This game will bring many hours of pleasure to any die-hard fan of baseball.

User Rating: 9 | MVP Baseball 2005 XBOX
Baseball. America's Pastime. A sport with a deep history, represented in the video game world by many video game developers. This year, MLB 2K5 gave the EA a run for their money. By putting a $20 price tag on their baseball game, a lot of baseball fans picked it up instead of MVP. But any fan that didn't pick up this title as well may be a bit disappointed that they weren't able to enjoy the latest edition of the MVP series.

I bought MLB 2K5 first and enjoyed it thoroughly, but I longed for deeper franchise modes and more control over my Minor League teams. I longed for MVP Baseball, 2005, andI finally added it to my collection when it cost only $25. I couldn't have found a better use for my money.

There are some new modes in 2005. Of all the new additions, Owner mode is the largest adition to MVP. Franchise, Season and all other modes from previous titles return, better than ever. Owner mode, which I spent the most time with, lets you create and customize your own ballpark, right down to the type of grass you want for your field. There should have been more to customizing your stadium but it's good the way it is. You have enough to play around with here and the customization aspect shouldn’t be the main focus of Owner mode anyway.

In Owner mode, you have the abiltiy to buy attractions for your park including concession stands, merchandise booths and other various stores. You can also set the prices for this merchandise. As your season progresses, you play certain games that have more impact on your fans. This is when you raise your prices up. In other words, without getting into strategy, your opponents play a factor in how high you set your ticket and merchandise prices.There are many other things you can purchase to boost your fan appreciation and make your crowd feel right at home. This feature adds something important to Owner mode, which is needed to strengthen the players' feeling that they are in control of the development of their stadium.

MVP 2005 feels right all around. Everything is pretty much the same as before, except for some minor tweaks with the pitching and batting.

The pitching.

This time around, you need to be a little more precise with the pitching meter. In previous MVP titles, you needed to pick the pitch you wanted to throw and hold down the button that that pitch was assigned to. Then let the power fill up and release it. Now, there is a spot on the meter that you have to hit precisely in order to execute a perfect pitch. The spot can vary in size according to the skill of your pitcher. The higher the stats your pitcher has, the larger the spot will be. If you don’t hit the spot right precisely, it will result in a less accurate pitch. The pitching is more difficult in this game.

The batting.

The batting feels real. You have to get involved more than ever before. Instead of just pressing a button, you have to move the right analog stick in the direction you want to hit the ball. It's challenging to hit home runs if not set at the easiest difficulty level. The only thing that is disappointing about the batting… you can’t check swing! EA has created a well-rounded system for the batting this year.

The graphics, haven’t improved much. The players look as real as they've ever looked and there are many different animations to keep you interested in what your fielders are doing. They always look pretty good while performing throws and diving catches. There are a few frame breaks here and there but all in all it looks good all around. For instance, when one of your base runners slide into a base they will sometimes slide through the fielders. It’s nothing new to anyone who’s played a baseball sim. The crowd looks... better, but no game has yet to really get the crowd looking good. The crowd in this game looks okay. The crowd is still flat. They’ve taken a step up from looking like cardboard, but they still look like they’re two-dimensional.

The sound is simply amazing. The crowd, while it still doesn’t look to great, sounds fantastic. The crowd will sometime even bash players of the opposing team. For an example: “A-Rod! You’re overrated!” Continuing on, when you hit the ball, it sounds like your hitting the ball. If you hit a home run, it sounds different then a line drive or a bunt. When your bat connects with a ball perfectly, you can tell that you’ve hit a home run. The crack of the bat says it all in this game. The sound in MVP 2005 brings a realistic feel to the game. The sound is well developed and it’ll make you feel like you’re in the ballpark.

MVP Baseball 2005 is an immersive baseball sim that will lead to many hours of play for baseball fans. It can become highly addictive to certain people who like customization. EA could have done more with the customization but what is there, is quite enough. It takes nothing away from the game. EA Sports has hit the mark with this baseball sim, and MVP 2005 is a deeply satisfying last entry in a series that is no more. MVP fans will have to switch over to the only officially licensed baseball games. Hopefully, they can include some of these deep modes in their games and improve on them.

R.I.P. MVP Baseball, you will be sorely missed...