MVP Baseball 2005
It’s a home run, but not a Grand Slam
Tags: MVP Baseball 2005 Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Mar 18th, 2005
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| MVP Baseball 2005 (title page) | 1+ | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Sports | Yes | ||
EA’s MVP Baseball franchise is a force to be reckoned with this year. With major additions to the gameplay, there doesn’t seem to be any stopping this game. With new feautures such as a new Owner’s Mode and other details, MVP Baseball 2005 is king of the PS2 mound.
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The “meat and potatoes” of the gameplay however is still the pitcher/batter interface, as this is where most gamers will spend their time. One of the new features this year is what EA is referring to as the “Hitter’s Eye” which color codes incoming pitches (albeit briefly) to assist the batter in assessing the situation. By moving the left analog stick it is possible to “direct” where the ball will go – either left right, or up in the air or become a grounder (this is of course assuming that the batter actually does hit the ball). One place where MLB 2K5 is better is with the batting options – there’s only one button to swing here, and one to bunt. It would be nice to have the options that MLB 2K5 offers (if not more) for swinging the bat.
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The pitch meter adapts to players abilities somewhat, by allowing for tighter or looser controls, depending on how long the buttons are pressed. There are typically 5 pitches available, each assigned to their own button. A 4 seam fastball is in each pitcher’s repertoire, but the other 4 potential pitches will vary from pitcher to pitcher. Where MLB 2K5 seems to place an emphasis on ball placement within the strike zone and timing (at least in its primary pitching method), MVP’s pitching is more about accuracy and power. Both pitching systems work, but the 2K method of having to target and press the button several times doesn’t help to recreate the feeling of being on the mound right off the bat.
One of the new items this year is the analysis replay, a picture-in-picture account of how the “swing and a miss” occurred. This can be accessed with more depth after a pitch by going into the pause menu.
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Connecting with the ball (or trying to avoid such occurrences if you’re on defense) still feels random at times, or at the most no better than timing a button press. It would be nice to be able to direct where within the strike zone the batter is going to place most of their effort with the swing. If I swing with all my might towards the bottom of the box, but the pitch is high and inside, just because I’ve timed my button mashing “just so” the ball and bat shouldn’t connect. It is possible to aim where the ball is being pitched, so having something similar from the batters perspective seems natural.
Aside from the typical home Run Showdown, MVP Baseball 2005 comes with batting and pitching arcade style mini-games to improve the player’s abilities. These are good for novice players, but will only serve as a very momentary diversion for anybody that has picked up a baseball game and played through a season or two. That’s not to say that these shouldn’t have been included, but rather point to their shallowness for the millions of gamers already familiar with videogame baseball. A little more variety would have been nice.
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Fielding can be automatically assisted or manual – though getting the ball from the outfield to the base runner will still require some user input. Holding down the button that corresponds to the base to which you want to throw, allowing the player to throw quick and short or really get some power behind the throw. This is a nice touch, one that is exampled throughout the game in various ways (such as the way a player hops when swinging at a missed ball, or doing a double take when failing to pick up a grounder).
The season in MVP Baseball 2005 is now Dynasty Mode – 120 years long. That’s more than enough baseball for anybody, especially when you take into account the minor league teams that are present. Now, I’m not sure if the rosters are current on the AAA or AA teams, and I’m not sure anybody would even care about the bottom of the ladder A team. I played a game using the A team minor league for the Mariners, The Inland Empire 66ers, and was amused that the pitcher only had three pitches available. I got bored with this rather quickly.
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There’s plenty to do during the off season as well. This adds a great deal of time to the length of play for MVP Baseball 2005. Not only are there draft picks to consider, but contract overviews, free agents, and of course Spring Training. Unlike MLB 2K5, the process is smooth and the ability to simulate the entire off-season makes for a good option for those that just want to keep playing and playing. The off season itself is a bit deeper here as well here as opposed to the 2K Games offering.
Spring Training brings with it a whole new season, albeit shortened. This is much like the bigger version of the league’s regular season in that it is used as a warm-up and to check out what the other teams have got going (and get some early trades in). Here players can improve on their statistics and performance before the rush for the pennant. Here again, MVP outshines the competition – since there is no Spring Training in MLB 2K5.
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During the season you can stop play, and place the even the minor league teams in any of the unlocked stadiums if you wish. There are a lot of stadiums to unlock through the accumulation of points. Things such as hitting 10 home runs in a game, pitching a no-hitter, playing through the min-games, playing exhibition matches, etc. Unlocking stadiums isn’t the only reason to gather as many points as possible. Classic players, uniforms, a couple of managers and even teams are available to become unlocked.
It is possible to create a ballpark as well. With so many unique stadiums finding a way to really make the user created parks different is a challenge. Unfortunately, the disc space would have been better used to include a few more features such as other classic stadiums. The user created ballparks just don’t have enough options to make this a really viable feature just yet.
Owner Mode has players taking control of a franchise and trying to make it profitable (or even win a championship or two) in 30 years. While this doesn’t provide the same length of play that Franchise’s 120 seasons does, it gives players a bit more back-end depth to work with.
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Manager Mode allows the player to play through a game, but without actually touching bat or ball. Instead the perspective is, well… from the manager. The point here is to call the shots – whether to pitch to the batter or intentionally walk, to swing at the ball or bunt, etc. This provides a step in between simulating a game (or season) and playing it through. It is disappointing that this isn’t incorporated into the regular Dynasty Mode. MLB 2K5 has a similar feature incorporated into their gameplay and it works a bit better.
I’ve chosen to omit talking about the graphics and online play for specific reasons. Both MVP 2005 and MLB 2K5 look good, and there are variances within the player models both games have that don’t look quite right, but neither game really has an advantage over the other. Online play is just that – taking the game online (finally in this case). If you’re going to play primarily online, then this isn’t the game for you. Not because there are problems, it is just that the offline game is so much deeper that is the focus of the play. There is plenty to do online, sure, but not quite as much as MLB 2K5.
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There are a number of ways in which MVP Baseball 2005 outstrips the competition, but mostly it is in the ease of use and depth. Trade offers during the regular season are easy to read at a glance – with statistics right there to make a decision immediately if wanted, rather than having to go into the trade menu in order to figure out if it’s a good offer or not. While far from perfect, it is the best game out there for players that want to play every day on through to the beginning of next season.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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+ Deep franchise mode + Character fielding animations |
8.7 |
| What Doesn't | |
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- No single season option - Soundtrack is lacking with only 9 songs - Stiff commentary - One option to swing the bat or bunt |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| If you plan on playing out the season, or 120 of them, then this is the game to get. | |
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Tags: MVP Baseball 2005
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Mar 18th, 2005 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
