Customer Reviews

MVP Baseball 2003

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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...

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.

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!

Let me first note that I'm not a "super gamer"...I'm somewhat older than most and so my reaction/reflex times are slower...I can recommend this game based on my, before mentioned, personal abilities....The graphics are excellent (I have a GeForce 2 Card, Athlon 1.7, 512 Ram, and plenty of Disk Space)...no problem's at all)...The Play by Play Commentary is truly excellent...the best I've ever encountered with a PC based sport game....As pertaining to Gameplay, I tend to play in the lower "ability settings" which works GREAT for me...I haven't played it in the Upper Ablility Settings, so that I cannot comment on those features (the game settings are numerous, so many levels with a multitude of adjustments are availble)...I do enjoy better than Triple Play...So, to summarize, based upon my slower reaction time and adjusting the game for that level, I can heartily recommend MVP Baseball 2003...A great game for slower players (franchise mode is not a great improvement vs. Triple Play)...

MVP Baseball is a pretty terrific game, and I have been playing for a few weeks now, so I have a pretty good feel for it. Its strengths are the incredible graphics and the rather satisfying interface...I like the pitching interface in particular. That said, for the true "baseball experience," I still have to give the nod to High Heat. I miss the little parts of High Heat's gameplay - having to warm up your pitchers in the bullpen first, for example. Unpredictable weather. The minor league system...everything is just a little bit better in High Heat for the complete package. It's really the little things in MVP Baseball that get a little old. Just a few too many spectacular catches, a complete inability to steal (I have one successfuly SB, and my catcher Paul Bako has thrown out 100% of opposing baserunners - Bako? 100%? Hmmmm...) And I really miss the ability to dump every major league player into a pool and draft entirely custom teams. The computer AI is a little off too...they will yank a pitcher at the very first sign of trouble (give up one run and have a runner on second in the 4th inning - YANK.) Overall, MVP 2003 is a very nice game...worth a look. I expect MVP 2004 or 2005 to be spectacular. For now, if you want a more wholistic baseball experience, I give the nod to High Heat. I haven't as of yet tried the online gaming portion of MVP Baseball.

REVIEW UPDATE: After playing this game for several weeks now, I still find this game quite worthwhile, but I am disappointed to say that frankly, the game is a bit too easy, even on the most difficult settings. Still fun, but I'm looking forward to future versions. Also, my review above gives the nod to previous versions of High Heat, particularly 2001...I have not tried the most recent High Heat. I recommend looking at the reviews of that new edition.

As a long-time EA Sports customer, this game is a definite improvement over the Triple Play series, but still has a ways to go to be on par with the Madden and NHL franchises.

I think this game is, at best, a 6/10. Baseball is historically difficult to represent in a video game, but there have been some good ones (Earl Weaver, the very early Triple Play versions, All Star Baseball 2002/3/4, etc.). It just seems if you can't simulate the gameplay, you might as well spend extra time on graphics/sound. EA clearly didn't do this.

Here is a breakdown:

Gameplay
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+ Games go pretty well - fluid for the most part
+ Scores are "lifelike" in all difficulty modes
+ Statistics are accurate for players league-wide
+ Batting, pitching, fielding, throwing meters are easy to use and customizable -- you just need a gamepad with 8-10 buttons
- Computer pitching is too fast - often I can't pinch hit because the computer is in the windup in < 1 second after an inning begins
- Home runs are extremely rare; computer never hit a home run off my pitchers in games I played throughout season
- There are a *lot* of bugs - ie: statistically a player sometimes doesn't get credit for a hit when extending a double to a triple, infield fly sometimes doesn't work (even though announcers announce it)
- There is an inordinate number of line/fly outs to the infield

