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989 Sports is back on the diamond with MLB 2004, but should you care? New this year are Spring Training, Franchise and Career modes.
You’ll notice that the game has plenty of modes for your gaming pleasure. You’ll find Career Mode, Franchise Mode, Spring Training, Exhibition Games and the infamous All-Star game. Exhibition mode is for the impatient gamers who don’t want to play game after game after game and just want a quick thrill. Spring Training lets you practice your skills until you’re ready to hit the big leagues. Franchise mode is obviously the “meatiest” gameplay mode here and is the most in-depth. In Franchise mode, you feel as if you actually own a team. You need to make your team into one of the league’s best. In doing so, you’ll need to sign players and get rid of the ones that aren’t pulling their weight. You can trade players with other teams or if you wish, make your own player. Career mode has you playing through various seasons while the infamous Home Run Derby can be found during the All Star Game.
The gameplay is very easy to follow and you’ll get the hang of it all very quickly. After an inning or two, you’ll be able to play naturally. Of course, if you played previous MLB 200x games, the feel is much more natural. Batting feels very natural and responsive. Pitching and fielding don’t pose a problem either.
The graphics in MLB 2004 also hold their own against other baseball titles currently released. The stadiums sport great attention to detail and you’ll recognize them if you have seen them before elsewhere. Character models are particularly great, complete with fluid animation and excellent face textures. All of the graphical detail is displayed in a very smooth frame rate and you’ll rarely notice any slowdown while playing the game. The presentation also looks great than to its television-inspired look.
On the audio side, things are good too. Vin Scully is in the booth this year and his play-by-play coverage is similar to television. There are plenty of lines to hear, although is in any sports game, you’ll hear the same ones over and over again during time. The background music, though, isn’t something you haven’t heard before. The sound effects bring the game to life, although they lack punch some of the time.
MLB 2004 is a good baseball game for PS2 owners to invest on, if they haven’t done so already. With so many baseball games out this year though, and MLB 2004 falling in the sims-category with many others, it may end up getting skipped. Looking for a PS2 baseball game to satisfy your summer needs? Look no further. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- May 30, 2003
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