MVP Baseball 2005
In the bottom of the 9th, EA knocks it out of the park.
Published: March 11, 2005
Aah, springtime. Football season is over, basketball doesn’t know what the fuck and the air is just right for baseball. Baseball has always been a passion of mine, from T-ball, to sandlot leagues, to playing Over The Line with my friends in the park. So you can imagine my joy last year when EA Sports finally got it right with MVP Baseball 2004. Featuring innovative controls, deep dynasty modes and pretty accurate gameplay, MVP ‘04 was unmatched. MVP 2005 takes everything good about 2004, fixes the mistakes and in the end, puts together another championship-quality title. With licensing issues making the future of MVP 2006 uncertain, it might be a walk-off homer, but at least we have the game. EA has coupled tight control with beautiful presentation and stunning realism to create the best baseball game, well, ever.
I’ve been playing videogame baseball since Base Wars and Bases Loaded on NES and have always accepted the distinction between real baseball and videogame baseball. Videogame baseball, up until the MVP franchise, was always high scoring and unrealistic. It was just easier to acknowledge the separation and enjoy videogame baseball for what it was than get upset at what it should have been. MVP Baseball 2004 changed that, and boy was it ever a relief. MVP 2004 introduced analog pitching that featured unparalleled balance. You could paint the corners all day long, but if you missed the target meter and left one hanging up in the zone, you could be sure the offense would capitalize.
MVP 2004 also introduced deep dynasty modes and improved control at the plate, but it wasn’t without its shortcomings. Fielding was a frustrating chore, stealing second base was too easy, and left-handed batters weren’t able to hit home runs due to a glitch, so while it was a substantial leap in the progression of videogame baseball, MVP ’04 still had the bitter aftertaste of previous generation baseball titles. Still, that didn’t stop it from being my most played game in 2004.
While I will make note of the small highlights and individual improvements, what is important with MVP Baseball 2005 is the atmosphere. That’s right, baseball games have atmosphere. Just like atmosphere is crucial to games like ICO and the upcoming [game=1545]Wanda and the Colossus[game], the realism and immersion in MVP ’05 has to do with creating the right atmosphere. Stadium announcements, hecklers and the like have been in baseball games since the PS1 days, but MVP ’05 makes you feel like you are in the park, and even better, playing in the game.
Presentation is top notch, replicating a TV presentation quite well with commentary and play-by-play. I wish there was more variety to the commentary, because after a few games you have heard the same quotes a dozen times and a few games after that, you can almost call ahead of time which one-liner will come up after a particular play, but since every sports title has repetitive commentary, it’s passable. My ideal would be to have the one and only Vin Scully do commentary for MVP as he is unmatched in the booth and even worked with EA during the PS1 Triple Play Baseball days, but the guys they have do a decent job.
The immersion comes from the little things, like the increase in foul balls into the crowd, as well as foul tips into the dirt. Just as in a real baseball game, you’re likely to see one or two players foul the ball off their foot or shin and then dance around a bit to walk off the stinger. The pitcher adjusts his cap frequently and even wipes his brow during pressure situations.
Control in sports games is a cyclical issue, moreover the complaints you see in reviews such as this one are that the controls could always be tighter and more responsive. MVP ’05 hits it into the upper deck in terms of control. The precision analog pitching found in last year’s outing has been tweaked to make it more difficult to throw the perfect pitch, though the sweet spot in the pitching meter is still pretty easy to hit. Painting the corners with a maestro such as Greg Maddux has never been more fun or more rewarding. You can actually keep the hitter off-balance with the correct assortment of pitch types and pitch placements. The high and tight heater followed by a high and tight slider can almost always catch them off guard, or the high and tight fastball followed by a nasty curveball low in the zone. Just like in real baseball, the strategy in pitching actually matters.
Behind the plate, the analog stick swing control is a refined version of last year’s effort. You aren’t supposed to aim for the pitch location (the hitter takes care of that), but rather how and where you want to hit the ball. Press up on the left stick when the ball is up in the zone and you will most likely fly out, but press up on the stick when the ball is low in the zone and you will give the ball a mighty uppercut with a chance to send it deep to the cheap seats.
