User Rating: 8.9 | ESPN Major League Baseball XBOX
By JusTis | Review Date:
Honestly, there's only 2 Baseball choices this year. Mvp and ESPN. Both are fun but there are major differences and it really comes down to whether you prefer arcade style or simulation. After playing both games extensively, its no real contest, ESPN is far better at simulating a real baseball experience. Gameplay:9 Espn baseball 2k4’s gameplay is very tight especially in the batter/pitcher interface. If you’ve played Sega’s 2k3, the controls are just as solid if not better. Your ability to aim pitches effectively with the pressure sensitive controls and rumble feature are impressive in both games, which eliminates the need for aiming cursors, but the option remains if you prefer. In Mvp baseball you have throwing meters which when you stop the meter in the green, the pitch will go right where you want it always. I don’t know any pitcher who can do that. Espn uses an effort meter, which puts more speed or velocity to your pitches, but in turn, your pitcher tires much more quickly. Pitchers also fatigue realistically because of this and there pitches truly reflect there lack of control in these situations. You also have many options on which batting style more suits your taste, including; true aim, timing only, or cursor. True aim really does a good job of letting you decide where to swing. It is not merely nine spots on the control to choose from and you pick the right one, it is a lot more pressure sensitive than that. It is very realistic and makes for some intense duels. In Mvp you push up for fly ball and down for grounder ect., But how real is that. In real life to hit a grounder, you swing over the ball. So why push down? Mvp’s batting also makes for some huge scoring games, which unless you play in the American League, a 20 to 16 game isn’t very realistic. (Just kidding AL fans.) Timing only and cursor are self-explanatory. One, they pitch, and you swing. The other is one thing I was glad to see go out of style in most baseball games but, cursor makes you aim a cursor at the ball as it comes in. The fielding is also good with a turbo as well as a dive/jump/special button. You decide whether to use the turbo for a throw or to run so it adds a bit of depth to the gameplay there. Mvp uses the throw meter similar to the pitching meter, which gets very annoying to see it pop up all the time when you can just hold turbo when you throw on Espn. I would also like to add the control scheme for base running is much easier to control in Espn’s version, but Mvp gives the ability to slide left or right of the bag to avoid the tag. Graphics:7 Mvp wins hands down in the character models and animation department. Espn has some really cool animations though and the stadiums are so real its scary. It is sad to say the models look no better than last year and in some aspects look worse. Hard to believe visual concepts, with there graphical achievements this year in there other sports games, namely Espn NHL and NFL 2k4. Both are far superior graphically to EA’s offerings. Then again, are graphics more or even similar in importance to solid and fun gameplay? I would expect that this oversight was due to working on first person baseball, which is completely unplayable. You can’t see the strike zone, so how do you know if it’s a ball?? The switch in views for fielding is also completely disorienting and done far better in Akklaim's ASB this year, but even that remains horrible for both. The frame-rate is silky smooth though which you’ld expect from sports titles. The crowd also looks slightly better on Espn than Mvp but only marginally, neither is any good though. Sound:8 Both games have great sounds but Espn’s hecklers in the crowd are fantastic. The play by play is solid and the color commentary is horrendous on both titles with the nod going to Espn for better of the two. I have yet to see a game do color well. It comes off annoying and it would have been nice to see the developers put the play by play and the color on seperate sliders so you can turn off one or the other if you prefer. Value:9 At $40 instead of $50 the nod goes to Espy as well. If you have Ps2 both titles feature online play, but if online is a major draw for Xbox users Espn is the only game in town. Xbox live always tends to run a little faster than Ps2’s servers though, which in a game like baseball, you learn lag is your enemy. The online alone is enough to buy this game.. Tilt:10 It’s just a blast to play.. Mvp is just too arcady with the pitch meters allowing for perfect placement even with 10% stamina left on your pitcher and the point to your target batting, Espn in a superior simulation as well as more fun to play. If your a true baseball fan this is your only choice for 2k4. If you like to hit 8 homers and drive in 20 runs a game than play Mvp or Midways MLB Slugfest Loaded in June.. If not go ofr Espycheck it out.

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