MLB 2005

Publisher: Sony/989 Sports
Developer: 989 Studios
Platforms: PlayStation 2, PSOne
Players: 1-2
Roster Status: Current as of 02/25/04 (built-in player and roster editor)
Video Options: 480p progressive scan
Online Features: PS2 version offers exhibition games, tournaments, statistics tracking, rankings, and message boards for broadband and dial-up players. Users can set up custom tournaments. No roster downloads.

MLB 2005 is 989 Sports' entry into the pennant race.

ATMOSPHERE
GRAPHICS
SIMULATION DEPTH
FEATURES AND MODES
ONLINE OPTIONS (PS2)

There are at least a couple of reasons why you might want to pick MLB 2005 over one of its competitors.

First, all of those "other" games employ rather complex control schemes to simulate the processes of pitching, hitting, fielding, and baserunning. Some people just don't want to have to worry about whether their runner slides into the right or left side of the bag or if they released a pitch while the cursor was inside the green area of the pitching meter. MLB 2005 plays exactly like baseball games have played since the 32-bit era began. To pitch, you select a pitch and aim it using the cursor. Where it lands depends on what type of pitch you chose and how good the pitcher is. Visible hot and cold zones tell you where the batter's weak spots are. To hit, you have the option of guessing the pitch type and location before the swing, and you can even aim the bat high or low to induce grounders or pop-ups. However, you can also just swing away and take your chances.

You also won't find a more in-depth franchise mode anywhere else. Besides the basic trade, staff hiring, and player contract options that you'd expect to see in any good baseball sim, MLB 2005 also includes more than a dozen different business and facilities options. You can set ticket and concession prices, buy new equipment for your locker room and medical facilities, and even spend money toward billboard and TV marketing campaigns. When you start out, your team has to charter a bus, and it must take coach flights to travel across the country. Once you rack up a few wins, you can upgrade to first-class seats or buy the team its own plane. If you have a baseball-hungry friend or family member, you'll also be glad to know that two people can compete against each other in the franchise mode. The only thing missing is the ability to manage minor league teams.

989 Studios improved every aspect of MLB 2005. Check out the PIP base runner-cameras.

The online support and EyeToy features found in the PS2 version are extremely engaging. If you have a Network Adaptor attached to your system, you can go online to play against other players in exhibition games, or you can set up your own custom tournaments. Lag is a big problem for dial-up users, but broadband users generally experience silky-smooth games. The absence of downloadable roster updates is a bummer. If you own Sony's EyeToy PS2 camera, you can take a picture of yourself and paste it on to the custom players that you create in the game's player editor. The facial-mapping technology does a nice job of transforming a 2D picture into a three-dimensional head.

What 989 Studios needs to do next year is pump up the atmosphere. MLB 2005 looks dandy. The stadium models and player bodies are modeled accurately, and there isn't another baseball game with graphics this crisp running on the PS2. We especially love how the players' uniforms get dirty after making diving plays and slides. The audio in MLB 2005 is dandy as well. Vin Scully and Dave Campbell never seem to run out of phrases during their commentary, and the crowd has the same sort of subtle balance of chatter and rumble that you'd hear at a live game. Nonetheless, MLB 2005 is missing many of the elegant little details that make other baseball games so likable. You never see players milling about in the dugout, and spectators don't make catcalls toward individual players. Clouds don't move across the sky, and shadows don't creep across the field. Since every baseball game offers the same basic look and feel, it's small details like these that help one game stand out from the rest.

The PSOne version of the game is nothing like its PS2 counterpart. 989 Studios has used the same engine to make the last five MLB games on Sony's original PlayStation console, which means that the overall gameplay and franchise options are identical to what they were in 2000. Feel free to look through GameSpot's archives for complete reviews of older installments in the MLB series on the PSOne.

Read the Review - PlayStation 2
See the Game in Action - PlayStation 2