Baseball fans unite, if your a fan of the MLB
Baseball fans unite, if your a fan of the MLB and are sick of 2k's Major League Baseball or EA's NCAA baseball, You have hope of another game! MLB Power Pros from Konami. Now for those that don't know the long running Power Pros series allow me to explain it just a small bit: Power Pros, or Pawapro as it is called in Japan, is a 15-16 year long running series of Japanese baseball games. The game was so popular that once the MLB became popular over in Japan, Konami decided to jump on it and release an MLB game using the Pawapro engine, and since that game became just as popular in Japan they made a sequal. which is what we have here now, MLB Power Pros which is actually Jikyu Pawapro Major League 2. Clear? Okay lets me on then!
Graphics: 9.5/10
Okay, majority of you are probably going to disagree with my rating on this but I've grown up with this game series and love its style to death, so sue me. Anyways Graphically the game takes on a chibi/SD(Super Deformed) style to it. in other words the players have huge heads, big eyes and little bodys, with no legs. Now sure this might turn off a few people because of its somewhat childish looks but trust me I'll show you that this game is better if you look past its graphics. Aside from the player models, the stadiums are wonderfully built to look just like they did in 2007. Only thing I've seen missing from the stadiums is the redsoxs infield lawn design of the Sox's symbol. which may or may not have been on the field at the time of the game being made. Correct me if I'm wrong. The stadiums look amazing while keeping to the games graphic style. The menus are pleasing and not the least bit harsh on the eyes(which is good cause you'll be in the menus half the time you play).
Sound: 10/10 Music: 5/10
Sound gets a perfect score since the sounds are perfect, from the crack of the metal or wooden bats to the ball sinking lovingly into the catchers glove as you throw your third strike out of the inning. its all here wonderfully and perfectly done. The announcer and PA Announcer sound great too, the Announcer really seems to understand whats going on in the field(unless you speed through the play in which case he can get a bit slow on catching up on things). And as for the music well.. thats where this game kinda dips deep, this game doesn't license any real music like 2k or EA do, which to some might be a god send, but at the same time majority of the menu music(which is one song) is merely a 30 second loop. But the other music that plays during the games range from normal stadium music to the songs you've come to love over the years('Take me out to the ball park' between the 7th inning anyone?).
Story: 7.5/10
Okay, I'm sure you all asking, Story? What? A sports game with a story? Well.. yes and no. MLB Power pros has a mode called Success mode, which is basically a really long way of creating your own player. There are pluses and minuses to this mode but I'll get to them later as well as covering more on this mode later as well. The story in Success mode is pretty much your typical Dating sim game with a baseball twist. Your a young collage student who dreams of playing in the big leagues one day, which your friend Marvin and your position on the leagues WORST college team the Tulips(yes I said your college teams name is the Tulips, the Powerful College Tulips to be exact!) you begin your way to the top. You begin in your first year of college and work your way up to the third year(fourth years cannot play college ball in this game) Should you succeed then you head off to the minor and then the majors! More on this mode in the next part.
Extra's: N/A
This one doesn't get a score since I can't really rate a bunch of extra modes fairly. Anyways, we'll begin with Success mode, since I'm sure you create-a-player people out there will be spending most of your time here outside of season mode. As stated before, Success mode is your typical Dating sim with a baseball twist. The object of this mode is to practice, train and win as many games as possible in hopes of the scout picking you up and giving you a contract to play in the minors(sorry no minor league play in this game fans.) When you begin your character pretty much is the worse player in the game, with a ranking of G in every single stat(ranks go from G=Worst to A=Best) You must train and upgrade your stats in hopes of improving each stat and making your player a far better player. This is actually quite fun and different from 2k's or EA's way of allowing you to make powerhouses of players. Not only do you have to train and play baseball in this mode, but you also have to study(so you don't get kicked out of school) work(so you can buy new equipment or items) and go on dates(three lucky ladys for you to date as well). Manage all of that together and you should have no problem winning games, having successful dates and on your way to the minors.
The next mode is Arrange mode, in this mode you can take any of the Major league teams and make your own team, also this is the only way to update the rosters in this game as they are set at the spring training line ups from the beginning of 07. In order to make trades you have to recreate each of the 30 MLB teams, long and hard work if you feel you must have the correct line ups. But this mode is useful if you just want your own team in the game. You can choose from over a dozen USA city names, a few Canadian names and a dozen or so Japanese cities, from there you type in the team name, add your team mark(logo) and design your uniforms and finally add all your favorite MLB stars to your team and play away in Exhibition mode against you friends. Season mode has an extra bit to it as well that takes from Arrange, which is call Expansion mode, in this mode you create two new teams to be added to the 30 MLB teams. In this mode you get a bunch of rookie nobodies and try to take your team from nothings to world champions in ten years, of course you don't have to play the custom teams in this mode you can easily take a MLB team and watch the other teams.
Overall 9.5/10
I personally loved this game when I found it was coming out and picked it up as soon as I could find a copy and have loved it since, the graphics(which I've loved since Pawapro 5 on the SNES) and the gameplay and the fact that its not an EA or a real 2k game makes this game a beaming hot burning ray of hope that there might be a chance that theres actually good baseball games in our future!
If your a fan of the Pawapros or just want something different from EA's, Sony's or 2k's games Power Pros should fill that hole nicely!