Customer Reviews

MLB 2005

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is in fact one of the best games you can buy for PSP - the graphic work put into the stadium detail is some of the finest I've ever seen - totally spectacular stuff. The commentators are good, although the color commentator goes to sleep after the 4th inning. This is a perfect game for kids - no obscenity, no violence, no gratuitous anything. A fun way to tour baseball stadiums around the US. The base running is a little hincky, especially if you've got multiple ducks on the pond. But the pitching and batting are great at the amateur level. I found the Professional level maddening from an offensive standpoint - where guessing the pitch and location are required just to make contact. Might be realistic, but its not much fun. Play on the amateur level and its endlessley enjoyable although you'll start to win about 90% of your games after the first week. Worth it for the pictures and simple play.

This was the first PSP game I bought. I always read a lot of reviews before purchasing a game these days because I have been burned by games many times in the past. For the most part, the reviews I read about MLB Baseball were right on. The game is PHENOMENAL.

The game play, animated actions of the players, graphics and presentation, audio commentary, sound effects, load time, and actual game simulation and play rival those of any baseball game for any computer or console system. Simply put, this game simulates a baseball game fantastically. And that, in the end, is really why you buy a sports game.

There are a few features missing that would have been nice, and that prevent this game from being perfect, but they concern the game's options rather than play: 1) There is no fantasy draft option, not even for the season mode. 2) There is no franchise mode, so when you play a full season, you have to start over again after the World Series. 3) There is no mode for practicing. 4) You can't create new players.

But, again, these are things that really don't affect the actual game-play. So I'd definitely recommend this game for any PSP baseball fan.

This game is spectacular. Graphics and gameplay are both great. The detail of the individual players is impressive as well, they have every batters exact stance, every pitchers windup down perfectly. Stadiums are beautiful too. This game has me addicted to psp, I haven't touched my ps2 or xbox in months. (I tried that ESPN baseball on PS2 last week, it was AWFUL in comparison).

I only have two complaints:

The players hold the ball too long before throwing. Say the catcher picks up a wild pitch or a bunt... he will pick up the ball, stand, then crouch and set, then throw. Then he throws to first... the first baseman catches the ball, sets, turns, then throws to second. Might not sound like much, but these pauses are enough for a runner to get to the next base.

Second is that there seems to be some computer assistance that can't be turned off (why do I immediately throw a wild pitch as soon as a runner is on third in a close game?).

First of all, the platform I was playing before this was N64 so I wasn't spoiled already by the Cube, PS2, or XBOX. MLB on PSP is pretty awesome to look at and very fluid gameplay. I tried to start out at "All-Star" mode (the middle difficulty) but kept striking out too much. Went back to "Rookie" and am really jamming with the bat though losing as much as I win. One of the problems for me is the baserunning which seems more difficult than necessary...I get thrown out a lot.

Overall, a fun game with great detail. Some have complained about no franchise mode and maybe it's the same thing but I wish there was an opportunity for a "draft" similar to Madden in order to test my administrative skills against the computer.

This game rocks man. The graphics are unbeleivable. The gameplay is very realsistic. Certain players have their unusual batting stances and pitching windups, such as Johnny Damon and Orlando Hernandez. Also, the announcer is very good, he uses original phrases and does not have much repetition. The only minor gripe is that player ratings are weird. Dontrelle Willis is rated as the Marlins 4th best pitcher. Hes about the 4th best pitcher in the league. Also many players are overrated, when is Michael Young better than Alfonso Soriano and Mark Teixeira? Many good players are also underrated (i.e. Miguel Tejada, Bartolo Colon, Mark Buehrle, etc.) Also, every once in a while, a glitch occurs that has the pitcher just stand there, he will not throw the pitch and you cannot exit the game once this happens, but this happens very rarely, dont let it scare you from buying this game it really is a good game. I cant wait till 2006 comes out.

First off, MVP Baseball from EA is coming out shortly and considering how badly it beats up on MLB in other genres, it will most likely be better on PSP as well. So, if you can stand waiting a while for that game to come out then you should. I suggest most people to wait and compare all the reviews/ratings before making a purchase...
That is, unless you're like me, and you're to addicted to baseball to wait a month or so... If that's the case, then this game is a solid purchase to hold you over.
The graphics are exellent, almost as good as PS2, XBox. The gameplay is of a high quality... Realistic, smooth, decent controls. I don't like the fact that your throws in the field are so straight forward... you dont control how hard or accurate the throw is, you just push a button. other than that, I have no real complaints about the gameplay. It's not spectacular, but it's solid... I wish it had a dynasty/franchise mode, and I wish you could do more as far as roster managment goes, but none of the 1st gen., PSP sports game will have a franchise, so no use complaining about that.
So, in closing, if you just can't wait, you won't regret buying this game. Just know that it most likely won't be the best PSP baseball game available once MVP comes out.

