Post by Reflecto on Mar 29, 2004 2:00:16 GMT -5
Well, it's springtime again- when a young man's fancy turns to...baseball. (What, you'd think I'd write a video game review about love?) With this comes a new crop of baseball video games. Luck (and a theft problem in my room) has left me with the ability to try out the newest baseball games currently out: MVP Baseball 2004 and All-Star Baseball 2005. (ESPN Baseball hasn't come out at review time, and MLB 2005 was left out because it sucks.)
MVP Baseball (PS2 version)
Pros of this game: The additions to this make it a very cool game to play. Having not played a EA baseball game since Triple Play, I was surprised that the game was more realistic than I remembered. This was a blessing and a curse: Everyone likes the thrill of massive home run hitting, and none had it like the arcade-style "BALCO ain't got nothing on this" older EA games. The cool little extras to this game were nice, as the potential to play as any Triple A or Double-A team is cool, allowing this writer to see if it was possible for my homestate Pawtucket Red Sox (a decent Triple A team, but Triple A nonetheless) to whoop ass on the "worst team in recent memory" Detroit Tigers. (Present findings: It went to extra innings while totally simmed.) The jukebox in this game had some pluses, as unlike most EA Sports games of this generation, it went against their entire way of making jukebox songs (Another blessing/curse: No bland Def Jam rap , but also less "current" alternative hits [only one song on its soundtrack had made it to radio at this area- less than usual, when 2-3 songs have gotten regular play.])
Cons: The Dynasty Mode has a few problems, most notably in timing. In previous EA baseball games, you could lower the schedule or time of the games. In this one, you're playing a 162-game, 9-inning schedule and liking it, mister! This is similar to other games, but when they've got a 102-year Dynasty mode available and three teams to control per year, some corner cutting would be useful. In addition, I'm not feeling the pitching mode: While most other games have a fairly useful one-touch pitching style, MVP uses a style of pitching stolen less more from EA's golf games and less from most baseball games. Since golf games tend to be the most frustrating of games, that's not a good move. The only other problem is its seemingly-lackadaisical updates: I can buy some of the more recent "big signings" and major trades not being in a game (they have said they base to 1/15/2004.) However, some of their moves are just really poor scheduling. MVP may have good things in some areas, but it's a bad sign when All-Star Baseball has A-Rod on the Yankees and I-Rod on the Tigers while [in the most blatant example] the Pawtucket Red Sox' roster includes shortstop prospect Freddy Sanchez...someone who hasn't played on the Pawsox since July, when he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Scott Sauerbeck...WHO IS ONE OF HIS TEAMMATES ON THAT ROSTER. (It's minor, but when that's one of the moves you immediately tried out, that becomes fairly glaring...)
Ratings: ***.5 - The l33tn355 is there. This game really wants to be l33t, but it still has some bugs to be worked out.
(Rating system:
*- pwn3d
**- p00r
***- n0t l33t 3n0u6h
****- l33t
*****- r0xx0rz!)
All-Star Baseball 2005 (X-Box)
Pros: Not many of the biggest problems it has have left this volume. Possibly the best thing it still has: The Expansion Mode. Since it came into play, I have been infatuated with All-Star Baseball's biggest plus: The opportunity to create your own expansion team and take it to the top in this one. It's been basically the same system for a few years, but surprisingly, none of its competitors has aped this mode yet. That alone helps give this version a bit more cred than it deserves, pushing it ahead of games like MLB 2005 and putting it in its own league.
Cons: Despite this, this game series is vanilla ice cream: 2005 is basically the same game as 2004, which was the same as 2003. Acclaim hasn't put many big changes to its system. This is an example of same shit, different year.
Rating: **.5- I didn't really like it the first time it came out, when it was called All-Star Baseball 2004 and I played it on PS2. There's no major changes that aren't directly the result of the X-Box's capabilities, so this was a poorer result.
MVP Baseball (PS2 version)
Pros of this game: The additions to this make it a very cool game to play. Having not played a EA baseball game since Triple Play, I was surprised that the game was more realistic than I remembered. This was a blessing and a curse: Everyone likes the thrill of massive home run hitting, and none had it like the arcade-style "BALCO ain't got nothing on this" older EA games. The cool little extras to this game were nice, as the potential to play as any Triple A or Double-A team is cool, allowing this writer to see if it was possible for my homestate Pawtucket Red Sox (a decent Triple A team, but Triple A nonetheless) to whoop ass on the "worst team in recent memory" Detroit Tigers. (Present findings: It went to extra innings while totally simmed.) The jukebox in this game had some pluses, as unlike most EA Sports games of this generation, it went against their entire way of making jukebox songs (Another blessing/curse: No bland Def Jam rap , but also less "current" alternative hits [only one song on its soundtrack had made it to radio at this area- less than usual, when 2-3 songs have gotten regular play.])
Cons: The Dynasty Mode has a few problems, most notably in timing. In previous EA baseball games, you could lower the schedule or time of the games. In this one, you're playing a 162-game, 9-inning schedule and liking it, mister! This is similar to other games, but when they've got a 102-year Dynasty mode available and three teams to control per year, some corner cutting would be useful. In addition, I'm not feeling the pitching mode: While most other games have a fairly useful one-touch pitching style, MVP uses a style of pitching stolen less more from EA's golf games and less from most baseball games. Since golf games tend to be the most frustrating of games, that's not a good move. The only other problem is its seemingly-lackadaisical updates: I can buy some of the more recent "big signings" and major trades not being in a game (they have said they base to 1/15/2004.) However, some of their moves are just really poor scheduling. MVP may have good things in some areas, but it's a bad sign when All-Star Baseball has A-Rod on the Yankees and I-Rod on the Tigers while [in the most blatant example] the Pawtucket Red Sox' roster includes shortstop prospect Freddy Sanchez...someone who hasn't played on the Pawsox since July, when he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Scott Sauerbeck...WHO IS ONE OF HIS TEAMMATES ON THAT ROSTER. (It's minor, but when that's one of the moves you immediately tried out, that becomes fairly glaring...)
Ratings: ***.5 - The l33tn355 is there. This game really wants to be l33t, but it still has some bugs to be worked out.
(Rating system:
*- pwn3d
**- p00r
***- n0t l33t 3n0u6h
****- l33t
*****- r0xx0rz!)
All-Star Baseball 2005 (X-Box)
Pros: Not many of the biggest problems it has have left this volume. Possibly the best thing it still has: The Expansion Mode. Since it came into play, I have been infatuated with All-Star Baseball's biggest plus: The opportunity to create your own expansion team and take it to the top in this one. It's been basically the same system for a few years, but surprisingly, none of its competitors has aped this mode yet. That alone helps give this version a bit more cred than it deserves, pushing it ahead of games like MLB 2005 and putting it in its own league.
Cons: Despite this, this game series is vanilla ice cream: 2005 is basically the same game as 2004, which was the same as 2003. Acclaim hasn't put many big changes to its system. This is an example of same shit, different year.
Rating: **.5- I didn't really like it the first time it came out, when it was called All-Star Baseball 2004 and I played it on PS2. There's no major changes that aren't directly the result of the X-Box's capabilities, so this was a poorer result.
