Power Pros is an out of no-where baseball game from Konami, and is one of the best baseball games out there.
MLB Power Pros plays like an arcade type of baseball game. But the game will surprise you with how deep this game really is. There are a ton of modes in the game, and along with that, they keep all the statistics for you just like a normal baseball game. There are of course your standard baseball options such as the exhibition, and the home run derby, and many others you'd expect. But two modes will jump out at you the most in this whole package, which of is the surprisingly deep season mode, and the success mode.
The season mode contains as much depth as the MLB 07 game, which was also by 2K. You play through the marathon 162 game season just like any other baseball game, but it will allow you to control many different parts of the game. You can switch around your lineups before the game, set your pitching rotation, and switch players with your AAA team (usually not that many guys, but it's just there to add more players to develop). You can also manage your team's practice, and by that you can select a different player to practice a certain type of drill. These things include batting to improve hitting, fielding to improve a player's fielding rating, running the bases for speed and stamina, and of course pitching to give pitchers more control. All of those things add up for a mode itself, but what you'll find surprising is the statistics that they will keep. You can view all the stats that you could in other baseball games, and even in games, it will tell you when a player will reach a milestone for his career, or just a game record. For what the game looks like, it will blow you away with how deep it's season mode is.
The game also features a very odd mode called success mode. This mode plays a lot like an RPG kinda mini game, but involving baseball. You'll have a player, and start him off in college, and work his way up to the majors. But it's not just about baseball, the game will throw a lot of stuff at you that you have to keep on track of. While improving your player's stats, you'll need to make sure you study so that you can pass in school. You'll also have a part time job, and even a girlfriend comes into play. This very deep mode will keep you going for hours, and if you like baseball, and kinda like RPG's you'll like this mode a lot.
The gameplay itself is pretty solid. It feels like a baseball game, and looks like a kid's game all at the same time. Although this game is for kids as well as adults, you'll find that the game plays realistically, and you'll notice this when a ball is hit, and how realistically the ball comes off the bat. The ball really can land anywhere in the field, and depending on where you hit it on the bat, that will determine how well you hit the ball. The game plays a lot like an arcade game, and you'll notice that with the way you bat and pitch. The batting is done with a little phantom bat, and a yellow zone where you can hit the ball for a hit (or at least a better hit then if it wasn't there). The pitching is done by just hitting the A button to pitch a fastball, and for any other pitches, just hitting the analog stick to a certain side for another pitch. Overall it results in a pretty solid approach to the game, and the most important thing is that it is effective.
The game offers a couple different control schemes as well. You can play with the wiimote and nun-chuck, virtual console controller, or probably the best choice is the gamecube controller. The game doesn't offer up the most for Wii specific controls, but you can play with just the wiimote. You'll only be able to play exhibition and home run derby with this controller, but none of the other modes. The game plays a lot like Wii sports baseball, although you get to help with the fielding just a bit, which involves shaking the controller to throw it in.
The biggest complaint about the game, is mainly just the graphics. Not the whole approach necessarily, but it looks like an early PS2 game, and has little rims on the side of the TV for 480p. The idea of that kind of style of graphics is great, and is done top notch. You can't help but smile at the legless players run around the bases, over and over again. The only other complaint is the terrible voice acting in the game. The announcer likes to say the same thing a lot, and just gets really annoying at times. Whenever a runner is on base your bound to get the nasal voice from the announcer. Mute the game's announcer, it's for your own good.
Beside those minor complaints, MLB Power Pros is a solid title for any baseball fan. I look forward to any other installments that may come, as this is a good series to expand on. Overall, if you like baseball, you owe yourself a chance to play MLB Power Pros, which is one of the best baseball titles out this year.