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Apr 13 2005
MLB Baseball Review
PSP Game Review | Sports
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| Summary: I suggest it
88
I bought MLB this morning. Due to the fact that MVP is coming out next month, and that (at the time I left my house) there were no reviews for this game, I took a gamble. A $39.99 gamble. It could work out, and the game could be good.
Take note that I enjoy the game of baseball, I played from T-ball up to around the age of 18. However, I am not a baseball junkie, I hardly watch it on tv, and I go to one or two games a year. I do not know the player's names, I do not know what teams they are on, etc, etc. I bought this game because it looked like a lot of fun, and fun is exactly what it is.
Looking at the main menu you see that the game has four modes; quick play, online, season mode and options. I started off with a quick play game and you are greeted with the team selection screen, with each team showing you their placement rating. After choosing your team you get to choose your game options:
• difficulty
• play by play audio (on/off)
• pitch interface (meter/classic)
• pitching ball marker (on/fade/off)
• strike zone (on/off)
• hot zones (on/off)
• guess pitch display (on/off)
• auto throwing (on/off)
• auto baserunning (on/off)
• fielder assist (manual/assist/auto)
• innings (1 - 9)
• batting view (catcher/wide/high/offset/pitcher/outfield)
• pitching view (catcher/wide/high/offset/pitcher/outfield)
• fielding view (medium/high)
• runner windows (on/off)
Then you can choose your starting pitcher, the pregame lineup, and finally which stadium you want to play at and then what time of day to play at (day or night). Then the game spends about 45 seconds loading. not too quick, but not long enough to want to return the game. Since this is baseball and a 9 inning game takes a while to play, you don't have to sit though a loading screen very often.
In the season mode you can view your schedule, view standings/stats/awards, adjust lineups, free agents, make trades, and view the inactive roster. This mode looks standard (to me) after choosing your team, you are greeted with the quick play game options, with these added:
• cpu trading (on/off)
• time of day (auto/day/night)
• dh (auto/on/off)
• pitch callout (full/off/simple)
• tag up indicator (on/off)
• catch region marker (on/off)
• catch positioning marker (on/off)
The play-by-play commentary is nice. A little slow sometimes; with them commenting after it happens, but most of the time, it's very nice to have.
Graphics
The graphics are very good. The player animations/models are well done, and I even shattered a bat. I read the gamespot preview of the game a while ago and they said that fielding was not good since you loose sight of the ball. I have to disagree with them. I did not have any trouble fielding those ground balls, and the fly balls have a target on the field showing where they will land. I do have to admit that the crowds are flat looking, something minor, but it does not detract from the game though. The stadiums look great.
Controls
The controls work really well -- you choose a pitch with the face buttons and then using a really the nub you move a really sensitive dot around the strike box to choose where to pitch too. Then it is a press for power, press for accuracy bar appears. It all works really well.
Fielding is easy enough. You control your fielder and then press a corresponding face button depending on which base you want to through to. x for home, o for first and so on. Pressing the r trigger causes your fielder or dive for the ball.
Batting is pretty standard (well it is on rookie mode, I have not tried the others). You can aim up or down when you hit to ground or fly ball. X to hit and O to bunt.
Online
I wanted to try out the online play, but since the game is so new, there was no one online for me to challenge.
From the few games I have played I feel that this is a very good baseball game, it's a lot of fun, it is $39.99 and has online play. I suggest it.
REVIEW IT
PRODUCT INFO
BUY IT
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Comments
great review, i never really played baseball games but this one is sounding pretty good.
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sounds cool i love sports games and online play makes them soooo much better so i might be picking this up
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I just was curious about a couple things: Can you create a player? (Doesn't look like it) & Can you trade for anyone? I mean, could I choose the Twins and trade some no namer for Bonds or does the AI say "No! Not today you child!!"??
Thanks! Great review!!
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Is this an Infrastructure game, or Ad Hoc? Great review, btw. Very informative.
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both, infrastructure and ad hoc. i played a few online games today. i think more people are getting it and going online. it was a little laggy, but playable. hopefully it was a once off thing
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Nice review, may have to pick this on up. I like a good baseball game.
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I have been playing for a day now, and there is some lag online when batting, but not too bad. Nice game overall. I'm pretty new to gaming, so my opinions may not be as valid as hard-core gamers! 
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