Customer Reviews

MLB Power Pros 2008

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

First of all, this is the best baseball game out there for the wii. Plenty of game modes, including exhibition, batting practice, fielding practice, home run derby, 162 game season mode, a 6-team round robin league mode, and 2 rpg-like modes: MLB Life, and Success mode.

I spend about 95% of my time in season mode. There is plenty to do, although almost nothing has changed in season mode since last year. One thing in particular that I still like is the different simulation modes, where you can essentially let the computer play all the games, with the option to stop play before any batter and take control yourself. This can make it possible to play many games in a short amount of time each day. Season mode keeps stats in at least 50 different categories and allows you to sort by stat, by team, by division, by league...and also keeps all-time records. You can buy special bats and gloves, etc, to help your players practice more efficiently and raise their abilities between games (although progress takes time, a lot of time).

The batting practice mode is pretty cool too. You can customize the pitches that are thrown by pitcher, type and location, so you can work on hitting just inside curveballs if you want.

There are lots of frills like baseball cards with player bios and player batting and pitching stances/styles, and fictional stadiums that you can purchase with "frequent player points". There is the ability to create "arrange" teams with custom players, or to keep rosters updated. You can adjust the players abilities also and use these arranged teams in your season. I guess you could do this every year so that rosters are kept up-to-date. You can even create a 32 team league, and edit the team colors, uniform and mascot of a couple expansion teams.

I cannot comment too much on MLB life, and Success mode except that I found them a little tedious and frustrating. This is unfortunate because Success mode is the only way to add custom players, and there is no guarantee that the player you create will even "succeed" and be able to play on your season team. (It takes about an hour or two, and your success is based on maybe 3 games or 9 to 12 plate appearances).

So, here is what is still lacking, in my opinion (I hope the game designers are reading):
- The CPU never walks a batter. This is NOT realistic.
- The CPU never *intentionally* walks a batter. Players like Pujols, Manny, Arod, etc should not be pitched to with a base open late in a close game. It should not be too hard to add a heuristic here. I've seen it done in some other baseball games.
- The CPU makes odd managerial decisions. A pitcher will bat late in the game, only to be replaced at the start of the next inning.
- I've found that the stats are a little skewed to the extremes...good players are monsterous, and mediocre/bad players are terrible. Even after tinkering with the difficulty levels.
- You cannot set default lineups for right-hand pitchers/left-hand pitchers. It allows you to set default lineups for DH/non-DH, so why not by opposing pitchers' throwing hand?
- I would really like to see this game give you an "official boxscore" of the format found in newspapers and mlb.com. You should be able to view it throughout the course of the game. This would be neat.
- The play by play announcer is TERRIBLE. There are many many audio bugs where he calls players by the wrong name, and calls the play wrong too. I usually listen to my ipod and keep the game audio muted.


That being said this is still a great great baseball game that would be worthy of 5 stars if some of the bad things I mentioned were not so.

I have to give this years version 4 stars only due to the fact that 99% of the game remains unchanged. While I can appreciate the developers taking the "if it ain't broke don't fix it approach", I still would've liked to see some additions/corrections. The game has all the elements that made last years a nearly perfect game, but, the same problems remain. The minor league system is still not done well, there are very few errors (especially throwing), and the computer throws strikes strikes and more strikes (good luck drawing a walk), and worst of all no online play to speak of.
Overall, the season mode is still great. The computer presents a strong challenge and the statistics are realistic. I would like to see a more expanded minor league system which might include AA and AAA rather than just a few guys that you can bring up whenever you feel like it. The MLB Life mode is fun for awhile but it quickly gets old when you have to conduct each at bat for your player over the course of 162 games with no way to skip ahead AT ALL!!

I hate to be petty as this is still my favorite baseball game, but I was hoping to join up with an online league or at least have single matches this year. Still a wonderful game with a lot of features, but not quite a 5-star delivery.

Really fun baseball game, great physics, ability to alter difficulty to your skill level. Deeps stats, and of course, really cute players. Only downside is that roster updates would be nice.

