MVP Baseball 2004

by EA Canada

Product Features

• Groundbreaking Hitting Control: From hitting to the opposite field to pulling the ball down the line to swinging for the fences, every swing type is included.
• You Control the Field: Leap over the wall and rob home runs, hook slide to avoid tags, and take out the catcher at home with all-new player control.
• Pick Your Park: With all-new crowd chants, the addition of classic stadiums, and new lighting to signify various start times for your biggest games, MVP Baseball 2004 puts you in the best seat in the house.
• Your Dynasty Begins Now: Take full control of your franchise on all the levels -- from the minors to the pros. Play, sim, or manage each game all the way to the World Series.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001HAI8Q
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 9, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (127 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,440 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #26 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Sports > Baseball

Product Description

Platform: PlayStation2

Amazon.com Review

It's truly refreshing to play a sports game that feels polished and finished. MVP 2004 is a beautiful, deep baseball game. The game is full of options and more options, but the developers didn't miss an opportunity to make a nice baseball game. The game play is terrific, surprising, and right on.

The actual game presentation and graphics are very good. Ballparks from major league cities and spring training facilities are all top-notch. Boston's Green Monster, San Francisco's cove, Philadelphia new PNC Park are just a few examples of a devotion to "get it right." The character animations are fluid and detailed. Pitching, base running, and fielding are easy to pick up and the controls make sense. It'll take a few games to get used to the batting, though. But after you get the hang of it, you'll be hitting homers before you know it.

As for options, MLB 2004 has numerous ways you can enjoy this gem. There is the exhibition mode where you pick two teams and get after it. Rosters are accurate and attributes appear to be very fair. Season play offers varying lengths of schedules, from 14 to 162 games.

Overall, EA Sports recreates all that is good about baseball and packages it in MVP 2004. The game just has the "feel" of being well-balanced and complete. I hope this game is a sign of things to come from EA's sophomore series. --Andrew S. Bub

Pros:

• Great fielding and batting models
• Good physics and presentation

Cons:

• Boring commentary

Product Description

Players can take full control of their franchise on all the levels -- from the minors to the pros -- and play, sim, or manage each game all the way to the World Series. Featuring rich new presentation, realistic player models, and enhanced animations. Other new features include an improved fielding model, added front office options, full EA Sports Bio compatibility, and competitive play.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spring is here, and so is Baseball., March 22, 2004

By 

Robert Pace "Hugs and Curses." (Smithtown, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MVP Baseball 2004 (Video Game)

Welp, spring is upon us and whereas its freezing in NY, the heat being generated by MVP Baseball 2004 is incredible.

Graphically, this game is impressive. Every patch, stitch and wrinkle in the players uniforms is visible. The sky is gorgeous during the day and filled with stars at night. The grass looks great and every stadium is meticulously detailed down to the little things, like running fountains in KC. The player animations, which looked awesome in 2003, have been completely upgraded. I've played approximately 30 games and I still see new animations for fielders taking hops or scooping a bum throw. EA has included crowd animations for the "lower bowl" section of the stadiums, so it truly seems that they get up and cheer when they are expected to.

The gameplay on the field is much the same as 2003, and this year All-Star actually seems to be a difficult setting. I stopped playing 2003 as it became too easy on the hardest setting. I can tell that I'll be playing a full 162 this year. On the field, the players play pretty kmuch the same, with throw meters and so forth. Nothing has changed. Fantastically, EA has added gameplay sliders to increase or decrease the game play abilities in nearly every facet. It seems that EA took a cue from High Heat. The slider will have to be played with and adjusted to your liking. The outfielders run and throw a bit weakly on the default settings, so its common to give up 4 or 5 triples a game. Playing with the sliders has increased thew realism dramatically.

Pitching is exactly the same. Pick your spot, throw your pitch and hit both spots on the meter or its gone. The selection of pitches seems to be realistic and they break the way they're meant to break, so it looks really nice.

