Major League Baseball 2K5

"Great game with a few problems"

Major League Baseball 2K5 one day, when all the other baseball games were out at Blockbuster. I put it in, and began playing on all the default settings. I lost the first game about 11-2. Played a second game and would go down about 5-0 in the third inning. By then I stopped and went back to the menus. I fixed some things and began playing again. I won the next game, and from then on I was able to enjoy the game. What did I do to make it more fun and less frustrating?

There are two modes in this game. One is called like Video Game Mode and the other is called True Baseball Mode. It defaults the start in Video Game Mode. This mode sucks. There is something called a slam zone, which in the two games I played on Video Game Mode, scored about six home runs off me. One True Baseball, there is no slam zone unless you go to options and select it yourself. Another thing I originally didn't like was the way you bat. There is a little cross like this “+” and you pretty much have to get it right on the money for it to be a hit. This wasn't the way to go so I went and changed the batting options to “True Batting” or something along those lines. This way I just move the left analog stick to where I want to swing, instead of moving a little cross. This drastically increased my hitting and really increased the fun level.

The graphics in MLB 2K5 are really good. All the stadiums have authentic looks and surrounding areas. I have only been to major league stadiums in my life and have probably seen all of them on TV. The game resembles almost all of them 99% close to real life. Even though the fans still look like pieces of paper when the ball is fouled or a home run is hit. Sometimes it will give you a different view of a foul ball and actually show you a fan catching it, but other then that the fans look like pieces of paper with their team colors on. There isn't much to say about sound in this game because there were no spectacular sounds that happened. It was just some announcers talking and crowd cheering.

There are however, two minor problems. First, it is very hard to decipher if it will be a ball or a strike. I usually swing at around 98% of pitches because I feel I can make contact with almost every pitch unless it is way out. There is also a bug where if the ball gets behind the catcher and you are too slow to actually get the bat around, but you pressed the swing button, it is still a strike, even though you didn't actually swing the bat. The other problem is the check swinging. There have been many pitches I know are balls but can't stop the swing. It is extremely sensitive and honestly I really don't know how to actually check swing.

The tilt of this game I would say for me was about a 14 innings to get the feel of the game, and to get good at it about a day or two depending on how much you play. If you continue to play in Video Game Mode I don't know how long it will take you. I switch to True Baseball after a game and a half.

I would defiantly recommend buying this game. It's only $20.00 and it is defiantly worth it. The learning curve is pretty good, there are a lot of fun options and game modes and you will be happy with the money you spent.

Overall: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/07/05, Updated 05/09/05