MVP Baseball 2005 from EA Sports

Gameplay

The gameplay in 2005 gives me this nostalgic feeling of High Heat. No, this game might not be statistically perfect but there have been many little tweaks as well as much need improvements in the gameplay. Pitchers cover first, and fielders generally cover the bases. What does this mean? It means you do not throw to the fielder, you throw the ball between the fielder and the base so he can catch it in stride. You can see the beauty of this not only when the first baseman has to make a play on the ball and throw to the pitcher who’s running to first, but also during double plays, and anytime a base is open and you throw towards it. The AI for the fielders is better, last year when a ball was booted or hit off the pitchers leg, it resulted in a hit way to often. Now the pitcher and the fielders quickly go after the ball to make a play. Also big plays and more precisely diving catches have been reduced. In all the games I have played I have only seen two successful dives in the outfield. Usually the fielder is there or gets behind it so it doesn’t bounce to the wall. There is one thing that confuses me though, when I throw to a base, instead of the cutoff man, the cut off button can only be used a spit second after it leaves the outfielder’s hand. So even though the pitcher or other able fielder could cut it off they don’t. However all of this comes with a bug present in last years game. Every once in a while the game will score an error when it should have been a hit and vice versa. Fortunately in my experience it has only happened three times in about six game played, but it is present.

In the batters box the “Pure Swing System” is back, but this time the lefty bug was “left” behind. This year hitting is tougher, but realistically so. Now you can move in the box, which means if you are getting worked on low and inside, move away from the plate and hammer one. If your cold zone is outside and that is where the pitcher is nibbling, hug the plate as much as you can. While you do not have to move around in the batters box, it is a welcome addition to those of us who want more control of the hitting aspect of the game. Another addition to this years game is the “Hitter’s Eye.” What this does is simulate the way a batter tries to read a pitch. In real life batters try to find the seams of the ball, to see which way it is spinning, so he can tell if it is a fastball, off speed pitch, etc. In a video game it is impossible to see the seams so EA has introduced this feature. What it does is color code the ball, so while the pitcher is winding up and throwing you can tell what type of pitch is coming. If it is white a fastball is coming, if it’s green it’s an off speed pitch. There are also colors for breaking balls, sinkers, and knuckleballs. The coolest thing about this is you can see how well pitchers hide the ball. On one hand it is very easy to pick up Mark Mulder, whereas with Eric Gagne, you don’t see it until it’s coming. But for me that is where it ended, as I found it harder to bat when the ball was different color’s. Seasoned veterans at gaming won’t need this edge, but it is a fun little feature, which luckily for me can be turned off. This feature also comes with a replay so you can analyze your swing. EA has also put in the ability to drag your bunts, yet another way to give the user more control over strategy.

Also during batting you are able to protect the plate because EA put in a new foul ball system, complete with a slider. Another small thing tweaked was check swings. Last year if you tried to check your swing and hit the ball you where dead in the water as the batter would sit there looking confused at to what just happened. This year when this happens the batter ditches the bat and runs for first rather quickly.

The pitching interface is the same as always. They made it a little harder but for the most part it is the same. One thing this year is when you miss your spot it doesn’t show where the pitch is going as much as it did last year. In ‘04 many “hardcore” gamers, such as myself were disappointed with the lack of walks. This year that has been fixed, well, at least on the CPU end, while on the USER end they have made more of an effort than last year. With the CPU you have a slider which dictates the number of balls thrown, also there is a CPU pitch control slider, so you could make every CPU pitcher Rick Ankiel if you wanted to. On the user end there is also a USER pitch control slider as well as a pitch meter difficulty slider. Don’t get me wrong these sliders work, just not as well as they should. As of the time I am writing this review I have both sliders working as negatively against me as they can, and throw one walk a game. But it is a start, and after higher levels of tweaking everyone might find settings that works for them and at least I am getting realistic pitch counts. I had Johan Santana at 50 pitches after three innings. Also this year you have two type of pickoff moves. You have a regular type and one which is risky, as in it gets there quicker but it is less accurate.

On the base paths the game is pretty much the same, but it was fine the way it was last year. You can now turn on an auto return on pickoffs option if you do not want to have to worry about it.

Some other cool things about the on-the-field aspect of the game are that this year you can argue as well as have your manager come out and argue. You can even heighten the intensity by mashing a button. All of that is a give and take though, if you don’t get ejected the call might go your way next time but if you are ejected you can no longer control substitutions and other managerial appointed duties.

There are many sliders in this game and all of them work, the only problem is there should not be restrictions, because so far I have four or five sliders maxed out.

Now lets talk about the simulation engine. This year progression seems to be fixed. Last year when a great pitcher retired another came into the league. This year it is random, but the league totals look good even 10+ years in. Players develop the way they should and someone with 90 power will usually hit more homeruns than someone with less. But some players progress even if they don’t play, not a huge issue though. After a season statistics are pretty much as they should be although stolen bases are a little high. The one thing wrong is it looks like walks are decided by the batters, not the pitchers. So while pitchers have a little control on the number of walks you wont see Curt Schilling type numbers.

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