MVP Baseball 2003

by EA Canada

Product Features

• Also Available On: Xbox

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000088KH7
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 11, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,843 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #19 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Sports > Baseball

Product Description

Platform: PlayStation2

Amazon.com Review

In baseball, if a pitcher starts losing control the manager yanks him. It’s a smart thing to do because baseball tends to flow in streaks. This is why EA Sports came out to the mound and pulled the ailing Triple Playseries. Never a critical favorite, it was too arcade and not enough simulation. Triple Play just wasn't performing, and fans were beginning to notice what the other baseball sims were doing better (almost everything). So rookie MVP 2003 trots out to the mound for its day in the sun. It’s a step in the right direction.

MVP looks great. The field, players, and animations are all smooth and realistic looking. Instead of placing the camera directly behind the batter in the default view, they’ve gone for a slightly tilted camera that better simulates a batter’s view of the ball screaming in. The only graphical glitch is that the batting box is too small visually. Curves don’t break correctly, change-ups don’t drop enough, and this just plain looks weird. However, the mini-diamond that shows the situation (including how much of a lead the opposing team's runners take) is just about perfect.

Rather than simply demanding you keep your eye on the ball, MVP has a batting box that predicts where the ball will go. This makes hitting too easy and pitching a bit too hard. A pitcher has too little time to get the ball icon within the strike zone. Other sims do it better. The other problem is with fielding. You have decent control (they avoided World Series Baseball’s rookie error) but changing players is neither quick nor easy and the game forces your player to dive when you don’t want to. Tossing it back to base isn’t as intuitive or smooth as it should be either. You’ll get used to it but, again, other games do it much better.

MVP is a strong debut but it just isn’t a contender for the Hall of Fame.--Andrew S. Bub

Pros:

• Great graphics
• Realistic baseball action
• Franchise mode

Cons:

• Pitches don’t "break" correctly
• Fielding system is out of whack
• Franchise mode lacks initial draft

Product Description

MVP BASEBALL 2003 sets the standard for player animations, franchise mode play, game depth, and more. It also delivers the excitement and drama of baseball's defining moment -- the pitcher or batter showdown. The pitcher can make mistakes and fail to execute, and with a more intuitive batting model, you have more control at the plate.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Initial Review, March 12, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: MVP Baseball 2003 (Video Game)

I just purchased this game today and have been playing for a couple of hours now and want to share some immediate feedback for those of you not sure about this title. I cannot speak to other titles as this is the only one I have played this year. This is in no way similar to Triple Play...it has a totally different look/feel. I mention that because the screenshots I have seen floating around out there didn't give me that impression.

1. The pitching system is excellent. With a little practice you will feel like you actually have control over the pitching game, pitch by pitch. You will never go back to the typical pitch system after using this, as it adds an element of intensity to the game. My suggestion though...turn off the fade until you get the hang of it!

2. In batting, you hit almost everything you swing at but most turn into outs. The ability to try to place hits is a great feature, and I imagine will be a key feature down the road. By the way, I have yet to hit a homerun. I'm playing rookie so you can adjust hit levels. You can adjust just about everything in this game...it was well thought out.

3. Baserunning...again, the PIP system is revolutionary. You will have so much to watch at the same time, and control, and track...it overwhlems you at first, but once you get the hang of it, it again adds a new dimension of control and intensity. Excellent, excellent feature! Lots for you to do here.

4. You have several camera views to choose from...including behind the pitcher, for both batting and pitching. You can also adjust the view to alternate...3 from behind the pitcher, and 2 from behind the plate. Also, you can change the ratio to 3-1, or always behind the pitcher, or angled behind the plate, or centered behind the plate (the tradiional view).

5. Great ambient sounds. Organ music, crowd, vendors! OK commentary. Multiple uniforms to choose from. Can set game to day or night.

6. Stadiums looks great. Not as crystal clear as what I have seen on Sega screenshots but I think EA's look more realistic. Here's an example of what I mean...I can't remember ever going to a night baseball game where you could actually see a sky full of stars...usually the glare of lights mixed with hazy downtown atmosphere makes it impossible to see stars that clearly...that's what you get in this game, the realistic glow of the lights, as opposed to being able to see all the stars like Sega. It makes the stadiums seem very real, very big, and very 3-dimensional.

7. Fielding: The ps2.ign.com review made it seem like this was a disaster area, but that's an exaggeration. I have not had the goofy things happended that that reviewer mentioned, like diving for balls right in front of you, but I set the control to manual fielding, not assisted, so maybe that's the difference. The only thing about fielding I don't like is how they tend to stand in throwing position every time they touch the ball. Sometimes I don't want to see that. But I can live with it.

8. There are tons options you can adjust in this game...just about every aspect, to customize to what you like.

I can't speak to Franchise or any of that as it's too soon. You defintely can create players and you have a million options there, like what you expect with EA.