MLB Power Pros 2008 is an entertaining, highly addictive little baseball game. The players may look chubby and silly (similar to those from the old RBI Baseball for the NES), but the physics are quite realistic and the learning curve for getting a handle on gameplay is very fair. You certainly won't be hitting home runs galore for the first couple of days (probably not ever if you keep the difficulty set at normal or above) and it takes a while to get the hang of base running and effective pitching. Once you can hold your own though, you just might find yourself spending an awful lot of your spare time building a team into a contender or turning a AA scrub into a millionaire stud. The MLB Life option is great as you really get a feel for the team aspect of the sport, kicking yourself for leaving ducks on the bond or screaming at the light hitting chump behind you who takes meaty mistake pitches and swings at garbage in the dirt after you've beat out a single and swiped a base. (One tip for those who can't seem to "succeed" on success mode: buy a no-laziness amulet to ensure that you don't phone in your valuable practices as soon as possible and blow off everything else other than working at the main place to buy food from time to time to pay for the meals [Chinese food always provides bang for the buck] which keep your energy up. If you stick to just practicing, eating and working when necessary, you should clear the requirements with the scout and the skipper to get called up to AAA and then the majors. There is a screen which shows you if you're currently "clear" or not.)

There are many amazing little nuggets of realism here which truly set this game apart from its competition. Guys with C level power swinging for the fences will watch many deep fly balls die on the warning track, just like real life. You also need to strategize if you want to succeed as slow guys can not steal bases (even fast guys have to get a good jump to have a chance), lightweights will hit very few homers, and good hitters won't see a lot of fastballs down the middle. You can actually notice the difference in the way your created player is pitched as he starts to excel. Pitching is also very satisfying as the "stuff" of your pitcher is at least as important as your button mashing expertise. Breaking balls that don't break and 83 MPH fastballs will get belted. As for complaints, yes the commentary gets a bit tiring and some of the activities and dialogue that take place away from the action are half-baked, but the good far outweighs the bad.

Ultimately, if you're into baseball and fancy the notion of filling the shoes of a GM or blue chip prospect on and off the diamond, this is certainly the game for you.

Granted, I never had the chance to play the predecessor to this game...but as it stands, this is the best baseball game I've ever played as a video game. The graphics are crisp, the play-by-play is OK (not spectacular, but not distractingly bothersome either.)

Unlike baseball games made by EA (and others), some rookie, light-hitting second baseball isn't going to start hitting 550 foot bombs just because you're controlling them...there is a definite amount of realism here that isn't in other games.

Also...there are tons of modes. Some modes you don't have have to play "baseball," but more of manage it.

The only negative thing that, even after a couple months of playing the game, is the ability to control the base runners. It's way too complex. Something like.. with your left hand fingers, use the nunchuck stick to select the baserunner you want to control, and then with the wiimote hand, control the runner by advancing, returning to the base, or stopping. However, since I can't readily think of a better solution that would allow the flexibility of baserunning, I'll leave it at 5 stars.

Would recommend this game to any true baseball fan...with the ability to trade, and tweak player profiles (for performance), this game will have a ton of replay value...you can always have an updated roster!

I cant stop playing this game, it is so much fun and has tons of depth that gives you the total mlb and baseball experience. This franchise has always been good, but this one is hands down the best, way better than the other MLB licensed games.

Summary: Pure fun.

If you're like us, you take your Wii Sports seriously. I mean, who hasn't torn ligaments while blasting balls out of the park in the Home Run Derby?

Well, now that you've finished your rounds of physical therapy and recovered you're looking for a little more baseball. Enter MLB Power Pros 2008. This game is the hands down answer for anyone in your family who likes a good sports game.

There are two big factors that drew us to the game. First and foremost, this game costs $10 less than most other Wii games. Second, what you get for your money is definitely not a game your kids (or you, as you secretly play after they go to bed) will conquer in a weekend.

There is so much in this game I'm shocked it can be had for so cheap. First off, it's not some super-realistic simulation that requires the skill of a professional athlete just to make it through an inning. It's not even realistic looking. Though you can play as any of your real-life baseball heroes, they're all created in a friendly cartoon style. This makes the game more approachable for all ages and puts the emphasis on fun.

Speaking of being more approachable, that's what makes this appealing for anyone in your household. The controls are not as obvious as those in Wii Sports, but they are still easy to learn and much less likely to put yourself in the hospital with a dislocated shoulder. On top of that, there's an assortment of ways you can let the game assist you. You can even have the game do all your pitching, batting, or fielding for you if you find these too difficult or tedious. This makes it a way to allow players of different ages and skill levels to play together.

