User Rating: 9.1 | MVP Baseball 2003 XBOX
First off. I'm not a fanboy for either Sega or EA. I'm a fan of whatever game is the best. No point is proven better to this, than the fact that I own MVP 2003(EA), and NHL2K3(Sega). So when I talk about goods and bads, I'm not biased to either company. That being said..........MVP 2003 is awesome. The best baseball game I've played ever. It is a good deal more FUN, and just better all around, than WSB2K3. I wish the Xbox version wasn't using PS2 graphics though. I wish they would have made their own Xbox version. Anyway, where do I begin with all the goods and bads of this game. The replays add an authentic feel to the game and make it seem like you're watching a real game. Such great replays. The pitching and batting interfaces are well done and really require careful management in your pitching and hitting to do well. It makes every pitch exciting picking the cold and hot zones per batter, and trying to get your pitcher's strength and accuracy correct with each pitch. It's great. And on batting, it takes a little bit to get used to, because there is no batting cursor (a good thing), but you really have to watch the ball closely as it's coming in. And it comes in fast ;) I find myself actually swinging late sometimes to fastballs, or being tricked sometimes by tricky pitches. I hated having to move a batting cursor, and then swinging. This game...it's all about the timing of your swing. And you can also dictate whether you want to try to hit the ball up higher, or if you want to keep it low on the field. So much of your success at the plate and the mound will come from a careful and trained eye. This game requires more management in your hitting/batting and makes every pitch exciting, whether you're up at bat, or pitching. The best pitching/batting interface ever done. As I said, whether at bat, or pitching, it makes EVERY pitch exciting and makes you pay close attention to be successful. The Animations....are awesome. The graphics MIGHT not be quite up to the quality of graphics in WSB 2k3, however the graphics are still very very good. They just don't have all the shadows that 2k3 does, however, this game is better because of the animation. It's done very well. From the running/throwing of outfielders, to the animation in the replays, everything. The quality of all the animations.....batting, running, fielding, replays, everything...is done so well to make the game seem real. It's great. I didn't like WSB 2k3's animations because they start and stop too quickly. It seems jerky. You can see that even in the 2K3's video's here on gamespot. The animation isn't fluid, and the pitching and batting animations are too quick, don't contain enough frames in their motion, which makes it not very fluid, and there's TONS of repetition in the game If you look carefully at 2k3, alot of the animation is repetitive (like all the players constantly brushing the ground with their foot. Or you'll look at the bullpen through a cutscene, and it'll show the same exact player graphics 5ft apart. You'll see what looks like 3 copies of the same player standing in the bullpen. Plus the replays in 2k3 are Way outdone by MVP 2003. There's so much great about MVP 2003. You can pop the game in even, and not even touch the manual, and you can still become a pro at the game in 15mins, because there is an in-game graphic tutortial that teaches you all the basics of pitching, hitting, running, fielding, etc. And it actually takes you in game and shows you how they all work. You just sit and watch, and it's easy to learn how to play the game without ever having to touch the manual. It's just a great feature. Some last misc. great things about the game are the music and the stats. The music is awesome. Some real bands, and half the songs aren't bad at all. The game also has all the statistical tracking you would want, including tracking your own stats of course as you progress through your season. To the point, this game is everything you could want in baseball, and it's awesome. I don't know anything about the franchise mode however. I just play a season Now the only bad thing I can say about MVP 2003, and I'm really trying to think of something here, is that I haven't been able to find an in-game save feature yet, and I don't think the game is networkable or playable on Xbox live. But I might be wrong. I just got the game yesterday. Haven't read the manual yet. I really can't think of anything bad, and I'm trying to. The game is awesome. Utterly worth the $55 price (after tax)
