EA Sports Gets it Right with MVP 2005
Written: Apr 04 '05 (Updated Apr 06 '05)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Great game-play, more tuning options, mini-games, owner mode
Cons: No way to save a game before finishing, can't save highlights, boring play-by-play audio.
The Bottom Line: MVP 2005 is probably the best baseball game ever for PCs. Numerous game modes, tuning options, graphics, and atmosphere provide a truly thrilling experience that won't get old anytime soon.
|
|
|
| excremento's Full Review: MVP Baseball 2005 |
I've been playing baseball games on the PC for about 8 years now, and baseball video games are probably my favorite game genre ever. When it's done right (High Heat 2002) it can be loads of fun. When it's done wrong (EA's Triple Play, pick a year), it's merely a distraction.
Two years ago, EA Sports revamped it's baseball line, renaming it MVP. This year's iteration is the third, and, apparenyly, the last for quite some time, as a different company will have 7 years exclusive rights with the MLB license, beginning next year. Fortunately, with this "last" edition, EA Sports get's it all right.
The Good
MVP 2005 improves on the 2004 version in every area, really. Here are the main areas.
Game Modes
MVP 2005 offers the following modes: Exhibition, Dynasty, Owner, Mini-Games, Online Mode, Home Run Showdown, Manager Mode, and Scenario Editor.
Owner mode is basically the same as Dynasty mode, but adds a full financial model to the mix. As the owner, you start off with the chance to design your stadium. The drawback to this is that there are only a view locales and templates to choose from.
You then have $2 million to work with. Use it to buy items for promotions and add attractions to your very basic ballpark. You also set ticket and concession prices. Set them too low, and you won't generate enough revenue. Set them too high, and your fans will not be very happy.
Oh, don't forget, you have to pay your players, too. I haven't done a whole lot with this mode yet, but I understand teams with high payrolls (Yankees, Red Sox) start in owner mode at a distinct disadvantage, because they won't generate enough income to pay the players. Your best best is to start with a mid-market team. That way your payroll and stadium can grow simultaneously.
Both Dynasty and Owner mode now include Single A players, so you can develop players using a "full" minor league system. And, like last year, you can play as many minor league games as you like. You could completely ignore the Major League team and just concentrate on drafting, developing, and promoting your minor leaguers. While it seems like a small part of the game, one can get a lot of satisfaction from taking a raw, young kid and making him into a perenial All-Star.
Minigames provide three new...minigames to choose from, one for hitting and two for pitching. These are quite addictive and are a great way to waste your time if you don't have time for a full 9 innings. The hitting game tasks you with hitting the ball in certain ways to certain parts of the field. By the 5th of 6th round, it really becomes a challenge to amass the points you will need to advance.
The pitching games place different colored tiles in the strike zone. Your task is to hit these tiles with the appropriately colored pitch type. The result is a Tetris-like game that, for me at least, has been a sizeable challenge. The pitching game is offered in timed and untimed modes.
The scenario editor is simple but can be a lot of fun. As the game suggests, you set the scenario you want and dive in. You can choose the score, outs, baserunners, inning (up to 29th), player at bat, who's pitching, even balls and strikes. For example, after unlocking the Legends and Heroes teams of famous players, I set the bases loaded, with Babe Ruth at the plate, needing a HR to win. I could see a lot of Yankees and Red Sox replaying Games 4 and 5 of the ALCS last year, either trying to relive or change history.
Gameplay
In terms of gameplay, MVP 2005 includes a few changes that make a difference. There are four levels of difficulty: Rookie, Pro, All Star, and MVP. The last two are difficult primarily in the CPU’s ability to get hits. Getting pitches past the CPU hitters will be a lot harder, and, as the game tells you, mistakes will be punished!
First, the revolutionary pitching meter is now the "Precision Pitch Meter." With the first MVP, EA took the familiar golf-swing meter many gamers will be familiar with and incorporated it into a baseball game. Now, the player determines how effective and accurate each pitch is.
To throw a pitch, you press and hold the button associated with that pitch type (fastball, curve, slider, etc.). Fill up the meter for most effectivness, and release. Then, push the button again at the optimal release point. Miss that point, and your pitch won't go where you want it to.
With the "Precision Pitch Meter," it's easier to hit the exact spot. My personal feeling is that the meter is more forgiving this year. Even without hitting the “sweet spot,” my pitches went close to where I wanted them. But, one can adjust the difficulty of the meter with the gameplay tuning options (more below). A modified version of the throw meter (one only “loads” the throw, there’s no “sweet spot) is also used by fielders. In either use, I think the throw meter is one of the most important aspects of the game and, in hindsight, one wonders why other baseball games didn’t incorporate something like this before.