There's so much you can do in this game it will make even the veteran gamers in your family drop their jaws. Sure you can play a simple baseball game, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. You can manage your favorite pro baseball team and try in vain to get your beloved Cubs to win a World Series. Even more in-depth is a feature where you create your own player and guide him day-by-day through a 20-year career from college to retirement in the major. That's right, 20 years. Sure your virtual self has to play a game once in a while, but on his days off you'll have to balance training, friendships, career goals, finances, and even a girlfriend if you want! Your kids will have to make some real-life choices, which is an interesting twist on what could have been yet another mindless game.

All in all this is one game that I would highly recommend for anyone who remotely enjoys sports on the Wii. One word of warning, this game has a home run derby as well. It is addictive and things will get ugly. Make sure you have health insurance before the men in the family battle to the death!

This is a great baseball game with a ton of features. This is easily the most in-depth baseball game you'll play, the players are cartoonish and mere caricatures of themselves, but that's one of my favorite parts, to see what a Johan Santana cartoonish looking little guy would look like, the creators of this game did a great job. Creating your own player is really fun, just like creating a mii character. However, when it comes to using that player in the game, you must play success mode (which is easily the worst "game" I have ever played) no joke. It's long and drawn out with a bunch of worthless dialog. It's like a baseball game trying to be The Sims, but there's no real control over it, just stupid draw out conversations like you would see in a pokemon game for game boy. There's no point to it. In that mode, you build your character up with different workouts eventually making it to the pros. Your success is based on those workouts and the way the game is setup, it's basically impossible to make it in one shot. Instead, you have to save, then reload, then workout, then save, then reload... over and over again because there are times you will fail and then you would have to start all over again.
It advertises you can use your mii characters that you've created... but it's in an exhibition game and you don't get to choose which ones you want on the team. Not cool. Besides success mode and the lack of control with mii characters, I would say the "My Life" option is the only other setback. Here you can create your own character, work your way up from AAA (instead of AA like success) and "live the life of one of your favorite baseball players" which means all of the fun stuff I just explained in the success mode, plus you get to play golf, buy stuff to help you workout/train on your own, go out to the movies and oh, did I mention buy random stuff. Like success mode this also does a great job at making you forget that you are playing a baseball game. There's donations to be made and you have to worry about how well liked you are and such, blah blah blah, no thanks.

Sorry, there's one more. There's season mode and league mode. Season mode is what people are used to with baseball games, but you don't just play games like you did for Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball, instead you have to jump on the bandwagon like all the other newer games out there that think you actually want to take the time and manage a team between games. I have to say though, this is the mode I play in and it is really fun once you ignore most of the managing parts. The League mode I just don't understand, I think its for when you have friends over and you want to play a tournament against your buddies, so each picks a team and then you have to play against each other, that's a long sleepover.
If you're lazy, you can actually change all the info on preexisiting characters, give them different numbers, batting stances/swings, pitching forms, handedness, names and skin tone to name a few.

Keep in mind that I am just one customer. I may have a lot of things to say about this game, but this also comes from a guy who would be upset if it didn't have all those options. They are fun to play for a little bit, but can get tiresome. I really enjoy creating a team in season mode and working from day one to the world series. Just keep in mind that when you create a team and grab really good players like ARod and Sabathia, you will come across them when you play their original team, which is good in that your team doesn't completely dominate the stat book (which it won't) and bad because it's dumb (especially in the NL) to hit/pitch against yourself.

Go buy this game, you won't regret it. It is very fun with top of the line gameplay.

Hello,
Much anticipated follow up to last years debut. I played the Japanese version over 20 years ago. Still amazes me how little animated figures can be so fluid in game play.

Pitching is very similar to last year. Batting, however, is different. The Bat, not the player moves. It looks a little ackward at first but you kind of get the hang of it.

Major league life mode has been added to the already fun success and season mode. The life mode lets you be the ball player.

I will keep you posted as I continue to play.

Nana

I played this game quite a bit when I first bought it about a year ago, but haven't played it much at all since. It takes awhile to get used to the swinging with the nunchuk controls. As a result, you can't just have people over and play unless they know what they're doing a little. Personally, I found the game a bit difficult to get any good at. I did like that you could create your own player and come up through the minors with him. Takes alot of time though. I don't have any other baseball games for the wii, so I can't really compare this to them.