Power League III

~ POWER LEAGUE III ~

Hudson Soft

HuCard

1990

PL3 was an unexpected freebie in a delivery I received quite some time ago. I was actually pretty excited about the toss-in, being that I'd been a big fan of World Class Baseball for many years and, to that point, hadn't yet had the opportunity to try any of its sequels. PL3 did indeed improve upon the venerable original in a number of ways, though once I'd gotten around to playing part 2, I realized that some of the "innovations" I initially lauded 3 for were, by the time of its release, old hat for the series. Regardless, 3 is different enough from its immediate predecessor to warrant a look, and if you haven't played any of the Power League games yet, rest assured that this is good stuff.

Not much has changed since PL2 presentation-wise. 3 remains more realistic in look and play than the original title. I really like the wild, bass-heavy track the game employs when there's a runner in scoring position.

This time around, there's more variation when it comes to batters' appearances--which basically means that some dudes are quite a bit chubbier than others.

While PL2's action is heavy on line drives, fly balls get more lift in this entry, making fielding easier and the action more realistic.

You'll run down those flies in three different stadiums.

The post-game show displays league leader boards among other notes. Up-to-the-second stats are shown for pitchers and batters during games and saved throughout the season...

...the length of which can be adjusted.

The computer-controlled opposition is smart and tough. Expect a lot of low-score games. Pitch counts are far more important here than they are in PL2.

Wrap your season up with a seven-game series against the other league's champion. There's no superhuman team to challenge for the championship in this entry. While PL3 is a great package all around, the series was clearly traveling down a more-realistic road with it and gradually losing something that was distinct about the original.