Customer Reviews

MVP 06: NCAA Baseball

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have read the review that other's wrote and I still bought the game. Everyone complains that there are no crowd chants or school fight songs, etc. Let me ask you something, Have you ever been to a college baseball game? THEY DON'T PLAY FIGHT SONGS!!!!! If the game had that it would be annoying and corny.

This game is a ton of fun. It's very realistic and challenging. Sure you can creat players, blow out there rankings and make them a superstar... You will win the College World Series if you do that. If you like baseball games the way they are meant to be, then you will love this one.

There is only one con about the game. I mean only one! When you think that you have squeeked on by the computer for a base hit, they will make a tremendous play and get you out... That can be a little frustrating, but that's baseball. Everything else is awesome. I think this game is a must buy...

Dynasty mode is the way to go... Recruiting can be tough, but don't worrry, you will get transfers! If you start a dynasty with a terrible team or create your own school, you will get transfers to help your program.

If you like a challenge and you are a true baseball fan, then you need this game. The rest of the reviews are for those that want to open the game and win the college world series in 4 seasons... That's not even fun...

This will be a review of the only part of the game I have played. Dynasty Mode. It all works like the past MVP games, start your season and pick a team. For me it is UCLA. I started and was a little scepticle of the load and fire swing. Once you get use to the swing it is a very fun game. When I fist started I would get maybe 3-5 hits a game. Now i am at 9-11 hits and it is a realistic stat for the college game. I still cant put together consecutive hits and that is why I only score 3-6 runs a game. But it beats scoring 15-20 every game as in the past.

The hitting part is probably the hardest of the whole game. You have three options as to how you want to hit the ball, power, normal, and contact. Pull the left trigger for power, pull the right trigger for contact and pull nothing for a normal swing. The power swing is good for sacrifice flies or if you are lucky enough a homerun. Homeruns are realistic, I have hit roughly 25 in 50 games and I have seen only 2 or 3 go over 400 feet. Triples are hard to come by, and doubles dont happen very often either, that is becasue the outfielder, both computer and user have rocket arms. This can be helped though by using the gameplay tuning. Balls hit to the wall now are sure doubles when before I was out by 3 steps at second.

The pitching is the same as the other MVP games, the only drawback to the pitching is sometimes the batter pulls a Nomar Garciaparra and re-adjusts his gloves, kicks the dirt off his feet, etc. sometimes it takes as long as 5-6 seconds between pitches.

The fielding on this game is the best so far. With the new load and fire fielding, you use the right analog thumbstic, if you push to the right it goes to first base and up is second and so forth. If the stick is not directly right (say alittle upper right) the throw will be off line. You have to watch the meter as you throw, if you let go to soon the ball will sail high and maybe overthrow the base or if you hold to long the ball will go in the dirt making it harder for the infielder covering the bag.

The outfield works the same way, the only problem I have is trying to hit the cutoff man, the book says to click the right thumbstick down and push down to hit the cutoff man, sometimes it ends up throwing the ball to homeplate.

As for the dynasty mode, you play a four month season and after that is the conference tourney followed by the regionals and super regional. If you are lucky to make it through that then you get to go on to Omaha and play in the College World Series. I have yet to reach it there, I am still in the season.

Stadiums, well they are kind of plain, but you can create a stadium but there is little to it, you get to pick a fence and set your dimensions and pick a background. thats about it.

Overall, this is a fun game for those who like the college game. There is one person who was mad about there not being free agents or trade but that was covered by another reviewer. It made me laugh though. There is however, recruiting, you get points to put towards your recruits every week and you have to use them wisley. I have about 6 or 7 recruits that i am working on now and you can pick to send them emails or phone calls all the way up to sending a scout or sending the coach to visit. the latter costs more points.

It's to bad that EA is out of the MLB picture, it would be fun to draft the player on the next level. If you dont think the game would be fun, I would challenge you to rent the game first and realize that it really is a fun game.

Well, I thought since the last review was completley pointless that I'd write a review for the game after I just played it for a few hours. Personally, I was excited when I heard EA was making an NCAA baseball game because I am a fan of college baseball. More major league but I have to root for my Irish of Notre Dame. Sadly, EA wont be making an MLB game this year but no worries this seems to be fun. Here's what I love and hated about the game so far.

