MVP 06 NCAA Baseball Hands-On

College baseball may be the only sport you can summarize with a single sound effect: ping! The familiar sound of aluminum bat on leather ball has become the hallmark of the sport, and now that the sport's fandom is growing--thanks to some healthy face time on the ESPN networks--it's about time that someone got involved with creating a college baseball video game. Luckily for us, that "someone" happens to be the EA Sports development team responsible for the popular line of MVP games over the past few years. The team has kept the MVP name for its 2006 baseball offering, MVP 06 NCAA Baseball, and as we recently found out in our hands-on time with the game, they have created an interesting college baseball experience.

The new load-and-fire swing system might take some getting used to.

The most compelling change in NCAA Baseball, as compared to previous MVP games, are the controls for both hitting and fielding. Like many EA Sports games over the past few years, some of the essential game controls in NCAA have moved to the right analog stick. Dubbed "load and fire," the new batting system has you pulling back and pushing forward in order to swing your bat--not unlike the backswing and follow-through in the Tiger Woods golf series. The complexity here comes in not only nailing the timing of putting the aluminum on the ball, but also nailing the direction of your swing. By altering the arc and direction of your swing, you can execute an inside or outside swing in order to make contact with the ball.

By mixing in the left or right triggers you can choose to execute power or contact swings, respectively. As the names imply, a power swing is one where you're swinging for the fences. A contact swing, on the other hand, is used to put the ball in play and keep the runners advancing. When using a power swing, you'll have a smaller window to make contact with the ball than when attempting a contact or normal swing, which means you won't want to go for big bomb on every pitch. In addition, the animations for each swing type will be such that it's easier to break into a run after a short contact swing than when swinging for the fences. MVP 06's new swing controls take some getting used to--simply choosing when to come out of your load animation and begin your swing takes some practice. But the end result seems like it will be closer to a real baseball swing (or at least, closer than simply jamming the right analog stick straight up and pressing a button).

When it comes to fielding, the basic right analog controls are intuitive and easy: press and hold right to throw to first base, up to throw to second, left to throw to third, and down to toss to the plate. Your throw can go screwy if you aren't careful, however, so you'll want to make sure your aim is true when selecting which base to throw to. Furthermore, the timing of the throw is essential in MVP 06's new fielding controls. When a player scoops up the ball in the field, a small diamond-shaped meter will appear, and you'll want to carefully time your throw with that meter. Release too early and your ball might go sailing over your target's head; wait too long and you might send your throw into the dirt. A bad throw won't necessarily always result in a terrible throw (or even an error), but it will be in your best interest to try to get the timing right each time you field the ball.

Teams from 14 conferences will be playable in the game.

One thing that hasn't changed from last year's MVP game is the same color-coded pitch system that helps you identify what type of pitch is coming your way as soon as it leaves the pitcher's hand. Breaking balls are color-coded red, for example, while off-speed pitches are tinted green. We loved this system last year and are glad to see it return for the college game.

Dynasty mode was a big part of MVP 2005's success, and even if the dynasty mode has been changed significantly to cater to the college environment, it doesn't appear to be lacking any of last year's depth this time. Players who balk at the idea of dealing with the complicated financial side of Major League Baseball will like that the complexity in NCAA Baseball revolves around the aspect of the game that coaches love to hate: recruiting. Just as in the NCAA Football series, recruiting new talent is a full-time job, and just as in the pigskin game, you can recruit players year-round in MVP 06.