Backyard Baseball '97

Critic reviews

• CCOGconnected

  Jaina Hill · Oct 22, 2024

  7.6

  If you are looking for a sports game to surprise you with depth and clever game design, that’s not what you’ll find here. But if you for whatever reason are interested in what games were like before open worlds and crafting minigames, you will find no time capsule better than Backyard Baseball ‘97. In a way, the ‘97 is the most important part of the title. So hop in your time machine, assemble your team and do yourself a favor and make Pablo your cleanup hitter.

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• GGameSpot

  Mark Delaney · Oct 08, 2024

  8.0

  I once enjoyed the game as a player, back when I was in the middle of the game's target audience. Today, I'm well outside of that, but the game has taken on new meaning to me now that I have kids of my own. Because the core gameplay remains fun and easy to learn, passing down my favorite characters to my kids has been a heartwarming joy, and watching their favorites emerge has been exciting. I can't really play this game competitively anymore; I've outgrown it in that sense. But I could never outgrow these vibrant kids that helped shape my childhood, and I'm confident other parents, whether they grew up with the game or not, will sense a similar magic when they play it with their kids, too.

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• WTWay Too Many Games

  Leo Faria · Oct 06, 2024

  7.0

  I’m not going to say that the re-release of Backyard Baseball ’97 is a game-changing moment for baseball titles, with MLB The Show still being equally accessible and enjoyable, but I’m glad this exists, and it’s so readily available on Steam. It’s a charming and nostalgic reminder to specific era of kid-centric PC gaming, when titles featured long and high-quality spritework and animations, and were filled to the brim with fun dialogue and simple controls. I guess you had to be there, but well… I was. So I’m glad I’m now able to revisit some of Humongous’ more “gamey” games in an easier manner.

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