MLB 2K5: World Series Edition will keep you busy until next season.
Gameplay – I really expected more from this game. Since it was sort of like an expansion, they should have had everything that was wrong with it fixed. No matter how good your fielder is on defense, they would misplay a play that I could have done with my eyes closed. For example, a batter hits a grounder to your shortstop. If it’s a week grounder and you run towards the ball the fielder would sometimes just run right over the ball. The defense was poor no matter what position you play. On the offensive side I thought is was okay. You are not going to score a ton of runs. It’s a difficult process when you are tying to master the hitting. Even though you can choose between two ways, they both take some time to get used to it. Probably the only thing that I can say was right on this game was the pitching. It was perfect. You can choose between five pitching styles. You also have some mini games that you can unlock. Complete certain tasks during a game and you get tokens in which you can unlock cheats, teams, and other great stuff.
Graphics – The graphics and animations were poor. The player models were poor. Players looked nothing like any of them. When a batter swings and hits the ball, it shows that batter almost turning completely around. Nobody over swings the bat like that. On defense, the plays were so slow paced. It looked like the game just goes into slow motion. Once in a while, the game will lag or pause for a second. This is the PS2 version, I don’t know about the Xbox version. It does get really annoying.
Sound – Jon Miller and Joe Morgan were great. They did the play by play nicely. As for the game sounds, those were poor. When a batter hits the ball it sounds nothing close to a bat hitting a baseball.
Controls – The controls were not too bad but they still had a few problems on defense. Sometimes they didn’t do what you wanted it to do. For example, I was going to turn a double play so I threw to 2nd and the player hesitated and never let go of the ball. I did the same thing as I always did but it just decided not to do it this time. It didn’t happen a lot but it can hurt you when it does. Other than that, the diving and climbing the wall plays were not too hard to do.
Overall – It can be a fun game once you get used to how it is played. It will take a little getting used to. If you are tired of playing the other baseball games, it is worth trying out since MLB 2K5: World Series Edition is only $24.99.