The Hitter’s Eye is connected to the pitching and comes into play when the human player is batting. Every class of pitch has a color assigned to it. When the pitch is thrown, the player sees the color for an instant, giving him a clue as to what’s coming. But, since breaking balls are all colored red, it’s not an exact system.
When I first read about this feature while the game was in development, I thought it would make hitting to easy. My feeling so far is that, while it makes hitting easier, it hasn’t completely upset the balance. It’s quite a thrill to wait for low slider, get one, and rip it for a solid hit. If hitting ever does get too easy with this feature, one can simply turn it off and play without it.
The gameplay tuning menu allows the user to adjust many aspects of the game in order to create the “perfect” simulation. This year’s edition of the game adds several more tunable items, such as foul ball frequency, CPU ball rate (how many pitches the CPU throws out of the zone), and more. If you want tight, tense, low-scoring games, you can tune for that. If you want offensive slug-fests, you can tune for that, too.
Many users meticulously test their settings and post them on-line (mvpmods.com, forums.simcentral.net). For the first month or so, I played this game on Pro mode in order to get used to it. I have started playing on All Star, equipped with tuning settings suggested by another gamer (and slightly modified). I had a phenomenal game against the Padres in San Diego, and another one against Seattle at SafeCo. I won both by 1-run; the Seattle game involved several lead changes and critical innings by the bullpens.
When one can customize the game to a level that consistently creates intense games, one will return to it again and again. As I write this, I’m full of anticipation for the next match-up!
Graphics
This year’s version shows improvements over last year’s in the graphical presentation. Player animations seem a little crisper, and the stadiums are better defined. The game also includes more classic stadiums (still no Ebbets) and there’s also a Cooperstown mode. With this mode, games played in classic stadiums have a sepia filter effect, giving the games a classic, newsreel feel that is highly atmospheric. I’m probably not doing a good job describing it, but it’s like watching old reels of Babe Ruth or something. I think it’s really cool. This mode is the default when you play in a classic stadium, but can be in any stadium (as far as I know); you can also turn it off if you want. When you use this, the game appears to be
The Bad
Audio
“Bad” might be a little strong, but the audio in MVP 2005 is definitely nothing special. I’d rate the crowd noises fairly high, actually, but the play-by-play is the same old stuff…and usually the same old phrases every inning. But, the crowd gets into chants of “over-rated” (thump, thump, thump-thump-thump), “Albert! Albert! Albert!”, and “Here we go, (team name), here we go.” The crack of the bat and the pop of the glove is also pretty good.
Bad tags
I’ve already been upset a few times about players being out when it seemed he beat the tag. I don’t know if this is a case of bad calls on the umpires (which, by the way, you can turn on or off), or if the animations simply don’t accurately show the play. Last year, with plays at the plate, there were numerous times when the catcher would field the ball, collect himself, and then make the tag. Invariably, the baserunner would beat the tag. Thankfully, such nonsense is gone; in fact, I’ve been somewhat bemused by the way runners have been called out when the catcher has, apparently, caught the ball and tagged the runner in the same motion.
Can’t save highlights
Sometimes, you want to save amazing plays and relive past glories. Unless I’m missing something, you can’t save highlights in this game.
No batting practice
While the game has the hitting mini-game and the Homerun Showdown, I would have enjoyed a simple batting practice mode in which the player can simply practice getting the bat on the ball. High Heat offered this, and allowed the player to select pitch types and locations.
The Ugly
Stuttering
Out of the box, most players will experience an odd stuttering effect when fielders throw the ball. It’s kinda of like the camera is not smoothly tracking the ball. Thankfully, EA’s second patch for the game addresses the issue, making the game as smooth as silk.
No game saves
Unlike EA’s Madden series, you can’t stop and save a game before you complete it. This is a real downer for me. I often like to play a little in the morning before work. But, since I can’t know how long a game will take, I usually can’t do that. With season games, one can go to manage or simulation mode, which is a way to quickly resolve a game, but I don’t like to resort to that. It’s much more fun to be in the game.
So, there you have it. MVP 2005 is a load of fun, and definitely offers enough new features to make it a worthwhile purchase for those who bought the 2004 edition. Is it perfect? No, not really. But since there's no High Heat anymore (and even that last one or two of that franchise were not so hot), it's the best choice for baseball on the PC.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
excremento
|
|
Member: Jason Russell
Location: It's all a state of mind
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
Do you know how cool it is to have a newborn in the house?
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.