Customer Reviews

MLB 2006

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I have played every MLB game in the series so far and the 2006 edition is clearly the best. Gameplay is still basically the same but they've made so many improvements and additions that it's much more realistic than ever.

One of my favorite additions is that they've finally allowed wild pitches/passed balls which can dramatically change the outcome of the game (just like real life.) I'm also pleased that the new Washington Nationals and their stadium have been included, in past games 989 Sports hasn't always been as up to date as they should've been.

I'm disappointed that Vin Scully is not part of the announcing team any more and Dave Campbell is as boring as ever. The commentary repeats way too often, there needs to a wider range of comments during the game.

Animation has been improved, errors actually HAPPEN this time out but the injuries still aren't quite as realistic. Some of my players had to leave the game but are never put on the disabled list. I wish they would be so that I'd be pressed to make smart roster moves to compensate.

I've only played about half the season so far and unfortunately, I will have to confirm what other reviews have said so far, the game WILL FREEZE at times usually from the 8th inning on. Once the game froze after I had beaten the team I was playing! It's very frustrating to come back in the bottom of the 9th inning to lead the game only to have it freeze up and you have to replay it again. Sony & 989 Sports needs to fix this problem and offer a replacement to all of us who bought the game as soon as possible.

So, other than the freezing issue (which while not happening constantly, it happens enough to anger you) this is the best MLB entry yet.

Really, really impressed with this game. The graphics are sweet, and the attention to detail behind every batter, from Sammy's pre-at-bat rituals, to Gary Sheffield's waving of the bat is dead-on. The Stadiums look fantastic. The gameplay is incredibly realistic: for example, if you bust a fastball high-and-tight you can handcuff a hitter and shatter his bat. Plus the fielder's aren't perfect, just like in real baseball. I hit a line drive smash that caremed off the diving third baseman's glove, to the shortstop, who knew to pick the ball up and try to make the out at first, only to throw the ball over the leaping firstbaseman's head---VERY COOL. Career mode is really fun, slogging through the minors and trying to earn playing time. The game gives you room to interact with the manager, allowing you to ask for more playing time if you're performing well, ask to get traded or called up to the next level, or even move up in the order if you're swinging a hot bat. The commentary is some of the most intelligent to date, and the intricacies of the background sound are scary good. My only complaint is the crowds don't suspend my disbelief, if you know what I mean. Other than this, this is one of the best baseball games that has ever come out. HIGHLY recommended...especially once you compare it to ESPN's 2K5, which is a vastly inferior product when held to the light of this gem. BUY IT.

This game is very impressive. The fielding, pitching, baserunning and hitting are all so smooth. Turning the double play is a thing of beauty and pitchers actually matter. The graphics are even amazing, every player has his stance and facial look. The stadiums are also incredible. Don't believe any bad reviews of this game, you must try it out if you care about a realistic game in any way. I have played MVP and 2k5 and MLB "06 destroys them in graphics, realism and fun. This has all the behind the scenes greatness of Madden "05 but for baseball. This is a must have for any old fashioned baseball purist.

Do not buy, listen to everybody when they say the game freezes!!! It always does. Dont waist your time, and especially your money!

Searching for a true baseball sim I bought all three of these games. Why? Because I'm stupid.....No.....Because MVP didn't cut it, neither did ESPN, so...I bought MLB 2006. Third time was a charm for me.

This game is the true heir to the High Heat series. If you want arcade style, slow paced, unrealistic games than MVP and ESPN are for you. If you want 3-2, 5-1, 7-4 scored games during the season with realistic stats, than MLB is your choice. Now for the good, the bad and the ugly.

The good: Realistic gameplay!! Newspaper like box scores! String up your cleats for a 162 game ride with your fav team and let's roll. Bet ya you don't have a player or team touch any of the real all-time records as you shouldn't. Bet ya you do have fun chasing 20 wins with your ace, 40 HR and 100 RBIs with your slugger.

The bad: The pitching meter, yikes! It's like MVP's, but with no directional control before the pitch. This could use some work for next years edition.

The ugly: The base running. I still haven't figured this out, will report back when I do.

Overall: This game pummels MVP and ESPN. It's worth the $40 and then some. I blew $90 on baseball games this year when all I needed was MLB. This game came out of nowhere literally. 989 sports has been making hertic games for some time, but they finally redeem themselves and have stroked my curiousity. With ESPN out of the way, could 989 be the challenge to the Madden dynasty? We'll see this fall........