If you like baseball, you will love this game.

I do not have experience on other current game platforms, so I cannot compare it to what is available for the Xbox, etc. That having been said, I am confident that there is no better portable baseball game available.

The graphics are incredible. The stadiums are extremely well done. The player movements also are realistic. When people watch the game over my shoulder, they are stunned. It's almost like watching a game on TV.

The audio is good. The commentators are pretty entertaining, and there are enough audio clips for any situation that, even after a month of playing, I haven't tired of the commentary. The fan sounds and the music are good as well. My wife thinks it sounds like commentary and sound for a real game.

Pitching, batting, and fielding are very good. It takes a little while to get used to pitching and fielding, but the learning curve is not steep. I have enjoyed baseball for years, but I have learned a lot about pitch selection and placement.

Though I love the game, it has a few areas for improvement: Load times for the start of a game take about a minute or so. That's tolerable, and I have read about longer waits for Tiger's Golf, etc.

My biggest gripe is that you cannot save a game in the middle. You can turn off the game, and the game almost always is held "on hold" and preserved. A couple of times (during a month of daily play), I have hurriedly tried to hit the upper right corner (diving for a ground ball, for example) and my adult-sized palm accidentally nudged up on the power button (darn power button rubs against my palm - a problem in other games for me). For reasons that I can't explain (perhaps it was perceived by the machine as turning the machine off twice in an instant), that reset the machine, and the game was lost. Also, if the battery runs out during the middle of the game, it will be lost. Thankfully, those three instances of lost games have all been in games where I was about to lose the game -- so there is a silver lining.

Again, I highly recommend this game. I rented it from Blockbuster without instructions, learned how to play it by just goofing around, and then ran out and bought it at first opportunity. Buy it now. You'll be glad you did.

This game has great graphics and music! THere are alot of different settings and options to choose from. The loading times are fast. Buy this game if u want a sports game.

I thought that 989 had finally done it. Have a game that is as good as an EA sports game, again I was proven wrong in the end. I am deployed and while I am overhere, I decided to do an entire 162 game schedule. While playing the season, I bragged to my friends that saving the extra $10 was worth it. The gameplay is actually good. Pitching is right on. Hitting is too easy though. I have my contact level all the way down, and I was still getting at least 20 hits a game. This wasnt enough to complain about though. I finished my season, won the series, and went to start the next season. WAIT, THERE IS NO SECOND SEASON. I spent over 3 months working on my season, just to find out this. I traded good players because they were on the last year of their contract. What's the point of having contracts if they are meaningless. So, I started a new season with the Rockies (the worst rated team in the league). By pure accident I traded a minor league player to the Giants for Barry Bonds (His name in the game is Somthing Stocker). Then I started trading all of my minor league players and made an all-star team with the Rockies. To give you an example of the trading snafu. My starting pitching was Randy Johnson, Mark Prior, John SMoltz, Dontrelle Willis, and Pedro Martinez. Each team traded them player for player for a minor league player. I guess they are hoping to build for the future. OH THAT'S RIGHT THERE ISNT A FUTURE. I would have given this game a 4 or maybe even a 5 when I was playing the season, but with all the problems in the offseason, a 3 at best, I almost want to give it a 2. Just a hint for 989 sports, you have a good product here, just finish the game. If you would have made a career mode, I might have bought another one of your games in the future, but not now.

Hmmm ... a baseball game that actually let's you hit the ball. Brilliant! Also, tons of fun. It kind of completely changes the game, but man is it fun. Sure, you can set the difficulty higher on this game, but why? Pitching is tons of fun when you ARE a pitcher in a real game. But in the videogame world watching a good pitcher is not where it is at. No the fun is in rocking that said pitcher all over the park. It is also in fielding the ball and making great plays. Finally the fun is in the stealing of basis. So do yourself a favor buy a FUN baseball game and don't turn the difficulty up. Learn the truth about baseball video games: they can be almost as fun as playing the real sport, if you just completely change the game to make it an offensive instead defensive game.

Bottom line: Is this game fun? Definitely. Will I keep this game? Definitely. Is it pretty? Pretty enough. How does it sound? The crack of the bat is all you need baby. Is it for kids? Nope. Too cerebral of a game and too many buttons.