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The third iterations of EA Sports’ new baseball series arrives. Or well, arrived a few weeks ago. MVP Baseball 2005 is a solid baseball game, with a myriad of features, very pretty graphics, and more modes than you can shake a stick at.
MVP Baseball 2005 includes all 30 MLB teams and stadiums and over 1,000 players. You’ll also have access to all of the minors teams, legends, over 60 legendary players, 15 classic stadiums, countless uniforms, and some fantasy parks. As expected, a number of different game modes are available. You’ll find Exhibition, Manager, Dynasty Mode, Owners Mode, a scenario editor, and some practice games. The exhibition mode lets you get into a game quickly. Manager’s mode is a throwback to the text-based baseball simulations, with a number of choices being made and the result displayed. The scenario editor lets you edit a number of variable’s (teams, pitch count, inning, etc) to simulate an insurmountable amount of scenarios from past games.
There are two meatier modes: Dynasty mode and Owner mode. Dynasty mode lets you play in 120 seasons, where you are given a number of different goals to accomplish within that year and within three years. Completing these goals will increase your rating, while not doing so will decrease it. Also accounted for in dynasty mode is team chemistry, player morale, and rivalries. You’re also responsible for trading, and recruiting players from the minors. Owner’s mode is more financial based. Instead of making the best team in terms of skill, you’re charged with making the most profit possible in thirty years. This is accomplished by selling items, setting prices, and handling promos. It is pretty interesting, and it even lets you make a stadium through a rudimentary create-a-stadium feature. All sorts of statistics are kept by the game, in both modes.
MVP Baseball 2005’s gameplay is incredible. The game’s controls for pitching, hitting and fielding are top-notch. They’re quite involved, making use of the controllers effectively, but the reward once you get used to this is incredible. Pitching is handled by the pitch meter. This lets you indicate the strength of the pitch, and accuracy through a number of sliders. Hitting is a bit easier, but still gives you a lot of control over the swing. Fielding and baserunning is solid as well, allowing for easy access to the bases and attempts for catching a stolen base. I could go on for hundreds of words, but rest assured, MVP Baseball 2005 gives you an incredible amount of control over all aspects of the baseball experience.
The PS2 (and Xbox) version of the games supports online multiplayer. Online play, a lobby, tournaments, and roster updates can be found once connected. The tournament is a new addition, and it works fairly well. From 4 to 16 players can participate, and many options can be set. Our first online was against someone with a dial-up connection (the PS2 version supports dial-up and broadband) and it was a lagfest. Thankfully, playing against someone with a broadband connection showed much better results. There are a few instances of lag, but when there is none (and it happens pretty frequently) it is just as smooth as offline. As expected, offline is not included in the Gamecube version of the game. Unfortunately, unlike other recent EA Sports titles, there is no Gamecube-exclusive addition.
The game’s visuals are incredibly impressive. The player models are all very genuine, and show a sense of authenticity. There are many different player types, and they are pretty accurate. The player’s faces, particularly for popular players, are scarily accurate. Adding to the visual treat, you’ll even notice grass and dirt accumulate on the players. The player animations are particularly amazing. EA Sports went out of their way to add animations, so it’ll be quite a few games before you notice a player catching the ball the same way. Much thought was also given to the stadiums. They are all modeled very well; they include the appropriate surroundings (including dead-on skylines), advertisements, Jumbotron displays, and working scoreboards. As expected, the major landmarks of the different stadiums are also included. The Gamecube and PlayStation 2 versions of the game look pretty much identical, though the Gamecube version is a bit sharper.
The game’s audio is impressive. Commentary is provides by Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper. The commentary is fairly accurate, though a bit repetitive at times. Nonetheless, they do add to the baseball atmosphere, by and large. The sound effects are all there, as well. You’ll hear the baserunning, and teammates talking to each other. Overall, MVP Baseball 2005 brings that MLB experience to your speakers. The audio sounds identical on either PlayStation 2 or Gamecube.
MVP Baseball 2005 is an incredibly well-put together baseball game. Its presentation is top-notch, it includes a number of modes that you can spend countless hours playing, and the sense of control is unmatched. Hopefully EA Sports can work something out with the MLB license, because it’ll be a shame not to see this game next year. -- Jake Wilson, PGNx Media
---- Apr 7, 2005
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