MVP Baseball 2004

Wow, this game is incredible. All major league teams plus their AAA and AA counterparts. You control all 3 teams of a given franchise in dynasty mode, you have to worry about team chemistry, calling guys up, everything. The gameplay is rock solid, for the first time, it seems like you're in total control of everything instead of just the computer making decisions based on stats. Even a .200 hitter can crush mistake pitches, and mistake pitches happen. The pitching is based on the tiger woods style meter, and if you miss the bar, you might serve up a big fat hanger. It's not just selecting a pitch, location and pushing a button. Throws from the fielders are the same way, you can hold the meter down longer and force a harder throw, but based on the fielder, you might pull the 1st baseman off the bag or whatever. There's a little red area at the end of the bar, and it's smaller depending on someone's arm accuracy. The farther in the red, the bigger chance of an error.

Only a few issues, the rosters were finalized on Jan. 15th, so you'll have to do quite a bit of work to get them up to date, such as the Maddox signing, the Arod trade, various other things.

I really didn't think the minor leagues would add that much, but wow, it's hard to see how we ever lived without it. It adds so much depth. You can play ever single game for all 3 teams, manage any of them, or sim any of them. It's all up to you. You have certain goals to meet to please your owner, both 3 year goals and 1 year goals. The 3 year goals determine your fate, you might be an extension if you meet one of the 3 year goals in year 1 or 2, or you will get fired if you don't meet any of them after 3 years. The 1 year goals determine your payroll and manager rating, which helps with team chemistry and other intangibles. For example, you might be tasked with having a sub 4.10-ERA in AAA ball, for the team, or a team slugging % of .480, or all kinds of other goals. If you meet a goal, your budget is increased.

Damn this game is awesome, even better than WSB 2k3, which was the holy grail of baseball video games up until now. If you're a fan of baseball and have a ps2 or xbox, I'd suggest at least a rental. It's available for PC, but due to the batting interface, only a handful of controllers are supported, and they ARE required. The batting is purely analog, you have to move the left stick to where the pitch is going to make contact.

www.easports.com
www.operationsports.com

edit: damn, didn't realize I was writing a book.

 

limit mistakes and execute?

 

Bastard.

 

you know it's wordy when I give up on it

I feel like I should ask for pointers - not on the game, on the rumination. Does this come with a Tom Emanski training tape for the players?

 

LOL.

 

this is my new obsession. the gameplay is by far the best ever. very life-like. the minor league teams is what takes it over the top. buy it now.


ps.......if you do not see me online for awhile, do not worry.

 

Sounds like a good game (I had MVP 2003 for the PC and it was great but I doubt my 700 Mhz machine can handle the new version) but I'll probably go with ESPN baseball when it comes out because of the XBOX live option.

Maybe next year EA and Microsoft will work out their Online server issues and make EA titles XBOX live compliant.

Anyone else gonna try ESPN Baseball? The football game is pretty solid so hopefully the baseball can hang.

Flyer
(gamertag = kandp dad)

 

Btw when is mvp baseball for 2005 do out i mit buy it for my pc

 

I played WSB 2k3 (which is last year's version of ESPN) right up until the day I got MVP. MVP took a little getting used to, but ESPN will have to improve a LOT of things from last year to beat it. Of course, the xbox live option will be a major plus. If I could afford it, I'd definitely get it just to play online. On the other hand, if you're a stat-head/franchise mode fan, I don't see how anything can beat MVP at this point. The gameplay is nearly perfect except for a rare scoring error (sometimes a legit double over the shortstop's or 2nd baseman's head will get scored as an error), and the franchise mode is the deepest of any sports game I've ever played, even madden 2004. The manager's goals plus the minor leagues really push it over the top.

I've basically boycotted EA Sports for not supporting xbox live, but once I tried MVP in the store, I just had to have it. It's really incredible. Nothing's perfect, but MVP just does so many things right, that I can overlook a few nit-picks here and there. Most of my nit-picks would be interface related, such as no sorting by position when doing call-ups/send-downs, etc. One other thing that I don't like, but can live with, is the fact that career stats aren't broken down by year. You only get career totals, and current year stats for each player.

 

It good to know that there is good baseball game out there becuase High heat have no idea how to make a good baseball game