8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow..., March 26, 2003
This review is from: MVP Baseball 2003 (CD-ROM)
Finally, EA Sports junked Triple Play and created a game from scratch. Now the graphics are even better than that of High Heat Baseball and gameplay is more real. The pitching/batting is completely redone with a realistic sense of speed (you'll really be tricked by offspeed pitches) and they also added strength meters for fielding for those who would risk a wild throw for an impossible pick off. Pitching is a bit tricky at first, but at least now you can have more than 4 pitches. There's also a new kind of Homerun derby that is more fun than the typical ones.
I'm sure there are negative points we'll eventually find with the game but for now it's the best baseball game out there. If you like baseball, get this! BTW, I do not work for EA...
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant!, December 7, 2003
A Kid's Review
This review is from: MVP Baseball 2003 (CD-ROM)
EA Sports' MVP Baseball 2003 is the best baseball game I have ever played. I'm not sure how they are going to make a better game next year. The pitching and batting interfaces are ingenious. The graphics are amazing, the best I've seen of any of the games I've ever played - and that's a lot.
The game has four different modes (besides "Play Now") - Franchise, Season, Tournament, and Home Run Showdown. I think Franchise is the most fun because in Franchise you are the manager. You are given a set of goals you must complete within a 5-year period. Your team has a budget and payroll, and the players have contracts. Your team may not go overbudget. You will learn this when you first try to trade a half-rate mediocre pitcher for Barry Bonds. The currnecy is in "Points". For example: A-Rod is about 8,000 of 40,040 points the Rangers have. Also when you create a player they are given point values depending on how good or bad you make them. When you sign free agents, they will want a certain amount of money, and if you can't give it to them, they will become angry and refuse to negotiate. Only play Franchise mode if you are an experienced gamer, who plays fair and is experienced in economics. You are graded on your managing skills (F-A+), good grades increase your anual budget.
Season mode is for those who like to stack up their own teams and blow all others out of the water. You can create a mass of elite soldiers and simply add them to your team. And this is where you can trade a half-rate pitcher for Barry Bonds. There is no Payroll of Budget, and you are not graded.
There is really nothing to say about Tournament mode, except that there is pool play or playoffs.
Home Run Showdown is different from a derby, you set a distance, and the first one to reach that distance with all your combined hits (homeruns, flyballs, groundballs) wins. It is a lot of fun.
This game is wonderful for the baseball fanatic. Most of the players' faces are edited to look like them in real life. And there are many signature batting stances and pitching motions (that you can assign your created players.)
The controls in this game are your basic number pad controls.
For pitching and defense: When you pitch, you control how fast the pitches will be and how much movement is on them. Any pitcher may have up to 5 pitches, and Pitch Types are rated on a scale of 100. There is a pitching meter that will tell you how much speed and movement is on the ball. And finaly, there are different types of curveballs and sliders, some sink, some move across the plate, and ect. Controling your fielders is difficult at first but you will adjust quickly. Use the arrow keys to throw to a base. You can also contol how hard your fielders throw by holding in the key.
For Batting: All you realy need to know is CTRL is swing. But you can control if you will hit a fly ball of groundball by using the arrow keys.
For Baserunning: Use the arrow keys to control which base you want them to run to.
This game is excellet. If you love baseball, you will love this game.
The only thing was - When I first got the game and installed it, there was too much choppiness to play. I was very fustraited. I soon realised that the feature "Live Big Screens" was on. I turned it off and the game worked fine. all the feature is, is a screen on the score board showing the exact same thing on the monitor. It really makes no difference.
Overall Presentation: Brilliant. Menues, Gamplay, Graphics, all brilliant.
Graphics: The best I've ever seen on any console.
Gamplay: Outstanding. Will not take up much time, the games seem to be long, but when you look at your clock you realise it's only been about 25 minutes.
Sound: Excellent quality sound. Commentators can be repetative (but who isn't) but they will keep you in the game.
Lasting Appeal: This game will last you a long time. Once you are done with a season, play another one, you won't get tired of it.
Difficulty: Not too difficult. Rookie, Pro, and All-Star. Rookie is increadibly easy, you will soon move on to Pro and All-Star.
If you ever read a negative review about this game, DO NOT LISTEN!!!! This game is a masterpiece by EA Sports.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome rebuild of the EA Sports Baseball Franchise!!, March 31, 2003
This review is from: MVP Baseball 2003 (CD-ROM)
This game is awesome!! I wanted a good baseball sim after giving up on High Heat (which always had problems on PC's), and EA Sports has come up with a dandy! There are some things that will ultimately need upgrading (for example, a meter showing the pitcher's fatigue level would be good), but this is a game that was rebuilt from the ground up and two years in the making. In an interview, the rep from EA Sports said there will be more features added next year.
The graphics are amazing - the ballparks are rendered beautifully, and the players look more realistic than ever, right down to their motions. The franchise mode is cool too, with the goals listed by team. And the announcers are better than ever - for the first time, they don't sound disjointed in their commentary - in fact, sometimes, like on TV, the game will be going on, and they'll banter back and forth and seamlessly go back to calling the action when a ball is hit(and I may be a little biased with this - I'm a transplant from the SF Bay Area who spent many a night listening/watching to Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, and watched Krukow win his 20th game in 1986 at the 'Stick) At one point, I just had the CPU play against itself, and my son and I watched the game, and it was like watching one on TV. Amazing!!
If you're looking for a good baseball sim that doesn't crash on your desktop (I run XP by the way), that really captures the realism of America's pastime, this is the one to get this year!
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