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IGN Review of MVP Baseball 2005
MVP 2004 pumped new life into baseball video games with a laundry list of innovations that included the farm leagues, player emotions, and a very deep dynasty mode. The game upped the bar in terms of what a baseball game should include, but it also upped our expectations. All of the successful gameplay elements from the series have returned for 2005 and most of this review details how this year's version delivers the upgrades and extras that take MVP even further.
The MVP series already featured solid game play in both the battery and the field. This year EA Canada had the opportunity to clear up some minor problems and tie up loose ends. The sliding pitching scale has returned with a few adjustments. Last year it was a bit too easy to master hitting the sweet spot on every pitch. This added to the natural control advantage pitchers have in a video game. To remedy this, the size of the sweet spot is now proportionate to the strength of a pitch. If a player decides to put some heat on the ball, the sweet spot will shrink and it's much harder to keep it under control. Player fatigue still shortens the strength bar and the strike zone can be viewed with or without hot and cold zones. Combine this with the ability to feel out the strike zone via controller vibration and placing the perfect pitch has become the deepest and most enjoyable segment of the game.
Gameplay improvements have been made on the receiving end of the pitch as well. First off, the left handed bug has been fixed. It is now possible to be a successful home run hitter as a south paw. Now I will finally know what its like to pull one over the right field wall instead of bunting down the third base line.
Recent ads for the game have been touting an addition called "the hitter's eye". What is this feature? Essentially it's a way for batters to read a pitch before it reaches the plate. The ball changes one of three colors as it's delivered to indicate what type of pitch is being thrown. Red means a breaking ball coming, white is any type of a fastball, and green is a change up. The ball also leaves a contrail that helps players to better identify the trajectory and speed of a pitch. The better a player's batting attributes, the longer a pitch will retain its color and contrail as it comes down the shoot. Unskilled batters will only get a peak at what's headed their way while the pros get a variable light show indicating the type of pitch.
The beauty of this system is that pitchers who cover up the ball during the windup reveal less about their next pitch. This means that more skilled players have an advantage on both ends of the battery, which in turn adds more weight to player development. The system successfully bridges a gap between arcade style game play and realistic consequences.
Some gamers may prefer to read a pitch without any help from the hitter's eye system and in that case it can simply be turned off in the options menu. Other customization features are seemingly endless. Players can toggle difficulty, pitching indicators, fielding aids, icons, replay frequency, team chemistry, and a host of other settings. It doesn't end there. There is also "game tuning" which provides a sliding scale of -50 to 50 on a list of setting for both the player and the CPU. Each difficulty can be tuned individually and the list of variables is literally too long to post in this review but they include the pitcher ball rate, user batting power, infielder speed, runner aggression, and injury frequency. Gamers have so much control over this game that it will be difficult to find areas to complain about.
Claim Ownership
The largest addition to MVP 2005 is Owner Mode. This differs from Dynasty Mode, which lets players control the organization from a team perspective. Owner mode is about ticket prices, managing a team with multi-million dollar contracts, and luring fans to the not-so-popular match ups. In short it is about generating revenue. You have 30 years to build a successful club from the ground up.
Owner mode comes with a list of options including player and staff drafts, a budget difficulty, rained out games, and even an option termed "variable stuff". The mode kicks off with (what else?) creating a ballpark. That's right, now you control where the bleacher bums will camp out, how far it is to the center field wall, and the type of grass on the infield. The level of customization is adequate, but it's not as deep as I would've hoped, especially at the onset of Owner Mode.
It isn't so much "building" a park as it is selecting a limited set of options. In any case, it is a great addition to the game and earning enough money to make additions to your park can be hugely rewarding. After raking in some cash you can add things like custom lighting, jersey stores, and a huge score board that is fit for the big leagues. Building up a profitable franchise can quickly take precedence over building up a successful team and players may find themselves trading away superstars to save up for those new luxury boxes.
Before a single game is played it is easy to lose yourself in management activities. There are ticket prices to set, coaches to hire, and promotional days that can be set to fill seats for less popular match-ups. After each game it is important to check up on team chemistry, fan happiness, your owner rating, and expected income. Just like franchise mode there is an e-mail box that notifies players of injuries, trades, and suspensions. It also includes hints and updates from a financial advisor that helps players manage their money.
There are three sim options for the day to day games of your major and minor league teams. There is a quick sim option that will play the entire game at the press of a button. This is useful if you don't feel like spending too much time focusing on minor league games. Or players can select the calendar and have the CPU take care of every game up until a certain date. You will still receive mail notifications like injury reports, so it's not completely a hands-off process. Players can also step into the manager's shoes in a table-top approach to the game, or simply watch the box scores get posted and step in if their team gets in trouble. Owner mode can be overwhelming, but the ability to limit involvement from game to game makes it manageable.
For a real hands-on approach players can also tackle each game manually and truly control every aspect of the organization. Combine this with the 120 year dynasty mode and this game might just tide gamers over until the next possible instalment of the MVP series in 2013.
