Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Interests > Tilted Gaming


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 12-15-2003, 08:54 AM   #1 (permalink)
Psycho
 
Which baseball title for PS2?

There's World Series Baseball 2K3, All Star
Baseball 2004, MVP Baseball 2003, MLB
2004, maybe others?

I don't have clue number one about anything
video-game related.

Anybody care to tell me about their favorite
baseball game?

Most likely usage scenario would be my two
kids playing against each other. I don't care
about any on-line features. Just stuff like:
how easy is it to control pitching, hitting, and
fielding, and how realistic does it look.

Thanks in advance for your help.
TwoToTango is offline  
Old 12-15-2003, 10:09 AM   #2 (permalink)
Knight of the Old Republic
 
Lasereth's Avatar
 
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
I looked in my Electronic Gaming Monthly, and the highest rated baseball game from them is High Heat Major League Baseball 2004. The summary mentions that it has the best pitching/hitting interface in any baseball game EVER. It got a 9 out of 10. I'd give ya more info, but the review isn't in the current issue, only the summary. Check out www.egmmag.com . You might find more info there!

-Lasereth
__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Last edited by Lasereth; 12-15-2003 at 11:09 AM..
Lasereth is offline  
Old 12-15-2003, 11:05 AM   #3 (permalink)
Junkie
 
Location: Pa, USA
I have played All-Star Baseball, MVP 2003, and World Series baseball.

You mentioned you kids playing the game, so I would steer clear of All-Star Baseball. To get realistic at bats you need to use a cursor batting scheme, and it is very difficult and takes a lot of practice to find limited success with.

World Series Baseball is a good game. The graphics are pretty, it has a lot of historic uniforms, and the interface and general control is very manageable. The one gripe I have with World Series is that throws from the outfield are lobbed, instead of line drives. Therefore, runners are able to get extra bases on outfield hits, as the fielders put so much air under their throw. And this is not configurable to the best of my knowledge.

Again, you mentioned kids, and to me the game that I think kids would really enjoy would be MVP 2003. The pitching interface is unique in that it has a meter that you have to stop a cursor in to determine pitch speed and accuracy. It works very well, and while I did enjoy it a lot, I also feel younger kids would really like the interaction and control over their pitches. Batters have a hot and cold zone that is viewable and this works very well. If you throw a hanging curveball in Sheffield's hot zone, he will likely put it over the fences.

I am really impressed with the graphics. They are crisp and the players are recognizable for the most part. Fielding is "semi-automatic." By that I mean that you can control the fielder and have him run after fly balls, but he will automatically dive or leap for balls when necessary. For the most part, this auto aspect works well, although sometimes it may result in passed balls and an extra base or two.

All the games have a franchise mode that is very well done. In MVP while simulating games (provided you choose to do this) little info boxes pop up when you are in a key part of the game, and it asks if you wish to enter the game and take over.

I played High Heat as well. It was realistic, but didn't have all the bells and whistles that the other games do. It's a good game of realistic baseball, but it just needs some spark or excitement to keep things fresh.

My recommendation would be to get MVP Baseball. I think it is the game that kids will have the most fun with, and at times it may be a little over the top with homeruns, but there is a difficulty level to make the opponent tougher.

My one gripe with MVP was that when playing against the CPU, the CPU batter would never swing at balls. Their eye is "too good," in that if the ball isn't a strike, they won't swing. Even if it is just 2 inches off the plate. This is the one issue that midly annoyed me, as it made it more difficult to strikeout batters. This would also be the one issue I would like to be addressed for next year's release, and I would be content with the game.

All the games are good. All-Star Baseball's cursor batting is very difficult and takes a lot of work to learn. World Series is a good game that does a lot of things right. High Heat is probably the closest to being a "pure sim" but it also is kind of dull and unexciting compared to the others. MVP is a very solid and fun game, and I think it would be the most fun for kids, especially those interested in 2 player play.

MVP's pitching meter keeps pitching fresh and fun, and batting isn't overly complicated. Also, when fielding a ball and throwing, a power meter fills up. The harder the throw, the higher the chances of pulling the 1st baseman off the bag.. Throw it too ligthly and the runners will be safe. It makes fielding incredibly fun, and also a sort of art you have to master.

I was hoping to get All-Star Baseball through an Extra Innings deal, but I didn't. Therefore I didn't get a baseball game last year, but I played MVP a lot at my friends. He has since traded it in and I regret that, as I would have bought it from him. It is a blast to play and does a great job of making baseball fun and exciting, while also maintaining realism.

Good luck with your decision. All the games are good, so it will be tough to make the wrong choice.

Sony's MLB 2004 is the only game I haven't played, and wouldn't recommend. Sony's sports games (Gameday, Faceoff, MLB 2004) have really gone downhill and are not even considered contenders with the sports games released by other companies.

Take care.
__________________
"Yes, I rather like this God fellow. He's very theatrical, you know, a pestilence here, a plague there. Omnipotence. Gotta get me some of that." -Stewie
Grondar is offline  
Old 12-15-2003, 11:20 AM   #4 (permalink)
Psycho
 
Thanks to both of you for lots of solid
information. Grondar, looks like you spent
your whole morning on this; I really
appreciate the effort.
TwoToTango is offline  
 

Tags
baseball, ps2, title

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 05:02 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360