Pros-

Graphics are fantastic. Couldn't really have done much better.

Player animations are phenomenal. The catcher looks around and gets set in his stance and then throws the ball back after the pitch. After the pitcher recieves it he does his own custom motion to get back into his stance. A little feature but something that I thougt helped bring the game to life. There are other animations taht are great as well but that was one I was particularly impressed with.

Controls are very very good, but comes with an asterisk (I'll explain later). The new load and fire batting I thought was very clever and allows the player to actually get a feel for swining a baseball bat. Very good I thought and the new throwing is good but can have some things worked out.

Ping! Haha the sounds of the game were pretty good, I personally thought that was cool.

The fact that you can play with almost all of the D-1 schools was pretty impressive.

Cons-

Controls may be fun but are hard to pick up easily. The load and fire makes the game more realistic but is hard to pick up. The throwing in this game was paritcularly difficult. There is a new meter which you have to point to the base in which you are throwing and if you make a tiny mistake its either thrown way over the player's head or thrown in the dirt. Makes it more real and doesn't piss you off liek in MVP 05 and before whenever your friend or the computer made a ridiculous play which seemed impossible.

The commentary was a bit weak. Baseball is not exactly a fast paced sport and there seem to be many times in which there is no commentary. It leaves a lot of wholes in the sound. Also with sound, there wasn't much of a crowd which kind of stunk. AND WHERE ARE THE FIGHT SONGS! EA partnered up with Victory records on this game but could only muster up 10 songs in which some are ok. Whatever....

There wasn't a lot to this game. Dynasty mode wasn't much more then recruiting players, keeping people happy and playing baseball. That was about it. There aren't any other really fun modes in the game. Yeah the mini games are ok but it gets old after a while. And create a park gets dull in about five seconds, except that you can creat parks that have the dimensions of Major League parks even though they cant say the real stadiums due to restrictions.

ESPN interaction with the game is cool, although if you can't hook your PS2 up to the internet its sort of worthless.

Overall, the game seemed like its getting there and could be a staple in the sports and video game industry. Although its not a Madden or NCAA football it still seemed to keep me occupied. As long as they get a few more things to do, changing players names was easier to find, some of the controls are tightened up, and they get some more collegiate athletic atmosphere! So is it worth your 30 bucks, it may not be... But if you love baseball and are willing to take a swing at the new line of MVP games go for it... otherwise I'd wait until next year and see what changes they made... And i hoped this helped peopel out considering the guy before this is a complete moron. Haha GO IRISH FIESTA BOWL NEXT YEAR WOOO

Yes, the lack of liscensed major leaguers hurts the title (EA lost the MLB liscense to 2K sports, so they either had to make a college game or sit on the sidelines) but otherwise this game is slightly BETTER than MVP 05. The pitching animations are somewhat better and the stadiums are a little brighter. The default pitching view is from the mound (not behind the plate) and it actually does not change sides depending on whether a lefty or righty is batting.

I only have minor issues with the title: I can do without the load-and-fire mechanism (I choose "zone" batting) and the new throwing mechanic (though that is easier to get used to than the new hitting). Assuming that this game is out in 07, they need to put more teams and stadiums in the game and the rosters should reflect the current ones and not the rosters of the previous spring. A few new mini games would be nice as well.

If you like baseball, can spend a couple of days to adopt a favorite team and learn them like the back of your hand, you'll forget that you're playing college ball after a while.

Here is where I am going to start the review: The analog control. To tell the truth haven't mastered the analog fielding yet and the analog batting takes a bit to master but my question is why the hell didn't anyone think of this earlier? The analog batting makes a ton of sense and the fielding os a pretty good idea too. I remember talking to friends years ago talking about how much sense it would make to use analog batting. But anyway, enough about that.

The bottom line on this game is if you like baseball games (which I do) you should like this. The gameplay is very similar to MVP 05 (which was an MLB game) but the analog controls are a nice addition plus college teams is an interesting idea. Plus, there's some new animations that add a little flare to it.

