MLB
We step up to the plate to take a swing at Sony's first portable baseball effort.
Published: March 7, 2005
When you're not a sports guy and you're saddled with covering a handful of sports games in the same space as the action games that are so effectively calling your name, it's hard to resist the siren song of hovercraft racing or arena vehicular combat. Give these games a chance, though, and you're likely to get blown away by how good they translate, and more importantly how good they play.
Take 989 Sports' MLB (note the lack of a year, possibly indicating this is a do-or-die PSP effort for Sony's sports division), easily the farthest behind in the developer's PSP debut stable. The game was still running in 4:3, still had debug code churning out at the bottom of the screen and still have references to the PS2 that it obviously used to be running on. Still, even with all this roughness, the power of the system is readily apparent.
Being a PS2 port, the game carries the same improvements that the PS2 version offers, including the game's branch point technology, which plays something like a soccer game's pre-loaded commands. By keying in a throw command before the fielder picks up the ball, you can queue up moves, allowing for seamless and utterly convincing animations. The same moves can be applied while baserunning, giving dives and runs a more fluid transition.
MLB also sports a reworked pitching system that more accurately takes into account a player's confidence (which can be boosted or lowered by strikeouts or wild pitches) and actual release points via a three press meter similar to a golf game. Higher confidence means an easier time pegging the strike zone with precision pitches.
To add more variety to the outfield plays, 989 whipped up what they call a playmaker fielding marker, which combines all the raw data culled from player stats to create the familiar fielding reticle. Fielders with better stats will see the target on the field sooner and with a larget sweet spot (or, technically less guesswork on where the ball will land) to make catches, while less experienced players will have to contend with a wider, less precise indication of where the ball will land.
After nearly an hour with the game, we couldn't help but be impressed by the fluidity of the controls and animation and how solidly the game played -- despite being rather far behind most of the other sports efforts. Wireless games can be played via an ad-hoc connection to just search for local PSPs wirelessly broadcasting their games, or gamers can jack into a wireless hotspot to hop online and play with anyone states away.
Once our resident sports dork gets his hands on some final code, we'll have a proper review for you, but at the very least, it's looking like Sony's baseball effort is doing the PSP proud, and should be a welcome addition to the launch lineup -- especially if you plan on taking advantage of Sony's online network right out of the box.
Take 989 Sports' MLB (note the lack of a year, possibly indicating this is a do-or-die PSP effort for Sony's sports division), easily the farthest behind in the developer's PSP debut stable. The game was still running in 4:3, still had debug code churning out at the bottom of the screen and still have references to the PS2 that it obviously used to be running on. Still, even with all this roughness, the power of the system is readily apparent.
Being a PS2 port, the game carries the same improvements that the PS2 version offers, including the game's branch point technology, which plays something like a soccer game's pre-loaded commands. By keying in a throw command before the fielder picks up the ball, you can queue up moves, allowing for seamless and utterly convincing animations. The same moves can be applied while baserunning, giving dives and runs a more fluid transition.
MLB also sports a reworked pitching system that more accurately takes into account a player's confidence (which can be boosted or lowered by strikeouts or wild pitches) and actual release points via a three press meter similar to a golf game. Higher confidence means an easier time pegging the strike zone with precision pitches.
To add more variety to the outfield plays, 989 whipped up what they call a playmaker fielding marker, which combines all the raw data culled from player stats to create the familiar fielding reticle. Fielders with better stats will see the target on the field sooner and with a larget sweet spot (or, technically less guesswork on where the ball will land) to make catches, while less experienced players will have to contend with a wider, less precise indication of where the ball will land.
After nearly an hour with the game, we couldn't help but be impressed by the fluidity of the controls and animation and how solidly the game played -- despite being rather far behind most of the other sports efforts. Wireless games can be played via an ad-hoc connection to just search for local PSPs wirelessly broadcasting their games, or gamers can jack into a wireless hotspot to hop online and play with anyone states away.
Once our resident sports dork gets his hands on some final code, we'll have a proper review for you, but at the very least, it's looking like Sony's baseball effort is doing the PSP proud, and should be a welcome addition to the launch lineup -- especially if you plan on taking advantage of Sony's online network right out of the box.
