One of the bare necessities of any console is to have plenty of sports games. EA has already pledged its support to the N-gage and they are going to release their highly popular and addictive NCAA 2004 later this year (or early next year). To help fill in the sports gap, THQ decided to release MLB Slam for the N-gage. Will this game fill your appetite for baseball until the new season arrives? Read on to find out!

There are a few modes to play in MLB Slam and they are: Quick Match, Spring Training, Post Season, Homerun Derby, and Full Season. Quick match allows players to play a quick game, and get their baseball fix. Spring Training allows players to choose their team’s using the latest MLB rosters. In Post Season players can skip the whole full season and go into the Post Season.

Homerun Derby is one of the best things in this game. This is where players can step up to the plate and see if they are the best hitter in the league. First players choose a team and the best hitter will step up to the plate. Every hit that is not a homerun counts as an out for you, and there is a total of ten total outs. After ten outs your opponent comes to bat and tries his luck. After three rounds the one with the most homeruns wins.

Full Season allows gamers to play an entire season of baseball (all 162 games). The season follows the entire (and official) 2003 schedule including all inter-league games and even the Post Season! In this mode players will be able to choose everything, from battle order to the field lineup. If you don’t want to play through a certain game, you can choose to simulate it and the winner will be determined by the statistics alone.

One of the best things about this game is that players will have the opportunity to go up against all 30 Major League Baseball teams with all of the players. The only problem with this is that everyone looks the exact same, with the jerseys being the only difference. This is only a minor gripe, but what is the fun of having all the players in the game if they look exactly alike?

MLB Slam is rated E for everyone.

Gameplay: 6.3
The pitching and batting is good, but the outfield and baseline controls are horrid. To be perfectly honest gamers will find more pleasure in the homerun derby than the main game.

Graphics: 6.2
Unlike other games currently available MLB Slam is entirely 2D. The graphics are fine, but this is not the game to impress your friends about the graphical capabilities. The sprites are very basic and it is not detailed in any sense. While it features all the teams and players there is very little difference between them other than the team jerseys.