In the outfield, EA has greatly improved the speed of the outfielders so there are much fewer ground balls that just roll to the wall for stand-up triples. EA has also greatly improved the fielder’s ability to reach over the railing or jump the fence to rob a homerun (which I actually did myself 20 minutes into my first game), because real baseball players don’t just hit an invisible wall while the ball falls 2 feet into the front row.
A frequent problem in sports titles is that the difficulty settings are either too easy (providing no challenge) or way too hard (providing incessant frustration) for most players, with devs usually siding with the more hardcore players who want the biggest challenge possible and leaving lower level gamers forgotten with a Mickey Mouse beginner difficulty. EA has remedied this perennial problem by adding the wonderful option of gameplay tuners, or sliders. Is your starting pitcher getting worn out by the 4th inning? Are you getting too many injured players in your season mode? Is the CPU able to lay down too many perfect bunts? While many baseball coaches would suggest (1) putting less power into each pitch, (2) not playing such aggressive do-or-die baseball, or (3) bringing your infield in to guard against the bunt, you can now much more easily adjust the sliders, and there are dozens of them. With the right combinations, you can turn MVP into a classic pitcher’s duel, small-ball type of game or a slow-pitch, homerun derby slugfest.
Game mode options are much improved over last year’s MVP. Like usual, you have your quick game, exhibition, dynasty mode and homerun derby, but EA has also added a new Owner’s mode as well as hitting and pitching mini-games. The Owner’s mode is very similar to the Madden version, where you do everything from set ticket prices, and build souvenir and concession stands, all the way up to building and adding onto your stadium, starting with a tiny 20000 seater ballpark, all the way up to a 50000 seat Roman Coliseum-esque sports arena.
The mini-games offer fresh variety and fun challenges to earn points for unlockables, but lack a multiplayer mode. Also, the lack of a standard season mode, without all the hassle of trading away the primadonnas and nursing the momma’s boys, is sorely missing to this reviewer. I love baseball with all my heart, but I don’t want to have to worry if my 3rd baseman gave up those 2 errors in the last road series because he is unhappy with his contract extension. Please EA, give us a middle ground – a full 1 season mode where I just have to worry about making the playoffs would round out the game perfectly. For now, I just have to play with all the options to get rid of the more annoying points.
All in all, you cannot find a better baseball game than MVP Baseball 2005. At $30, it’s an incredible steal for what could be the last licensed MVP game (if Take Two gets their way). It actually feels like you are playing the same baseball you play in the park or watch on TV, more than any game previous. The control, immersion and realism are unmatched, so put down the cream and the clear and let’s play ball.
I’ve been playing videogame baseball since Base Wars and Bases Loaded on NES and have always accepted the distinction between real baseball and videogame baseball. Videogame baseball, up until the MVP franchise, was always high scoring and unrealistic. It was just easier to acknowledge the separation and enjoy videogame baseball for what it was than get upset at what it should have been. MVP Baseball 2004 changed that, and boy was it ever a relief. MVP 2004 introduced analog pitching that featured unparalleled balance. You could paint the corners all day long, but if you missed the target meter and left one hanging up in the zone, you could be sure the offense would capitalize.
MVP 2004 also introduced deep dynasty modes and improved control at the plate, but it wasn’t without its shortcomings. Fielding was a frustrating chore, stealing second base was too easy, and left-handed batters weren’t able to hit home runs due to a glitch, so while it was a substantial leap in the progression of videogame baseball, MVP ’04 still had the bitter aftertaste of previous generation baseball titles. Still, that didn’t stop it from being my most played game in 2004.
While I will make note of the small highlights and individual improvements, what is important with MVP Baseball 2005 is the atmosphere. That’s right, baseball games have atmosphere. Just like atmosphere is crucial to games like ICO and the upcoming [game=1545]Wanda and the Colossus[game], the realism and immersion in MVP ’05 has to do with creating the right atmosphere. Stadium announcements, hecklers and the like have been in baseball games since the PS1 days, but MVP ’05 makes you feel like you are in the park, and even better, playing in the game.
