X-Box Baseball Games?
 

Hey - has anyone tried the new X-Box baseball games? I am looking for one that has a good franchise mode and allows you to watch games with the CPU controlling everything for both teams (one-pitch mode is a plus). Which ones out there this year can be played this way and how are they in general?

Well, I have MVP 2005 and I think it is a great game. The animations are outstanding, great gameplay, and the A-AAA minor league teams are included. I don't usually watch the computer play, but this game would probably look great. This is my opinion of the game, I love it!

I have tried that and am going to take it back as a trade in, my problem with MVP 2005 is that there is no option to watch the games with the CPU playing both sides, it forces you to control one team with the joystick.

I basically want to build/manage the team, and when they play I don't want them to have a (dis)advantage based on my arcade skills. I want both teams to be on an equal playing field that way and let the team that was developed better win.

I am looking at a review for ASB 2005, might try that, just have to know if I can watch games first.

Oh I see what you mean. You want to do a dynasty mode and have Cpu Vs. Cpu games. Yeah I guess it doesn't let you do that. I don't have much experience with any other baseball games, so thats all I've got. I've heard that ASB has a really in depth dynasty/season mode.

only baseball game i got is mvp baseball for the psp. it is pretty good, i would suggest looking into the xbox version for yourself

It's between ASB and 2K5 I guess, will have to check them out tonight and see if either lets you run CPU vs CPU (don't see it mentioned in any reviews).

I'm dissapointed they don't have this feature, hoping this will not be another year with OOTP (which is great for realism but has pretty much no graphics). But if all the console baseball games have dropped this feature then I will stop dropping my $$ on them.

ASB was horrible; ESPN came the closest but a bug ruins it (when someone gets on base the CPU starts uncorking wild pitches at a rate that ruins the game).

i've played most of the baseball games available, i perfer mvp, but i am trying to sit through a full game of espn which is just terrible. even worse now that ea is not going to be making a 2006 game. boo.

ESPN 2K5 has dozens and dozens and dozens of bugs. I've played roughly 50 full games in franchise mode with the Angels. The main one that really affects game play is the forementioned passed ball/wild pitch bug. Here is just a sampling of the others, mainly having to due with the announcing:

Announcers:
- Saying its an AL East matchup when its the Red Sox vs. Angels
- Saying its game 7 of the ALCS when it's clearly not
- Saying a ball is fair when it is foul
- Sometimes calling Angel Stadium by its former name, Edison Field, even though it hasn't been called that since 2003.
- Saying a player is safe when they are out

Franchise Mode:
- League leader stats don't seem to sync up with the real stats, it's a day or two off
- You go weeks sometimes without player of the week awards
- You go months sometimes without player of the month awards
- Injured players are removed from the league leaders
- Minor league stats are rarely updated and never indicative of a full season
- Playoff stats for some players don't carry over from series to series

Gameplay:

- Scott Speizio starting at shortstop for the Mariners
- Every once in a awhile a runner will unexplicably stop when trying to advance to the next base. Example: runner on 2nd, base hit, he goes halfway, then turns back to 2nd
- Every pitcher is gold glover
- Pitching is too easy sometimes

MVP 2005 is great and since the 2003 version i've played that game almost everyday.. mvpmods.com is a great site for stadium downloads among other things..

If I remember correctly, I heard that EA is going to make a college game based on the MVP engine.

[edit]
Found the link: http://sports.ign.com/articles/622/6...html?fromint=1
[/edit]





Meh, sorry for the hi-jack.

Well I have once again gone back to Out of the Park Baseball, love the new 6.5 features too. If it had graphics I'd be living large ;)

Is it just me or have these games really deteriorated over the years simulation-wise? I remember MicroLeague Baseball, Earl Weaver, Tony LaRussa, etc, and they all had vastly superior sim engines than the newest console games do. OOTP is a step up sim-wise and gets better every year (it's kinda like the Baseball Mogul games were before MS ruined that) but I would appreciate some graphics too.