Hitting is much the same as last year. Use the left analog to control the direction of the hit, and be patient. The CPU throws alot of offspeed stuff and striking out is very much a big reality, at least to me. Ive learned to lay off the bad stuff, but it took some timing. If the CPU throws a ball thats way out of the way, the yellow X comes up. If they botch a pitch in them zone, the pink or blue circle comes up, just blast it to where it has to go. Sometimes you get a bunch of bad pitches in the game, sometimes you dont. The opposing pitcher really does make a difference if it's an ace of a staff or some nobody just called up from thje minors.

Speaking of minors, this is a really cool aspect. Every team has its AAA and AA affiliate available to use. You can control the minor league teams as part of your dynasty. Call up a rocket starter, or send down a poor perfomance reliever if need be, and the greatest thing is, many of the players in the minors are the actual players in the organizations farm team. Guys like Brandon Claussen from the Reds, Erik Almonte from the Yankees and Miguel Acensio from the Royals are involved in the minor league doings.

The major league rosters are updated as of 1/2004, so don't expect A-Rod on the Yanks, just simply trade him over and save it as your roster. Also, I believe EA will supporting an updated roster download via the internet connection once the season begins.

As for the online play, the servers are very out of whack. Id go into details, but EA has stated that they will be fixed by the time the season begins, so hopefully it'll be a non-issue. If it isnt, there will be some angry people out there.

Other added features to this years release have helped the realism. The CPU can actually tag you deep this season. Last year, in 65 games my entire team had given up 3 home runs. Its nice to play against the Twins and know that Tori Hunter is actually able to blast you if you screw up a pitch. Injuries are back and play a big part in your day to day lineup, and new this season are suspensions.

If you get beaned with a pitch you have an option to charge the mound, resulting in a bench clearing brawl. Your player will be ejected, and possibly injured or suspended, so dont charge just for the fun of charging, unless youre just playing around.

One issue everyone has, and it ISN'T EA's fault is....there's no Barry Bonds. He is not a member of the MLBPA and it's illegal to add him to any video game. Luckily the SF Giants have a very powerful, very good outfielder named John Dowd. Simply edit his name and b-day and you've got Bonds in the game.

Overall, EA has always impessed me with graphics and short term fun. This product looks like they've answered the calls of many fans and created a game which will have long term playability.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Loving the Game but..., June 15, 2004

By 

"geforce_6800" - See all my reviews

This review is from: MVP Baseball 2004 (Video Game)

I really enjoyed playing this game the first time I got it, but...there still are some annoying things in here. I own MVP Baseball 2003 which was a big improvement from the Triple Play Series, but that doesn't really mean that the game was good itself. Now MVP 2004 has gotten rid of the majority of the glitches and whatnot, to make this a truly great game with almost flawless gameplay.

The thing that really bothered this game from being perfect is that;(1). First whenever you take a swing at a high heater or a slow changeup or whatever it shows you a replay EVERY single time of you swinging and missing in a little box on the bottem right corner. And the thing is that you cannot turn that off so you just have to live with it. (2). Slow outfielders. They had this same problem on the '03 game but they didn't bother to fix it. The game has slow outfielders so if a hitter hits it into the gap, which in real life would only be a fair double but the majority of the times it will turn into a triple. Or if theres a ball hit into foul territory, and your in the outfield, chances are you probably won't catch up to the ball. Which is very unrealistic because outfielders can usually catch up to a foul ball very quickly. (3). Easy Pitching. I believe in my own opinion that this game has too easy pitching. The strike zone is too large so that a pitch up and away or down and in would be easily called a strike. (4). Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow (game annoucners) gets repettitive once you play the game for awhile.

Now since I got the cons out of the way, here are the Pro's; (1). A much deeper franchise/dynasty mode which you can now have a minor league system with all of the original rosters and teams. (2). More awards like the Gold Glove Award™, Rookie of the Year Award, etc. (3). Breath taking Graphic. (4). Flawless Gameplay (5). Unlockable Historic Jerseys, Stadiums, Players, etc. from getting MVP Points. (6). Now to cover for the bad announcers, the fans and stadium music are just PERFECT. It really feels like you're in the Stadium with the crowd. EA Sports did a very good job in that category.