Presentation is top notch, replicating a TV presentation quite well with commentary and play-by-play. I wish there was more variety to the commentary, because after a few games you have heard the same quotes a dozen times and a few games after that, you can almost call ahead of time which one-liner will come up after a particular play, but since every sports title has repetitive commentary, it’s passable. My ideal would be to have the one and only Vin Scully do commentary for MVP as he is unmatched in the booth and even worked with EA during the PS1 Triple Play Baseball days, but the guys they have do a decent job.
The immersion comes from the little things, like the increase in foul balls into the crowd, as well as foul tips into the dirt. Just as in a real baseball game, you’re likely to see one or two players foul the ball off their foot or shin and then dance around a bit to walk off the stinger. The pitcher adjusts his cap frequently and even wipes his brow during pressure situations.
Control in sports games is a cyclical issue, moreover the complaints you see in reviews such as this one are that the controls could always be tighter and more responsive. MVP ’05 hits it into the upper deck in terms of control. The precision analog pitching found in last year’s outing has been tweaked to make it more difficult to throw the perfect pitch, though the sweet spot in the pitching meter is still pretty easy to hit. Painting the corners with a maestro such as Greg Maddux has never been more fun or more rewarding. You can actually keep the hitter off-balance with the correct assortment of pitch types and pitch placements. The high and tight heater followed by a high and tight slider can almost always catch them off guard, or the high and tight fastball followed by a nasty curveball low in the zone. Just like in real baseball, the strategy in pitching actually matters.
Behind the plate, the analog stick swing control is a refined version of last year’s effort. You aren’t supposed to aim for the pitch location (the hitter takes care of that), but rather how and where you want to hit the ball. Press up on the left stick when the ball is up in the zone and you will most likely fly out, but press up on the stick when the ball is low in the zone and you will give the ball a mighty uppercut with a chance to send it deep to the cheap seats.
In the outfield, EA has greatly improved the speed of the outfielders so there are much fewer ground balls that just roll to the wall for stand-up triples. EA has also greatly improved the fielder’s ability to reach over the railing or jump the fence to rob a homerun (which I actually did myself 20 minutes into my first game), because real baseball players don’t just hit an invisible wall while the ball falls 2 feet into the front row.
A frequent problem in sports titles is that the difficulty settings are either too easy (providing no challenge) or way too hard (providing incessant frustration) for most players, with devs usually siding with the more hardcore players who want the biggest challenge possible and leaving lower level gamers forgotten with a Mickey Mouse beginner difficulty. EA has remedied this perennial problem by adding the wonderful option of gameplay tuners, or sliders. Is your starting pitcher getting worn out by the 4th inning? Are you getting too many injured players in your season mode? Is the CPU able to lay down too many perfect bunts? While many baseball coaches would suggest (1) putting less power into each pitch, (2) not playing such aggressive do-or-die baseball, or (3) bringing your infield in to guard against the bunt, you can now much more easily adjust the sliders, and there are dozens of them. With the right combinations, you can turn MVP into a classic pitcher’s duel, small-ball type of game or a slow-pitch, homerun derby slugfest.
Game mode options are much improved over last year’s MVP. Like usual, you have your quick game, exhibition, dynasty mode and homerun derby, but EA has also added a new Owner’s mode as well as hitting and pitching mini-games. The Owner’s mode is very similar to the Madden version, where you do everything from set ticket prices, and build souvenir and concession stands, all the way up to building and adding onto your stadium, starting with a tiny 20000 seater ballpark, all the way up to a 50000 seat Roman Coliseum-esque sports arena.
The mini-games offer fresh variety and fun challenges to earn points for unlockables, but lack a multiplayer mode. Also, the lack of a standard season mode, without all the hassle of trading away the primadonnas and nursing the momma’s boys, is sorely missing to this reviewer. I love baseball with all my heart, but I don’t want to have to worry if my 3rd baseman gave up those 2 errors in the last road series because he is unhappy with his contract extension. Please EA, give us a middle ground – a full 1 season mode where I just have to worry about making the playoffs would round out the game perfectly. For now, I just have to play with all the options to get rid of the more annoying points.
All in all, you cannot find a better baseball game than MVP Baseball 2005. At $30, it’s an incredible steal for what could be the last licensed MVP game (if Take Two gets their way). It actually feels like you are playing the same baseball you play in the park or watch on TV, more than any game previous. The control, immersion and realism are unmatched, so put down the cream and the clear and let’s play ball.