This is the best Baseball Title out there. MLB 2006 is the new king of baseball sim. MLB 2006 is just like the All Star Baseball franchise which is no longer. I can't get enough of this game. MLB is true to life. Each pitcher has his real life windup and each batter has his real life stance. The rosters are up to date. I would recommend it

Summery

This game in definitely improved from mlb 2005. I don't own it yet but I've tested it and I am overall happy with it. I may wait until the price drops a bit especially now that the new roasters can be down-loaded. This is a NEW plus for purist that like to maintain the real roasters as they play with real stats, even though they lack Bonds and other important names. I'm not one of those purist.... I like to create my own players. This was a feature that was available in mlb 2005 but in 2006 you can add them in more that just Season Mode. In fact all modes can include created players except Home Run Derby mode, which is disappointing considering that in 2005, created players could slug it out with the "real" names. Overall not a big deal.

The graphics are better. The commentators are a lot better. Game play is smooth. Batting is more realistic. Pitching is the single best game play improvement. The meter works very nicely. In 2005 walks and strike out were rare. Even with while using Randy Johnson you'ld very lucky to K more than 7 in a game. In MLB 2006 it's a matter of skill. You can strike out many players with a mediocre pitcher if you mix-it-up right.

Problems

Besides having the seldom freezing problems, (just save a lot, and forget about trying to get your $ back) hopefully a glitch that will be fixed as more games are sold, there is still one BASEBALL FUNDAMENTAL that has been omitted again. Today's all smart baseball game now offer tons of fun extras like being all to run a franchise or creating players and putting your face on a player. All fun gimmicks (but just gimmicks). By now, baseball video game should have the basics down cold. Basics are what makes baseball, BASEBALL. These are running, hitting, pitching, bunting, catching, etc. Also things like bullpens, switch-hitters, DHs, pinch hitters.... Etc. One of the FUNDAMENTAL ways that players get Out in BB is by being tagged. Shockingly in mlb 2005 runners could not get tagged out on the base lines. This huge flaw was fixed in 2006.

BUT still not included in MLB 2006 is the possibility to change player positions during a game. This is an important problem and to should be considered a defect. This is a practice that is common place and managers use it especially in the late innings of a close ball game. Most baseball fans know what I'm talking about. 989 dropped the ball on this basic FUNDAMENTAL managing tool. 989 can show true professionalism to fans and loyal customers by admitting that they goofed and fix the problem on the latest batch of 2006 games that come out and give a discount coupon to those who bought the flawed one. I should stop dreaming. A purist should boycott this game simply based of that fact that all the basics aren't there.

But it's still a good fun game. It'd be perfect if the all the baseball basics were included. I guess this way they can justify coming out with MLB 2007 (if they made this game perfect, with the updateable roasters, and on line play, then nobody would buy 2007, but they would sell a heck of a lot of mlb 2006)

Overall this game is pretty good, There are a couple things i dont like about it. One major problem that i had was that you cannot set your rosters how you want them, given the fact that you can "trade" players, you can't sign a player without giving someone up. I would have liked to update my roster to the newest season, and play games with a current roster, but you cannot use that roster in single games, so setting you roster is useless. Also the freezeing thing sucks, but i guess i am happy that i am not the only one experiencing that problem. Last thing i would have to say is the fielding is pretty bad, the outfielders look like they have to use the bathroom when they are chasing down a fly ball.

Despite all its fabulous features and graphics, the game freezes constantly! Don't waste your money.

I was excited when i bought this game because i had heard so much about it being a good game, this and that, and being a baseball fan, i was sure it would be fun. However, i also had heard that the game can at times be defective, freezing and such. I read this and was aware of it, but i didn't think much of it and bought the game anyways. I'd like to say i found the game fun to play, but i never played it. I put the game in my console and after an unusually long load, the home screen came up. The first thing i noticed was that every song on the game soundtrack would skip with out stopping and move on to the next song, which would do the same thing. I decided to ignore this, even though it was unusual, and went into the create-a-player mode. As soon as i entered this mode, the game froze immediately. I restarted my console and tried again. Once again it took forever to load, and when i tried to start an exhibition game, it froze again. I tried several more times, each more frustrating than the last. However at that point i wasnt convinced it was the game. i had been having trouble with the console(playstation 2) with playing DVD's and had replaced my last console because it would not play some games. I went on to try out every one of the games that i own and each one of them loaded fine and played fine and at that point i knew it was the game. I tried to be patient and tried the game out a few more times, but it did not work. At this i was very frustrated, because not only had i spent the 40 dollars on the game itself but 13 extra dollars just to get it here quickly. Now it may be that this was just a defective disc, one in a million. However, after reading several reviews of the game and noticing that in every one, there are complaints about freezing and things of that sort, maybe theres something wrong with the game. I'm going to go to a store to purchase the game one more time when i get my money back from Amazon, because i want to play the game badly enough, but if i buy another defective disc, i'm done with the game and i'll find another game to purchase.

Disapointing, to say the least.