This iPhone game proves being a baseball umpire is hard work
Call balls and strikes quickly, like a real ump, and see if you can handle the mounting pressure of this iOS game.
When you think of a baseball video game, it’s always from the perspective of the player. How well can you pitch or hit the ball? In the case of Judge!, however, the action is happening behind the plate and down the sidelines as you play as the umpiring crew.
Judge! is a simple 2D iPhone (and iPad) game that’s easy to get started with, but challenging to conquer. After a pitch is thrown, you have about three seconds to decide whether the pitch is a ball or a strike. It doesn’t stop there, though. You also have to react to check swings and hit by pitches. If a batter puts the ball into play, you have to make calls on homers or fouls and safe or out.
The goal of the game is to rack up as many points as you can and make the right calls for as long as possible. You have three lives to start and lose one with each wrong call. You get a point for every new batter that comes up.
MLB The Show might be the juggernaut of baseball games, but there’s still a lot of fun to be had with this older Judge! game. It’s very reminiscent of a Nintendo or Super Nintendo game. You can download it for free on Apple’s App Store with no in-app purchases. However, there are persistent banner ads.
Once you’ve mastered umpiring a baseball game, you can move on to the developer Hap Inc.’s Home Runtaro. In that game, you’re back in the batter’s box trying to hit home runs from all different kinds of pitchers.
