xbox baseball

EricW · 02-26-2005, 01:02 AM

has anyone tried either of this years new baseball games?

i hear MVP 2005 is similar to last year's. my question is:

1) have they changed the pitching interface? i remember last year's golf-like scale and it was great, but it made pitching EASIER as the innings passed, when it should have been harder (this was because even though the motion might have been a bit faster later in the game, it was more than compensated by the player's improved sense of timing as the innings passed). also, as soon as someone gets on base, the "golf-scale" goes like twice as fast! that's not realistic (especially for left handed pitchers, who probably don't mind as much when a runner's on first.

2) have they done an "auto-asign" for team positioning? in 2k4 i was going to start with my own custom team at AA level, then after so many games i would promote the entire team to AAA, then the majors. the problem was everytime i switched levels, the game made me assign the demoted team's positions too, and that was a hassle.

also, how's MLB 2k5?

thanks in advance

James T · 02-26-2005, 12:56 PM

I'm probably going to rent MVP and buy ESPN on the first day.

I read the back of the MVP box and they improved the owner mode so you can control prices. There's also a 'A' level. The AAA from last year wasn't that great, so I'm not too keen on the single A addition. There's also a new feature about the hitter's eye. That might be a bit interesting, but then again, it might be like ESPN's "in the helmet" POV.

I've been buying ESPN baseball games for the past 3 years, and I don't think that's changing this year. The trailers for the game look great.

RudyN · 02-27-2005, 01:24 AM

It's not as easy to pitch in MVP this year. They even have a slider to make it harder. The reason for the pitching meter to speed up like it did when someone was on base was because the pitcher was pitching out of the stretch position and not doing his full windup. You'll notice it also on some pitchers who don't have a full windup, it's like that with people on base or not.

I haven't messed with the minors much yet so I'm not able to answer that question for you, sorry. Maybe someone else can chime in on that.

They also fixed the framerate problems with 720P, so if your TV supports it, it looks awesome.

Marc Bax · 02-27-2005, 11:24 PM

Might wanna go with MLB 2K5. From the reviews I've read the games are neck and neck. However MLB's online play is far better then MVP's which is why I'll be getting MLB. Also MVP isn't coming back next year due to the exclusive MLB rights aquired by TT so you might as well get used to MLB now as it's gonna be your only 3rd party option in the foreseeable future.

02-28-2005, 12:19 PM

I'm going with MVP strictly since 2K5 does not support 720p, a regression from last year IMHO.

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RudyN · 03-02-2005, 01:16 AM

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/592/592534p1.html

Ign has a comparison between MVP 2005 and MLB 2K5.

They picked MVP as the better game.

James T · 03-02-2005, 05:36 PM

I don't know if I'll agree with that (I'm on my way out to pick up MLB 2K5 now). I wasn't thrille with MVP 2005, and if some of the stuff that IGN says are better, then I guess I should worry. But just from the video previews, the graphics and animations on MLB look a lot better.

James T · 03-04-2005, 04:08 PM

Having played a handful of games in both MVP and MLB, I can say that I personally like MLB 2K5 a LOT better. There are a few minor bugs in both games, but nothing (so far) that makes me want to throw my controller into my tv.

The addition of controlling baserunners in MLB is run. They also changed the camera views of runners. It's quite neat actually. So if you hit a light grounder to the shortstop, the camera stays and follows the hitter as he makes a dash to first. The view of the baserunners on the corner of the screen....I wasn't too keen of that when I saw the video preivews, but it is a great addition to the game.

The pitching system is also similar to MVP where you can control the velocity/location of the ball based on how good your reaction skills are. Where MVP is like Tiger Woods, MLB is like NBA Live in pinpointing the location.

Animation, I'll agree with IGN and give the edge to MVP. There are a few minor things that VC seemed to forget, like a basic tag motion when you try to tag a runner while standing in the basepath. Instead, they just run through you.

EricW · 03-06-2005, 08:10 PM

i got MVP and have played a handful of games, i'll probably get MLB shortly. MVP's pretty nice, a one thing i don't like is there's not alot of stats for stats freaks. i can't see vs.L and vs.R stuff, or go back and see past games box scores, or even season stats when the player's at bat. i think they're there when he's walking up to the box in his first atbat, but that's it

once he's in, they're gone.
the xbox has a hard drive, can't you take advantage of that?!?!?

RudyN · 03-09-2005, 01:35 AM

You can see season stats during at bats. Hold down the white button and it will show batting stats, batting attributes, fielding/running attributes, and batting charts(hot/cold zones and spray chart).