When I was a kid I used to love playing rounders.A few years ago some Americans nicked the idea of one of our great playground activities and turned it into one of their national sports (can't guarantee the historical accuracy of that fact!).

In the US the main rounders.......sorry baseball gaming franchise has been the MLB series.This game is an arcade spin off of that franchise created in a similar fashion to EA's BIG series.While I have always found the MLB games to be something of a dull and overly serious experience this is tonnes of fun.

All the laws of physics have been thrown out of the window and it actually works a treat.Each team has a power bar which fills up the better you play.Once you have filled it enough you can punish your opponents with some insane power ups.I am not normally a fan of these as in my opinion they have ruined many games.Anyone remember the predator kick from Adidas Power Soccer ?.More recently the power ups in Guitar Hero 3's 2 player mode did not really work.Once you hit your opponent with one there was virtually no way for them to come back.Here its a different experience you can actually use your opponents power ups against them.For example they can try to get you out by throwing you a 'nitro powered pitch',but if you do manage to hit it (hard but not impossible) their ball is changing postcodes.There are different power ups for pitching,batting and fielding and once earned you can use them at any point you wish.Add to that the 'duel' feature which is when both players instigate a power up at the same time.Whoever loses the pitch steals the power from the other players bar.Everything here has been well thought out and for once it actually enhances the gameplay.

The controls are very user friendly and easy to pick up.Which is no mean feat as you need different commands for batting,pitching and fielding.This is essential as you can show your mates how to play this in 5 minutes then get down to some serious multiplayer fun.You can play up to 4 players (local as well on online) and have 2 players in each team (batting/running vs pitching/fielding).This means all 4 players are playing all of the time on the same screen.The 4 player local multiplayer is the most fun I have had from a game of this kind since 'Mashed' a couple of years ago.

The graphics are best described as 'adequate' and the commentary (which is obviously very American) is pretty cheesey and just a little bit annoying.......OK its VERY annoying.But you know what,it really doesn't matter as this is one of the most fun games I have played this year.

With rounders.......sorry baseball not having much of a following over here this game is not getting a European release.Which in my opinion is a shame.If you want a copy you will have to import it.The Asian Xbox 360 version (marked NTSC J) works fine in UK PAL consoles (I know because I have a copy).Please note :the US Xbox 360 version DOES NOT play in PAL machines.The PS3 version is of course not region locked and can be bought from most US/Canadian games sellers.I picked up my copy from a Hong Kong based games retailer at a cost of around £15 delivered.I consider my purchase to have been something of a bargain.

I found this to be the best example of an arcade based sports game I have played since Sega's Virtua Tennis 3 and in my opinion it is likely to appeal to fans of that game.

Great fun (especially in multiplayer) 8/10.