My only other comment is the batters tend to squat lower than normal, and a couple have "noodly" arms. But really as far as graphics that's it. The rest is gorgeous. The "camera" work is tremendous.

All in all a great game...oustanding pitching/batting interplay. Awesome baserunning, superb atmosphere/ambience. A real baseball feel. I would imagine if you are a Sega devotee this game might be a bit too much to control. I don't mean that to be insulting, I think Sega targets a more sim environment, which in baseball means a lot of sitting/standing/waiting/watching. In this game there's a heck of a lot going on with each and every pitch I (like just delievering the right pitch itself) and not a lot of down time to ponder things like how the stars look, or if there's a blimp overhead. That may aggarvate Sega devotees much like NBA Live did in its arcade presentation. Keep in mind, this is not an arcade version of baseball! It;s just that you are heavily involved in every single aspect of the gameplay, so there's no time to rest.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paradigm shift--baseball will never be the same again!, March 14, 2003

By 

John Coyle (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MVP Baseball 2003 (Video Game)

In short, this game delievers as promised, a complete overhaul of the way baseball games have been played. What you would expect from the makers of amdden Football. The higest recommendation (from someone who plays all 161 games each year!)

The addition of a pitching meter on par with the kicking meters from Madden Football makes you actually pay attention to each pitch. As your pitcher gets tired, or has less going with that pitch, it becomes harder and harder to hit the target. Of course, you can choose to throw less hard and have a better chance of making an accurate pitch, especially in later innings. The consequences are dire--tipping the pitch--giving the batter the location of the ball, or just hanging a meaty changeup over the plate. I have badly missed due to losing focus, slipping finger, etc, and have seen the balls still up in the air.

Also, hitting is completely new. unlike previous guess the zone and pitch hitting games wher you are trying to lock a cursor on the ball, you are simply swinging. Because of this, picking up the pitch location, speed, type is an absolute must. Each hitter has hot zones which vary depending on facing lefty righty, and how the game is going. The success of your swing is a factor of where the pitch is, the timing, pull the ball? etc. Difficult but enjoyable. I have played about 12 games so far and it has not become the homerun battle that many of the other games quickly descend into.

The game is designed for you to play more than one season. In every other game, skipping a game means that your star players go 0-4 and your starter gets rocked, in an attempt to return to the average the computer thinks the player should be at. This game consists of building up momentum. WHen you reach high momentum, you team tends to roll through simulated games. Also, when simulated, it goes half inning by half inning and you can jump in at any time if it is not going well, or to simply close it out. Each game has a different momentum value. Home games late in the season are high momentum games, as are division games or games vs other leading teams. So, you are expected to skip over lesser games once you get the momentum. Also, players are assigned a point value for their contract. looks like each corresponds to $2,000 of real salary. Anyway, each team has a budget and the budget is varied each yeat depending on success. at the start of your franchise, you have goals for the next five years. For the Yankees, these include winning 4 world series, winning an MVP and Cy Young, winning 60% division games and winning the division, etc. Your budget and ability to manage is dependant upon you meeting these goals. I looked at the Royals, and the golas were significantly different. Win division, above .500....etc.

Trades,as usual are not perfect. You can pick up some nice players if you want to without too much trouble, but it is no longer a freebie, ie., can't trade three scrubs for a star. Have yet to finish a season, but allegedly players improve/fall each year.

THe best baseball game in many years, and clearly the most innovative. Can't imagine going back to cursor pitch games ever again. Like the paradigm shift from Joe Montana football to Madden 2001

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Been Looking for the Perfect Baseball Game since NES, March 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: MVP Baseball 2003 (Video Game)

Every year I buy one or two baseball games since the mid eighties. I've owned an NES, SNES, PSone and PS2 for two years now. Since I live, breathe, and will die sports, baseball especially, I can always find something wrong with it. I have been pretty faithful to EA Sports. Madden, Live, NHL and Triple Play in the past. However, too many things with Triple Play bothered me. Big heads was awful. Thank God that has been corrected. The gameplay of MVP is completely different. It does not feel as if you are just going through the motions and waiting for the ninth inning. MVP is fun. I've played 4 complete, nine inning games. All in one sitting. The pitching is awesome, the hitting is awesome, the fielding is awesome. I set the fielding on assisted because I need to feel in control at all times, but I like to see where the ball is going to land in the outfield. The graphics are much improved since Triple PLay 2002. Home runs are not impossible to hit, but are not every other batter. The only blemish that I have discovered is after fouling the first pitch off in my at bat, as the second pitch was being delivered, the commentator said "And here's the first pitch of the at bat". C'mon guys, pay attention! Finally, I will say that since I am such a control freak with my games, I love the pitching feature which allows you to select your pitch, location and speed. Same with fielding. You can lob a more accurate toss or rifle a speedy throw to the base with less accuracy. This is by far the best baseball game to date, however, as I play more, I'm sure I'll be able to find something to pick apart. I have to, otherwise there would be no reason to buy MVP 2004 next year. :o)

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