Mforma's CBS SportsLine Baseball 2005 is an unapologetically scaled-down version of the sport. As it only includes eight teams (four from each league), SportsLine Baseball isn't going to satisfy most fans. There's a limited amount of defensive control, as well. What the game does provide, however, is great batter-pitcher confrontations, and the most realistic pitch animations on mobile. If your allegiance lies with one of the country's most popular and successful teams, like the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees, SportsLine is a fine choice. If you're looking to play as, say, the Astros, you're going to be disappointed.
Given the current state of handset controls, it's unreasonable to expect full control over a 10-player defensive squad. Baseball 2005 wisely automates all defensive action, save pitching and throwing to particular bases. Strangely, running and fielding animations played so quickly on our LG VX 7000 that we were hardly able to appreciate the action. More frames of animation--or, failing that, a frame limiter--would have helped make the action look a little better.
Like Jamdat's MLB 2005, SportsLine's action is shown from two camera angles: a bird's-eye shot of the field and a shot taken from behind home plate. The game switches between these to alternately highlight batters and baserunners.
SportsLine's simulation of batting and pitching is the most realistic and playable of the current slew of mobile baseball titles, and that's a big victory. After you choose your pitch, you must move a dot toward your desired position in the batter's strike zone, and then execute the toss. The animation that results is invariably convincing. It's hard to hit a curve ball in this game for the same reason as in real life--it's downright intimidating. Batting only requires the pressing of a single button, but it's challenging nonetheless.
Baseball 2005's sound effects are pretty great. The intro music is catchy, the sound effects are realistic, and the umpire's vocal clips are kind of creepy. If you're a baseball fan, that's just how you like it.
It's really too bad that Mforma didn't include all 30 MLB teams, because that leaves a pretty large chunk of fans out in the cold. Regardless, this is a solid engine and a great representation of the tension surrounding each at-bat.
