MVP Baseball 2004

"A step above other baseball games this year."

Graphics: -------
The graphics are even more crisp than the PS2/GC/Xbox counterparts if on the right PC. The only thing that I disliked was that the crowd looked like a bunch of moving cardboard cutouts.

Playability: --------
The throw power meters provide for skill in your throws and pitches(obviously making it more fun in the long run).

Batting tends to be a bit odd because the difficulty from hitting at Pro level to All-Star(2nd difficulty to 3rd difficulty) is huge. On Pro level I can hit the ball all day but on All-Star I'm giving the catcher some A/C 95% of the time. It would be nice to find a happy medium, which I'm sure you can do if you mess with the sliders enough but personally I don't want to guess and test 500 times.

Sound: -------
Most of the songs are really catchy if you're into rock/alternative. A pretty good soundtrack but a little small. They could have invested a little more into the soundtrack. I don't know about everyone else but half the time I'm in the menu area playing around with my rosters and simming in Dynasty.

Another problem I found was that they didn't make their soundtrack in Mp3 format so you couldn't simply implement your own Mp3's in if you wanted to customize the playlist.

One of my biggest annoyances with EA Sports games is that theres no setting to play the music during the actual game. Myself along with alot of my friends would one day love to see this as an option but they seem pretty headstrong against it.

Main Game Modes: -------
Exhibition:
Pretty self explanatory, pick your teams and the stadium then play a game. Every baseball game has it, nothing new here.

Dynasty:
My favorite part of MVP baseball. Makes this game's replayability pretty high. Includes AAA and AA teams with call ups/send downs. You can also play as all three teams. Another part of dynasty is dealing with your players' happiness levels and contract lengths/prices.

Homerun Showdown:
Pretty self explanatory but in this version it's a 1v1 split screen and you race to get the set amount of points.

Pitcher Showdown:
Like the Homerun counterpart, you have a split screen and race to strike out the set amount of players.

Other Dislikes: -------
There was no tutorial mode in the PC version that I could find which is useful for teaching new people how to play.
-------
A HUGE controller problem. It only supports about 4 controller types. You have to trick MVP Baseball into thinking you have one of those set controllers.

This is the method of doing that.
First go find out the exact name that control panel-Game controllers calls your gamepad.

Once you do that go to start menu-run-regedit

Once you have that open click my computer(in regedit) so that it searches everything, then search your gamepad name(hit edit, then find, then as you go down hit F3 to find next). Right click then MODIFY the keys that it shows(only the ones with your gamepad name) to one of the compatible gamepads(such as Logitech Dual Action USB).

When you go in game it will think you have that gamepad. Remember to remap buttons.

Overall MVP Baseball 2004 is a very solid game with lots of replayability and lots of fun alone against the computer, in dynasty mode, or with a friend playing 1v1. The rookie level keeps it fun for people not so skilled at video games and the All-Star level keeps it interesting for the skilled players. I recommend it to baseball fans and sports video game fans in general.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/18/04