MLB 2006

"The Best for 2005"

So far, MLB 2006 is the best of the baseball video game franchises for the 2005 baseball season.

I've purchased EA's MVP 2005 and ESPN's 2K5, both for the X-Box and I am so impressed with 989's game, that I take back everything I've ever said about the PS2's "inferior" abilities.

The selection of modes in MLB tops the other, by offering the "Build your own player" Career. It's fun and interesting and really makes me sweat out each at-bat and fielding opportunity. There is more of the same fair with the other modes, and I've only touched upon them, but my check mark goes to MLB.

Where I'm really impressed is in the graphics column. I couldn't believe the how nice everything looks on the PS2. The players don't look scary like some in MVP, and are pretty much scaled to look like their real life likeness. Also, MVP this year left me cold with the player models, which for some reason seem to be a bit too "pudgy" for my taste. The outfielders glove graphics are a bit on the small side, but for the most part, everything looks great, including the stadiums which look better in this game than on the other two.

Sound is really impressive and it sounds like you are at the ballgame with the crowd chatter. They are not as responsive to their own teams success, or the other teams for that matter, and I've read some complaints about the batter-to-the-box music, but I didn't even notice that until I rad about it. It is a nice touch, but it takes nothing away from the game. Also, the crack of the ball off of the bat is a bit clunky, and is best on MVP, and worst on 2K5.

Presentation is where this game really shines. No big time EA or ESPN graphic overlays, but the ones used here are concise and much easier to look at. The commentary, which is a big deal for me, is the best of all three games. Don't get me wrong, 2K5 with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan is top rate and very impressive, and I am a SF Bay Area fan, and really love Kuiper and Krukow, but MLB's commentary will never get tiresome. Yeah, some may prefer a more animated broadcast (which I do when I watch Giants games) but while I'm playing, the two commentators on MLB are sort of relaxing.

All of the other features such as, pitch meter, batting, and basics to the game of baseball are all equal or surpass the other two mentioned games. The only thing that took me a while to get used to was the base-running and stealing. I am new to 989 baseball games and found it awkward at first, but not too much different than 2K5.

All-in-all, this game is the best of the 2005 bunch. We'll have to wait and see what Nintendo's Cube baseball game is like, but I think that if I buy another baseball game, my wife's going to kick me out of the house.

This game would have been given a 10, but lost a half point to the higher price. $40, compared to MLB's $30 and 2K5's $20 price tag, make it difficult to fathom. I guess Sony decided that this game would sell well to those without an X-Box. Give it a month or so and I'm sure we'll see a price drop. If you don't have the cash now, pick it up when it does drop.

The other half point goes to the fact that this game DOES freeze up. It is frustrating to be up 3 to 1 in the top of the 8th, when the sound goes out...the picture goes white and you're left to stare at a blank screen.

SONY! Please fix this problem and offer a patched version with another release and allow us people who bought your game when it arrived on shelves, the courtesy of taking this game back to a store and exchanging it. At least work something out with EB Games so everyone can exchange their copy with a new one. Please don't let us have to mail ours back and wait weeks before we get our good copy.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/15/05