Mini-Game Madness
The other major addition to MVP 2005 are mini-games. There are two basic types of game, one for batting and one for pitching. The batting game has players place their hits for a set number of pitches. The strike zone lights up to show where a pitch is headed, and an arrow appears before the delivery to show players where, and how to hit the ball. For example, you may need to hit a fly ball to center field or knock a grounder down the third base line to achieve a goal. Bonus points are added for long shots and pegging objects like grooming machines that traverse the outfield. There are also ramps, barriers, and vortexes to send hits over the fence or right back towards home plate.
The pitching game also encourages accuracy and feels a bit like Tetris baseball. The strike zone is marked by four different color boxes which represent four types of pitches. You then hit each zone with its assigned pitch to knock it out of the grid and bring down more squares. Hitting a square that is next to a like color will knock out both panels and earn extra points. There are two versions of this game, one is timed and the other has a pitch limit. Getting the squares to fall into new patterns for bigger combos adds a level of strategy to the game beyond accurately placing pitches. Both games are addictive and reminded me of the brilliant mini-games from the Virtua Tennis series.
Not only to both mini-games reward players with MVP points, but they are also valuable training tools. They are the perfect way to get used to the tweaked pitching meter or practicing with the hitter's eye. The mini-games are also used as spring training in between seasons in Dynasty or Owner Mode. Players have a chance to boost their stats by scoring big points in the hitting and pitching challenges. However, only five players can be sent to spring training every season, so a decision must be made between developing young talent and giving the heavy hitters more of an edge.
Graphics
The motions of baseball seem routine at a glance, but the game is full of subtleties. This is where a wide range of animations come into play. Small details like a backhanded toss to complete a double play or a defiant glance at the umpire give MVP a lot of personality.
New throw and catch animations have been added to make defensive maneuvers more fluid in terms of visuals and gameplay. When fielding a ball, players can make a catch and throw in one motion. This gets rid of the stutter that used to occur as a player stopped after fielding a ball and then went into the throwing animation. This includes double plays where an infielder will run across second base as they gun it over to first. It is a bonus to see such an exciting defensive element play out so realistically. This is one of those additions that make you wonder how things could have possibly worked before its introduction.
Last year's game won points for animation but had a few problems graphically. The player models, especially the heads, were a bit underdeveloped. To make matters worse some of the players didn't always resemble their real world counterparts. The good news is that EA Canada reworked the player models with a focus on the heads. They literally gave the game a facelift and overall, players look more realistic and have more personality than in previous MVP games. The quality doesn't reach the near photo realistic level of detail that exists in Madden and some of the models look a bit stylized. This is only an issue on very close inspection and even from short distances the fantastic animations more than make up for it.
Sound
There are only a few things a baseball game has to do right in the category of audio and the sound effects of MVP are all good. The crack of the bat and the slap of the ball in the catcher's mitt are realistic and add to the atmosphere of the ball park. Like the other instalments the crowd noise is dynamic and the intensity adjusts to fit each situation. While playing online, the crowd was noticeably more rowdy when playing at Fenway than in single player mode when I was kicking back for an early season game at Jacobs Field.
The announcers Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow once again provide the play-by-play action from the announcers booth. The commentary flows smoothly with an occasional plucky remark or offhand fact about players. It is informative without being annoying and after a few games their banter fades into the background. Unfortunately the EA Tracks do not fade at all. The nine songs featured on MVP are from the usual assortment of oddball bands and quickly wear out their welcome. If you choose to leave the volume on it results in the appearance of artist information whenever a song changes. This obstruction can be moved around the screen, but in the crowded menus of Owner mode there is no good place for it.
Online
It was stated in our previews of MVP 2005 that the goal of the online game was to be identical to the single player experience. I can safely say that they have come very close to achieving this. There are occasional frame rate issues that occurred during pitching, but nothing that tipped the balance of the game. Fielding, changing out pitchers, and replays were all smooth and true to the offline game.
The Little Things
EA could have stopped with what has already been described. The bugs from 2004 are fixed, Owner Mode was added, and the game has improved visuals. Not to mention features like the homerun challenge, Dynasty Mode, and custom game that have carried over from last year. However, there are a few minor additions that players will appreciate. Managers now have the ability to argue with the ump. Think the ump blew a call? Maybe he did, because MVP 2005 includes a variable strike zone and missed calls on the bases. Both of these features can be turned off, but anyone who watches baseball knows that ripping into an ump is a key part of the pastime.
If you decided to leave the dugout and dispute a call a meter will appear at the bottom of the screen. A single button increases the intensity of the argument until you decide to lay off the ump, or face being ejected from the game. Your team can receive a confidence boost from the argument, but if the manager is ejected the CPU takes over all of his duties. This means a player loses control of vital functions like putting in a reliever. I would have loved to see a dirt kicking mini-game included in this feature, but you can't have everything.
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