Graphics
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+ Players look lifelike (in everything but mouth action)
+ Long-distance stadium view is good-looking, as is grass (except in SkyDome (too green for Astroturf) and Bank One Ballpark (dirt from pitchers mound > home looks cheap))
- Players don't appear to be correct height/weight
- Stadiums are a step back from any recent game -- the backgrounds are *very* low-res, cities (ie: Pittsburgh) are improperly rendered, and the scoreboard animations are the same rotating [stuff] from NHL series
- Fans look HORRIBLE - like NHL 2001 "cardboard cutouts" (only attempt at differentiating stadium to stadium is shirt colors - nor are stadiums more or less full based on game)

Sounds
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+ Sounds of ball off bat are rendered well
+ Crowd noise grows in a rally
- Stadium sounds are okay, but ballpark announcers aren't accurate (ie: Fenway and Pac Bell women)
- Play by play is inaccurate, annoying, and repetitive

Features
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- "Franchise" mode is HORRIBLE - nowhere near NHL 2003, All Star Baseball or World Series Baseball's (Xbox/PS2) franchise mode
- The Homerun contest is foolish, since it's extremely difficult to hit them...
- Franchise trade offers are unfair and biased towards the computer (similar to the NHL series)

I got a computer that would play my son's harry potter ame a year ago, and am not a real afficinado of computer games...I don't know an interface from a poker face, and I think that gameplay sounds like an Ice Cube Movie...but I have a little bit of an affection for baseball...again I am not a crazy man, but I go to the ballpark occasionally, and I used to play a little in high school.
With that being said I love playing mvp. Again I don't know alot, but I am having fun. I do not win every game, but I am kicking butt in my division. It is challenging enough to have to make decisions. I lost Barry Bonds a month in, and it actually affected the outcome of the game. I have him back now, and it seemed to bolster the playing of Jose Cruz jr, who bats behind him. You really do get to make decisions that seem to make a difference.
Again, I don't know anything...but I know what I find fun. Sorry, that seems simplistic, but if it is fun, why carp about it. I"m having a blast, and can't wait for the big series against the diamondbacks.

What a game. This is no doubt the best baseball game in the world! The graphics are mouth dropping and the players look life like. You couldn't ask for anything better. There's an indepth Franchise, where you can run a team for 10 years. AWESOME! And then they have every other game mode possible. Like Home Run Showdown, Tournament, and Season.

Quick advice, get this game if you LOVE BASEBALL. MVP BASEBALL rocks the house, don't buy High Heat or ALL STAR BASEBALL. EA you've done it again.

This is the game of the year. I enjoy playing this game so much. It has great graphics and the rosters are the same as the 2003 baseball season and that is the best thing ever and they also have a pitching bullpen just for the home tam and the vising team<br />

This game is great if all you want to do is win. I mean everyone wants to win, but when all your pitchers are 20 game winners and all your hitters are batting over .300, it kinda takes some of the fun out of it. Granted, my team is the Yankees, but they're not as good as that, haha. One thing that I find extremely hard is base stealing. I haven't been able to pull it off yet! The only stolen bases my players have is when I sim the games. I could see if Pudge Rodriguez was catching it would be harder to steal, but Piazza?!?! And while Posada has gotten better at throwing guys out at second, he didn't get everybody, but in this game he has. It seems that whenever a player steals, the guy at the plate takes a called strike which isn't very realistic.

The graphics are good and the ballparks look great. The players look pretty good, though some look better than others. For instance, Giambi doesn't look much like Giambi, but Pettitte looked just like Pettitte. Right down to the chin cleft. Also, the pitchers pitch just like they do in real life. It's especially fun when you have a pitcher that has a distinctive style. I laughed out loud when I played the Angels and Ben Weber came in to relieve the starter. He does that same jerky thing with his glove before he throws a pitch!

I did like the fact that you can download updated rosters and even brand new players like Matsui and Contreras. One thing I don't like about the rosters is that when players are traded, they wear the same numbers and there is no way to change them. That is frustrating not only because of retired numbers, but also because you might get 2 or more players with the same number.

Another thing I like is they actually have umpires and you can see them make the calls, though you can't argue the calls. I think they should have included base coaches too.

All in all this was a fun game, but they could've made it a little better.