One very solid addition is the new create a ballpark. You can change wall heights, the wall distance, and there are many more grass options as well as scenery options compared to other baseball games making the ballparks very customizeable. The new create a player is also better as you choose the shape of your players individual parts as opposed to choosing face 1 or face 2 etc.

Of course here are the downsides that every game has:
1. The analog control requires a bit of a learning curve and some people may not get it. You can always change the controls to classic as they were in MVP 05
2. The music generally sucks
3. The create a team is crap. You cannot choose your team's colors. Their logos don't show up on their caps. Also, some of the jerseys look stupid (in my opinion) and the font that has your created team's name on it is basically black Arial. This has room for improvement.

Again, if you are a fan of baseball games and/or the MVP series this game is a good addition to your collection. The transition from MLB to NCAA doesn't seem fully refined yet, but the game is still great and should improve with future titles.

MLB gave the rights to make baseball games to sega (MLB 2K6) and sony (MLB The Show 2006)

EA Sports made this a college game because THEY HAD TO. if they wanted to make a baseball game it had to be a college game or nothing

the game it's self is actually very good. the gameplay is the same as MVP 2005. its different and some new modes. its more fun with colleges, especially if you go to a college that is in the game. its enjoyable, and hey its BASEBALL

I am very pleased with this game. It has very fast load times. The creation engine for creating your own ball park is pretty cool. I do with it ha moe options like a Bush fence instead of just a wall. But overall, cool. I like the classic control of the batting better than the new version, but you do have 3 batting options classic, part classic part new, an the new version. Same thing with fielding.. It just takes some getting used to, honestly I am enjoying game play in classic mode just as well.

I have read the various opinions expressed in the reviews. The key for me in buying NCAA games has always been the fictional players. I am one of those gamers who always needs the updated rosters that each new game provides. However, with the NCAA games this is not necessary and I like that option. I have also heard the complaints about the new throwing and batting controls but rest assured that you have the option of using the classic M.V.P. controls. The lack of home parks for many of the schools shows me that perhaps this was put together in a hurry. When you consider that NCAA football has realistic looking stadiums for all of the schools one would think that would have been possible for this game as well. Having said that, this continues the great tradition of M.V.P. baseball and with the fictional rosters I won't feel the need to buy an updated version every year. GO BLUE!

I'll admit, it takes a while to get used to this game. The hitting is different and all, but once you get used to it it is a lot of fun. I like the quaint little fields and all...Hope you enjoy your playing.

Being a college baseball player, I was not at all upset when I heard that EA was putting out a college baseball game as opposed to the MLB version. In fact I was extremely excited. No longer am I excited about the game. It has some very good features, but overall it is very forgettable, and not very replayable.

Pros:
-Analog batting makes for a more realistic feel to the game. Hitting is a lot about rhythm and this emphasizes that.
-Ping of the bat is just like in a real college game.
-Ability to unlock authentic Rawlings gloves and real bats such as TPX and Eastons.
-Park editor is better than MVP 05.
-Same feel and gameplay as the great MVP 05

Cons:
-Lack of all division one teams. I was looking forward to being in the game but the Ivy League is not in it. Had to create my whole team.
-Create a team does not let you customize uniforms or logos.
-Create a field does not let you customize the stands or scoreboards, only fence and field surface.
-Commentators are just bad. When you throw a changeup or splitter they call it a breaking ball. Color commentary is all but non-existent.
-There is no such thing as a ten run mercy rule in college baseball, but there is in MVP 06.
-Analog throwing prevents pre-loading throws, because it is also the dive function. Makes double play turns look bad.
-Can't purposely bean the batter, even though in college it happens all the time.
-All of the players are too generic. Not every player in college baseball has no facial hair and a buzz cut.
-Throw meter is erratic. I have made tons of errant throws from easy grounders to second because when I expect it to fill at a normal speed it fills very slowly and i let go too soon.
-Lack of real players leaves me very emotionally detached.
-You can steal safely every time.
-Dynasty mode gets old quick. Unlockable gloves and bats and cleats come too rarely, and you should be able to choose which you like best.
-Etc.