For those of you who were unlucky enough to have played last year's "Triple Play", you know what an atrocious game it turned out to be. A homerun every three at bats was almost inevitable, the player models were the most heinous, ugly looking representations in the last five years, and the franchise mode was basically non-existent.

EA Sports seems to have realized what a horrendous endeavor Triple Play was. They canned the third-party developer responsible for the production of that game and have gone and redone virtually every aspect of it and created the new series, "MVP Baseball". The result is a fresh, new, and exciting game that bears little to no resemblance to its predecessor.

Anyone who's played EA's games in the last year will feel right at home with the familiar display setup. The game modes include the beefed-up Franchise mode, Season mode (though it seems irrelevant to play one season instead of building a dynasty in franchise), Tournament, and Homerun Showdown. Unfortunately, a personal favorite of mine, the Fantasy Draft, didn't make it, which is somewhat of a disappointment because it can really increase the replay value of game.

However, the good news is that the brand new Homerun Showdown makes up for any game modes that didn't make the cut. In the past, players were relegated to taking turns in a homerun derby, but this year EA finally broke through with gamers able to go head-to-head simultaneously for bragging rights. Another change to the system is the fact that you're hitting for a target distance, like one mile for example, rather than seeing who can hit the most balls out of the park. A swing and a whiff will cost you 100 feet, and a homer gives you a 100-foot bonus. It's really a well-designed and extremely addictive mode, and best of all, there's no framerate hiccups.

The real meat of MVP is obviously the re-done Franchise mode. While it can't match that of Madden, there is certainly enough to do here as the General Manager to give players their money's worth. You start by picking an MLB team, then proceed by either starting the season right away or doing a bit of managing first. Signing free agents, making blockbuster trades, and keeping everything together under a set budget are the challenges you will face. You'll notice that you're also given a grade of A through F by the ownership. If you get an 'A' at the end of the season, you will receive a budget increase for next year. The trading system is pretty fair, i.e. the computer isn't stupid and won't deal their top tier players for junk.

Let us move on to the on field action. This is where MVP really takes off, starting with the new pitcher/batter interface. Batting has been simplified to just swinging at the right time and moving the analog stick in the direction you want to hit it. There are no more fancy cursors or any other clutter on the screen, just be patient and time your swing. To help you out, there are hot and cold zones shown in the batting box, but if you find that it's more distracting than helpful, you can always turn them off. If the batting or pitching still confuses you, there's always the very helpful Harold Reynolds' MVP Tips mode, where he guides you through all the new fielding changes.

Pitching has also been re-worked, with brilliant results. The pitching meter is much like the kicking meter in Madden, you tap the pitch type you want let the cursor bounce to the bottom and when it returns to the top it's up to you to tap it again once it's in the green zone. This means that the pitch will be exactly where you want it, but if you miss the green zone, odds are you'll leave a hanging breaking ball over the middle of the plate and it'll get whacked. Fatigue also factors into the equation, as the longer you keep your pitcher in the game, the smaller the green zone becomes. This system is far and away the most revolutionary new design to be implemented in a baseball game in some time. But the overhauls don't stop there.

I was equally impressed by the picture in picture base running feature. Now instead of watching little blurry dots on the base paths, you can actually see where your runners are, thus you can take more of a chance at stealing if you know how far away you are from the bag. Speaking of stealing, it's a good thing they have the pic in pic feature, because swiping a bag is dramatically more difficult than last year. Catchers almost always seem to have laser accurate arms, so you'll have to wait for an off-speed pitch before you make a break for it.

The last major part of any baseball game is the fielding, where things can be a bit tricky, to say the least. The computer automatically dives for you, which is both a blessing and a curse. The good part is that you won't have to worry about miss-timing the jump and botching the play, but the bad part is that players will often take unnecessary dives and let the ball fall in front of them. Frequently, you'll see a player dive and make a catch with his head, butt, leg, or chest, and then the ball magically appears in his glove. While this isn't a huge deal, it still lessens the realism somewhat with these baffling plays.

Other options include the Create-A-Player feature, which is quite frankly, a disappointment. While all the attributes and appearance information is present, the fact that your player's first name is limited to only five letters and last name seven is very troubling. It's perfectly one short in each category to fit my name. Sadly, there is also no Create-Team feature either, but I'll cut EA some slack because of all the other new features they likely didn't have time for much else.

Graphically, MVP raises the bar for sports game graphics. The lop-sided and uneven player models of last year have been scrapped entirely, and now they look so lifelike it's really quite stunning. Seeing a replicate of Chipper Jones or Edgar Martinez step into the batter's box is almost like watching it on TV, it's THAT good. Players also have their own custom stances, so you'll recognize Gary Sheffield's bat waving stance the first time you see it. The stadiums are equally gorgeous. Even the finer details that makes every stadium unique are here, and the grass textures look much more believable than in Triple Play. The only real complaint is that some of the background, especially during afternoon games, look decidedly 2-D and are often very blurry. This might be me just nitpicking what is evidently the most realistic graphics of any baseball game to date.

EA keeps the ball rolling with the terrific sound presentation. For once I actually feel like I'm sitting in the stands at a game, as the crowd noise is unbelievable. When the home team is tearing it up, they'll roar to an ear-deafening pitch. Likewise, when the home team is stinking it up they'll boo and heckle you relentlessly. San Francisco Giants announcers Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow handle the play-by-play and color commentary very well. They're very active and despite the fact that they repeat fairly often, it never becomes a distraction and only serves to highlight the wonderful sound of this game.

In conclusion, if you're planning on buying a baseball game this year, "MVP Baseball 2003" is undoubtedly the most realistic, fun, and addictive game out there. While it may not have all the modes and features of "All-Star Baseball", there is plenty of depth here to keep both hardcore baseball fanatics and young rookies occupied for many seasons to come.







Recommended: Yes