Acclaim's critically acclaimed baseball series returns to the Game Boy Advance with All-Star Baseball 2004.

The All-Star Baseball series has garnered a strong fan following thanks to finely tuned gameplay mechanics and full-featured stat tracking. Nearly every feature found in the console iterations has made the transition to the Game Boy Advance version.

Players can immediately jump into the action thanks to a handy Quick Play option. If you can spare a little more time with the game, you can set up an Exhibition game, All-Star Game, Batting Practice, Home Run Derby, Season and World Series.

Open Season

In season mode, you can play a full 162 games in balanced, unbalanced and classic non-interleague modes. If you lack the endurance to play a full season, you can cut the number of games all the way down to a round robin in which any two teams play each other exactly once.

Every major league baseball team is available for selection, including up-to-date rosters. Each team is rated for overall quality and the following categories: speed, power, contact, defense, bench, bullpen and rotation. To even things up a bit, you can also set the game difficulty to give yourself a challenge or even boost your chances of taking a perennial bottom-feeder to the World Series.

You Can Smell the Popcorn

Once you enter the ballpark, you'll see where Acclaim's time and money went. Every major league stadium has been faithfully rendered on the Game Boy Advance. The crowd is brought to life with situationally appropriate cheers and camera flashes. Player sprites are large and extremely well-animated. An announcer "calls" the plays in real-time via digitized voice clips.

Batter Up

All-Star Baseball's familiar batting/pitching interface returns on the Game Boy Advance. A thin rectangle shows the strike zone, which varies from batter to batter. The batter is equipped with an aiming reticule which is used to position his swing. If you opt for a power swing, the aiming reticule shrinks to decrease accuracy.

Each pitcher specializes in multiple pitch types. Acclaim gives you a substantial mounds-man's menu, including two and four fingered fast-balls, curve balls, slurve balls, change-ups, sliders, splitters and more. If you aren't careful (or are simply malevolent), you can even bean the batter. An energy meter shows how much juice your pitcher has left before he gets into deep trouble.

You download the baseball player cards that you win on the GBA to the GCN version of All-Star Baseball 2004 for unlockables like old time teams.

It's a Whole New Ballgame

All-Star Baseball 2004 is an essential title for any sports fan on the go.