So in my final thoughts, if you're a Hardcore Baseball Fan, get this, if you're not I still think you should get this but if you think you might waste your money thinking its not exactly what you wanted, then go ahead to your local video/game store and rent it for $5 and then make up your mind.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Baseball is here., March 25, 2004

By 

Robert Pace "Hugs and Curses." (Smithtown, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MVP Baseball 2004 (Video Game)

Welp, spring is upon us and whereas its freezing in NY, the heat being generated by MVP Baseball 2004 is incredible.

Graphically, this game is impressive. Every patch, stitch and wrinkle in the players uniforms is visible. The sky is gorgeous during the day and filled with stars at night. The grass looks great and every stadium is meticulously detailed down to the little things, like running fountains in KC. The player animations, which looked awesome in 2003, have been completely upgraded. I've played approximately 30 games and I still see new animations for fielders taking hops or scooping a bum throw. EA has included crowd animations for the "lower bowl" section of the stadiums, so it truly seems that they get up and cheer when they are expected to.

The gameplay on the field is much the same as 2003, and this year All-Star actually seems to be a difficult setting. I stopped playing 2003 as it became too easy on the hardest setting. I can tell that I'll be playing a full 162 this year. On the field, the players play pretty kmuch the same, with throw meters and so forth. Nothing has changed. Fantastically, EA has added gameplay sliders to increase or decrease the game play abilities in nearly every facet. It seems that EA took a cue from High Heat. The slider will have to be played with and adjusted to your liking. The outfielders run and throw a bit weakly on the default settings, so its common to give up 4 or 5 triples a game. Playing with the sliders has increased thew realism dramatically.

Pitching is exactly the same. Pick your spot, throw your pitch and hit both spots on the meter or its gone. The selection of pitches seems to be realistic and they break the way they're meant to break, so it looks really nice.

Hitting is much the same as last year. Use the left analog to control the direction of the hit, and be patient. The CPU throws alot of offspeed stuff and striking out is very much a big reality, at least to me. Ive learned to lay off the bad stuff, but it took some timing. If the CPU throws a ball thats way out of the way, the yellow X comes up. If they botch a pitch in them zone, the pink or blue circle comes up, just blast it to where it has to go. Sometimes you get a bunch of bad pitches in the game, sometimes you dont. The opposing pitcher really does make a difference if it's an ace of a staff or some nobody just called up from thje minors.

Speaking of minors, this is a really cool aspect. Every team has its AAA and AA affiliate available to use. You can control the minor league teams as part of your dynasty. Call up a rocket starter, or send down a poor perfomance reliever if need be, and the greatest thing is, many of the players in the minors are the actual players in the organizations farm team. Guys like Brandon Claussen from the Reds, Erik Almonte from the Yankees and Miguel Acensio from the Royals are involved in the minor league doings.

The major league rosters are updated as of 1/2004, so don't expect A-Rod on the Yanks, just simply trade him over and save it as your roster. Also, I believe EA will supporting an updated roster download via the internet connection once the season begins.

As for the online play, the servers are very out of whack. Id go into details, but EA has stated that they will be fixed by the time the season begins, so hopefully it'll be a non-issue. If it isnt, there will be some angry people out there.

Other added features to this years release have helped the realism. The CPU can actually tag you deep this season. Last year, in 65 games my entire team had given up 3 home runs. Its nice to play against the Twins and know that Tori Hunter is actually able to blast you if you screw up a pitch. Injuries are back and play a big part in your day to day lineup, and new this season are suspensions.

If you get beaned with a pitch you have an option to charge the mound, resulting in a bench clearing brawl. Your player will be ejected, and possibly injured or suspended, so dont charge just for the fun of charging, unless youre just playing around.

One issue everyone has, and it ISN'T EA's fault is....there's no Barry Bonds. He is not a member of the MLBPA and it's illegal to add him to any video game. Luckily the SF Giants have a very powerful, very good outfielder named John Dowd. Simply edit his name and b-day and you've got Bonds in the game.

Overall, EA has always impessed me with graphics and short term fun. This product looks like they've answered the calls of many fans and created a game which will have long term playability.

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