PapiBatting

PapiBatting is simple... real simple. It's another take on the batting side of baseball, but it's pretty clear the game has no intention of challenging Com2Us's brilliant HomeRun Derby 3D for that crown. Instead it goes its own way, perhaps even gaining some fans that might find the former title too complex or difficult. In PapiBatting you get 3 outs before the game is over. I find it odd that an out is really what a strike would be in real baseball so let's clarify that an out is simply a swing and a miss. In fact, you even get points for hitting a foul ball, but let's back up a bit. In PapiBatting you'll have the balls tossed towards your batter at various speeds and trajectories. Your job is to time your swing to try and knock that ball out of the park... for 100 points. A triple is worth 50, a double 25, a single 10, and a foul ball 7 although the real benefit of getting a hit is that you didn't lose a precious out and get to keep on playing. Your goal in the game is simply to get the most points before missing the ball three times. When you first start playing you're going to think that the game is insanely easy (and possibly quite stupid), but after about a thousand points you'll learn that there's a second 'jump and swing button' and that some balls will come in high. That's high as in 'above your head' and not high as in 'at the top of the strike zone' so in addition to timing your swing you will also have to gauge whether to do a jumping swing. I don't think I've had a game last longer that a couple minutes.

The only other thing to mention about this game is that it does feature leader boards so there is a competitive element to the game. My high score is about 2600 and I'm at #26 on today's score board. Before finalizing this review I checked the Android Market for comments and I'm floored by all of the low reviews this game has gained recently (although it's overall score remains high). Granted the low reviews have absolutely no substance behind them (I'm usually checking to see if there's any quantity of people reporting crash issues as I experienced today with another paid game about 3 minutes in to playing). The game is also free so if you don't like it then you're free to delete it and keep moving.

As for me... I like sports games and while this game is mind numbingly simple with basic graphics it also has an addictive element that keeps me playing. 4/5 stars.