tracking, the BIGS is the best baseball game in years.