When you break it all down, Microsoft Baseball 2001 is a lot like Microsoft Baseball 2000. Which was a lot like its predecessor, Microsoft Baseball 3D. So what we've got here are three games that look and play a lot like one another. Two calendar years down the line and I can still see a lot of Baseball 3D in the current game. And, as anyone who follows this industry knows very well, that ain't good.
Shortcomings that existed in the original game remain in existence today. The gameplay is a frustrating mixture of purely arcade fun and fairly realistic simulation, though the former always wins out over the latter. Everything remains hampered by the most annoying pitcher-batter interface ever seen in a baseball title. You still see the location of every pitch before it's thrown and have to line up the cursors in order to take an effective cut. While it works in some ways, it approaches the pitcher-batter confrontation from a strange angle that takes a lot of the tension out of hitting. Having that foreknowledge, even if you often can't do anything about it, just seems wrong and throws the whole game out of whack. It also serves to cut down on pitcher wildness. Walks are few and far between, likely because Microsoft had to increase pitching accuracy to accommodate the interface that lets you know when a ball out of the strike zone is on the way. Turning the cursor off is an option, but it makes getting any sort of contact almost impossible because of the size and speed of the ball.
The clunky interface is a real shame because the pitcher-batter confrontation is designed quite well. You can work batters from the mound, confusing them with different speeds and pitch types. Getting the ball down in the strike zone consistently gives the opposition a lot to handle and provides a lot of ground outs even when they do make contact. This is exactly as it should be, and a refreshing change from High Heat Baseball 2001. Although the entire pitcher-batter scenario here is much less realistic and fluid than that in 3DO's game, it's nice not to see down and outside sliders getting golfed into the bleachers with depressing regularity. Pace is a problem, though. Even with all the little extra animations like throwing the ball back to the mound switched off, there's still too much dead air between pitches. My average game lasted around 45 minutes, which is stretching it for me even if the baseball being played is compelling (and this just isn't).
Fielding isn't nearly as realistic. While the physics are extremely good, providing an "anything can happen" sense I haven't seen since Front Page Sports: Baseball '98 (which wasn't always a good thing, as "anything" included hard lock-ups), the ball moves with much less friction than it should. Balls in the gap get to the wall a lot faster than they should, giving outfielders the chance to scoop it up and fire it in earlier than they should be able to. This turns a lot of doubles into singles, and makes it very hard to score from second on a single to right.
