I am only a slightly better player and much better at realizing just how poorly I am doing. The options are plentiful, from choices among exotic and attractive ball fields (boy, I should have been so lucky as a kid), line ups (as a kid, fielding a full team in the backyard would constitute a once-in-kid's lifetime dream), to pitch selection (for me as a kid it was simply throw hard, harder or harder still).

Not for the impatient or the slow-witted. But this is baseball.

"Field of Dreams Comes to the Screen"
Play baseball in the comfort of your own home. There's no shortage of baseball games for the PC especially with Humongous Entertainment's addition to the Backyard Sports series. Continuing the same tradition found in its other Backyard Sports games, you are the coach and you have the choice of choosing your own players including pros like Ivan Rodriguez, former Ranger Juan Gonzalez, and unbeatable Randy Johnson to name a few. Only in this game, they're kids! Backyard Baseball provides a wealth of options that are adaptable to your skill level and preferences.

I brought in a pricey, 6-year old consultant to test the product. It took a little time to get set up and going, but once we had everything figured out we knew our way around the field of dreams, a basic neighborhood field or you can move up to bigger and fancier fields. The game was set on the easy level that allowed her to hit every pitch at which she swung. After she finished her game (her team, the Rangers, lost and it was no surprise), I changed the level to medium and it was very tough to hit the ball. Time passed and the adults got the hang of it.

Later, the dad got hooked on the game -- so it's great for adults, too. Not only do you get pro ballers, you get regular kids with personality including a clumsy girl and a rock n' rollin' boy who do their shtick while at bat or on the field. This makes the game more entertaining and a bonus is that you can play other players and get software bug fixes while connected to the Internet.

The only thing I wish it had was the ability to create team names from scratch instead of limiting the coach to stock names. Other than that, the game is batting 1.000.

"O.K."
This game is great at first but gets really boring. I hated the fact of fatigue because Pete Weeler is the fastest person and becomes the slowest. If you only have the shadow to tell you where the ball is then it's the best.If it shows you where the actual ball is then it's almost an automatic homerun even for the average player.

"Backyard Baseball is Outstanding"
This 2001 version of Humongous Entertainment's popular game is better than the first. This is game design at its best. You can choose players with varying skills, try different strategies, set players at different defensive positions, adjust the lineup before each game, and track one game or a whole season (complete with playoffs). There are a lot of options that change the difficulty level, which makes it fun for a wide age range.

A huge advantage over the original backyard baseball is the choice of over 30 "professionals as kids." Read Amazon reviews of the new 2003 edition to see if you prefer its pro players; I think they're an important buying consideration. Other than the pro players, I recommend drafting Keisha Phillips and Pedro Sanchez for power, Kenny Kawaguchi for pitching, Achmed Khan for overall offense and defense, Stephanie Morgan for infield, and Pete Wheeler for speed--he makes a great lead-off hitter! It's great, great fun, and I recommend it highly.

"The great backyard baseball game"
The backyard baseball computer game by Humongous Entertainment
is a great game that enables children(and parents!)to play along with baseball.You can choose from any major leage baseball team. You can pick baseball players...as kids! You can also decide to choose a few made up kids from the bench or use both! next,on comes the game. There are two anouncers that tell you if there is a ball, strike, foul, steal, run, or homerun. You can also decide your roster.Play ball! You can play safely on the internet against friends ,play a single game, or create a coach and play a whole season. Have fun!!!!