The home run challenge. Unfortunately this one could only trickle 68 feet

Seen it all before, have you? Just wait a minute. This EA baseball sim really is king of the swingers.
Ben East

Okay, we give up. No, really, we do. After years and years of being mercilessly bombarded with truckloads of EA Sports baseball games, it's time for us to sheepishly admit the following unbelievable truth. Triple Play 2000 is absolutely fantastic. Superb even. And until ISS Pro 2000 hits these shores it might well be the best sports simulation to hit the shelves in 1999. No, honestly.

It's a ridiculous thing to suggest, right? Only the foolhardiest Sky Sports insomniacs catch the real coverage beamed across the ocean on a weekly basis. And try telling us who won the World Series last year. We dare you. As things stand, a baseball game has as much chance of catching on over here as cricket does in Central Park.

But we implore you to think differently. Triple Play 2000 not only entertains, it informs, in a funny sort of way. Tune in to Sky Sports, and all of a sudden you'll know what an RBI is, you'll understand why the batsman bunted on that play. This is TP2000's genius - it simplifies an admittedly great sport to the extent where anyone can play it, and want another nine innings after that.

The presentation is the key here too. Triple Play 2000 looks absolutely stunning. The stadia are all recreated perfectly, right down to this particular writer being able to point out exactly where he sat at Cincinnatti's ballpark. The players chew gum, tap their feet before taking to the plate and look utterly realistic when they smash the ball into the crowd for a home run.