Amazon.com: MVP Baseball 2005: PC: Video Games

26 Reviews

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3.9 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)

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65 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Elite of 2005's Lineup, March 13, 2005

By	G. Guberlal - See all my reviews

MVP Baseball 2005 is the closest game currently on the market to give you the most in-depth baseball experience possible. In my opinion, the only people not liking some aspects of this game will be New York Yankees fans. It's not only Manny on the cover, but also the intro video, cracks and comments throughout the games and even a song praising Boston's first title in 86 years. Well, all I can say is, if you can't overlook those things, you're missing one fantastic game. Let's break it down:

Owner Mode:
New this year is Owner Mode where you begin with picking a stadium (not one of the existing ballparks, but a starter stadium) and making a few upgrades (seating, lights, whatever you can afford before opening day). You can add a restaurant, set ticket prices, make promotional days and on and on.

You have a financial advisor for the season, budget reports, player contracts, etc. One note: Yes, you can be the owner and play the game just like you would in Dynasty Mode. You can sim, play individual games, manage the game or sit in your luxury box and watch it all take place. There is so much to this mode that I couldn't possibly fit it into this review.

Dynasty Mode:
This mode is essentially the same as last year. Keep the owner happy, the players, do contracts and play the games. It's been updated and tweaked for more user friendly experience. And I can't leave out that this year, you even have single-A teams in addition to AA, AAA, and MLB.

Mini Games:
Instead of just a Home Run Derby, EA has included a variety of features that can teach you different aspects of the game. There is batting practice, pitching practice and also a scenario editor. To me, I found it to be an enjoyable experience especially when hitting the cars and busses over the outfield wall. This seems like a throw back to Triple-Play 2000 when you had target practice.

Graphics:
Simply amazing. Need I say more? The players faces and stances are mirrored to their real-life counterparts. Cutscenes, and animations are gorgeous. The only thing I found a proble with was the crowd...even in 2005, they are still wooden-looking. That's a sacrifice you have to make and it doesn't detract from the game experience.

Gameplay:
What a shift from last year! Pitching is now a lot more realistic with the way you use the meter. Instead on the old meter where you set power and tried to hit right spot, they have upgraded it to you having to stop it and exactly the right moment, if not, you risk and early or late breaking pitch. In rookie mode, it's not as big of a deal as it is in MVP mode. Make some mistake pitches in the higher levels and you're asking for trouble.

Batting is great! When you foul off a pitch, a little screen comes up and shows you how you hit it. Fouling off a pitch is a mistimed swing, same as a swing through. Gone is the animation where you swung, missed the ball and it popped up the crazy box to show you missing it. Instead, this year, they have the popup box, yet include the ball trail so you see how you missed it.

Fielding & baserunning is comparable to last years version with some great upgrades to visuals. There are plenty of dives, showboating grabs, wall jumps, and take-out slides.

Ok, I could go on & on with this review because, like I said, this is the most in-depth baseball game I have ever seen. If you want the best out there, MVP Baseball 2005 hits a Home Run. See you ONLINE for a head-to-head contest!

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a Grand Slam!, August 15, 2005

By	Englishman In the USA (Lincoln, Nebraska) - See all my reviews

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

When "High Heat", the previous baseball sim went out of production due to the bankruptcy of the software company, there was a void in the market, and Electronic Arts' first few offereings in this genre were far from acceptable; riddled with holes, bad plays, lack of flexibility. MVP 2004 was their first serious attempt to produce a realistic basebal sim, and they didn't do too badly although it took several releases of software patches last year before the gamer had anything like a realistic product.

MVP 2005 is almost perfect. I generally play it on a pc, in Dynasty mode (where you take command of a major league team, it's AAA AND it's AA minor league affiliates, and play them season after season....)On the plus side is the real names of ALL players who are members of the players union - the player editor allows you to change, for example the name to Barry Bonds of the Giants, and give him the correct skin tone! The player editor is a powerful tool, allowing you to adjust hitting, fileding, running and pitching elements so, if you find a player who is not a member of the union and want to put him into your team, it is relatively easy to do so.You can even create him if you wish rather than alter an existing computer-created player!

There are also differing difficulty levels (the rookie level is so absurdly easy you will rapidly get bored with it) and I have yet to find anyone who has played an entire season at the highest level and NOT finished at the bottom of their division ! The rendering of the stadiums is superb (although EA skimped on the renderings of the crowd - VERY poorly done!),and player motion is excellent, even accomodating unique batting stances for the major players, such as Julio Franco of the Atlanta Braves and his very unique stance. You can control player development from your AA and AAA farm system, absolutely superb programming from a gaming viewpoint.

On the minus side, you will spend an eternity changing game settings to create a realistic game; too easy and you will get bored with winning 20-1 with every game; too high and you rapidly get discouraged with the computer opponents seemingly endless stream of home runs hit against your best pitchers! There is also a double commentator feature, which some people find annoying, others love. Personally, I have the commentary turned on for realism, although sometimes it can get a little inane. You can charge the mound if you get hit by a pitch; you can dive or run for a catch; you can steal bases; everything is there in dynasty mode except for one detail: if you have the settings so the umpires make occasional bad calls, you can't have your manager rush out of the dugout to argue a bad call (and risk getting thrown out!; a minor detail, but important, nonetheless.

However, if you are prepared to research the correct names and information online for ALL the minor league players, and change their names and information as appropriate, and spend the time adjusting game settings so performance is not too easy or too hard, this is DEFINATELY the best baseball sim EVER to have come out for both the computer AND the gaming console market.

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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For as much fun as this is, what's wrong with MLBPA and/or MLB?, April 2, 2006

By	Norm Cash "for fun" (Ferndale, MI USA) - See all my reviews

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

I'm not sure who issues the rights to gaming comapanies in professional sports. I only know that it happens. And it happens that EA Sports does not have the rights to put Major League players in their game anymore. What a shame. And shame on whichever powers in Major League Baseball, because this means there is no 2006 game for the PC. Thus the high price for MVP 2005 which, a year after its release, is more expensive than MVP 2006, the game that reverts to the alternative by simulating NCAA baseball.

I have enjoyed PC formatted baseball performance games for the last several years. Before EA sports, I played High Heat baseball, which was the dominant PC game a few years back. Now there are none. This will not cause me to go out and buy a new platform, such as the X-box, Gamecube or whatever just to be able to play the games there. No, it will just be counted as another loss. Major League Baseball has made every attempt to abandon the 40+ crowd for the past two decades. I don't know why.

Until they pour water over the smouldering of my burning desire for baseball, there is still MVP 2005 for me. I won't take the time to modify and create rosters to make it the fun it should be. I don't have the time.

Thank you EA Sports for the wonderful game. RIP, MLB.