Major League Baseball 2K5

"With shoddy graphics and confusing play modes, 2k5 simply can't compete."

One would have hoped that Take Two would have sought out to comfort the refugees fleeing EA Sports that would soon be flooding their shores after Take Two's buyout of third party MLB rights. One would think that Take Two would be out to make a dazzling first impression on newcomers to a once hated franchise. One would think.

Unfortunately, Take Two is not such a hospitable conqueror. Marred by substandard graphics, a bored (and boring) play by play team, and an array of play modes each more confusing and half-baked than the last, many gamers no doubt have a pit in their stomach about the coming years of video game baseball. This is, in other words, a vision of the future, and folks, it ain't pretty.

Graphics—6/10

It is shocking how few advancements Take Two has made over their previous installments. Year after year, their graphics have been an aspect which gamers must overlook, not enjoy, and this year is no different. While cut scenes, which follow a third out or a homerun, are obviously drawn with motion capture technology, the rest of the animations are clearly drawn from the eye, which gives every swing of the bat and flash of the glove an artificial look and feel. The game just doesn't look good—from its comical batting stances, its muddy, indistinct uniform and face textures, to its canned, shoddy play animations.

The game does get a few things right—several of the stadiums are modeled inch for inch, a detail which will no doubt bring great pleasure to the aesthetic purist. And the game does sport the most interactive crowd in the business, a feature evidenced in the numerous cut scenes mentioned above, and the ESPN license does provide some moments of thrilling realism.

The strangest thing about 2k5's graphics is the painstaking attention to detail that Take Two devoted to the most unimportant parts of the game. Yes, player shadows will lengthen towards home plate as day games progress. Yes, cut scenes will occasionally show fans in the stands catching a souvenir ball from the bullpen. Yes, you'll be treated to a pitch by pitch replay of a long, entrenched strikeout.

But the slickness of these presentations only draws more attention to Take Two's oversights when it comes to the in-game graphics. Absent, for instance, are the idiot-proof, now standard walk-up animations of such iconic batters as Ichiro and Garciapara (even the notoriously no-frills High Heat had these animations). In swing animations, batters pull their heads out early, looking like misguided little leaguers. During cut scenes, gamers will recognize glaring inaccuracies in their home stadiums (the Metrodome with brick concourses?!) These are minor points, but they are exactly the sorts of things that first-timers will use as benchmarks of quality, and first-timers ought to be Take Two's top priority right now. They should, at all costs, try to keep these costly oversights to a minimum.

Another major disappointment is the fielding camera. In an effort to create a more telegenic game, Take Two has incorporated multiple camera angles for fielding and base running. This is most noticeable when fouling a ball or trying to beat out an infield single, as the camera switches to a worm's eye view of the action. Not infrequently, this camera angle beef will cost you outfield singles while fielding the ball, as the camera is slow to adjust from the worm's eye view to a playable top down view. It is another example of Take Two's general efforts to make a game that is better watched than played—in an effort to recreate an ESPN Telecast, they rendered crucial aspects of the game unplayable. This begs an important question—do you REALLY want to feel like you're playing an ESPN Telecast?

Sound—7/10

Dispatches from several reviewers have touted Joe Morgan and Jon Miller as the most charismatic and enjoyable play-by-play team of this year's baseball games. Indeed, they are gifted announcers in life. But in game, they sound uncomfortable, as if they are grudgingly reading from their scripts. Joe Morgan in particular seems to have the hardest time reading off his script—his speech has a sort of “See Spot Run” cadence to it which really detracts from the pleasure of hearing them call your game. They go through the standard loops—responding to big plays, commenting on crowd chants, etc. But you'll hear nothing from them that isn't done better elsewhere.

Otherwise, Take Two offers the standard fare, no more, no less—batted balls crack, mitts pop, umpires bellow. The only place where 2k5 really lifts above the competition is in its player specific chants and taunts—you'll be amazed at how many specific sound bites there are. By about midway through a season, you'll want to tear your eardrums out at how often they're repeated, and at every stadium, including your own, and always by the same nasal heckler.

Gameplay—5/10

Though the rest of the game is uniformly sub-par, this is where the game really flops. Though its excess of play modes suggests a great ambition by Take Two, this is a case where a game is hurt, not helped, by its studio's ambition. It is much easier to read the abundance of pitching and batting formats as a fear of commitment than a devotion to the freedom of choice. It doesn't help, either, that most of the pitching modes are unintuitive and clunky.

The K-Zone method forces players to line up a pair of dots to a target, much like shooting a free throw in NBA Live. This is undoubtedly the most unintuitive mode Take Two offers. Not only is it time consuming, but it feels mini-gamish, far too petty for a pitching interface, to say nothing of the fact that it in no way recreates the process by which a pitcher throws a ball. Effort mode allows players to pick their spot and then simply charge up an effort meter. Classic Mode offers one-button pitching, and Meter is an inbred cousin of MVP's system. With all these play modes to choose from, one wonders how Take Two failed to satisfy with any of them. MLB 2006, Sony's first party offering, had the decency to know when they'd been licked, and directly ripped off MVP's pitching interface. Take Two would have been smart to do the same.

I won't even take time to berate Take Two for their Slam Zone feature, or Showboat Catches, or their Video Game Baseball option, or any of the other unlockable cheats that only insult gamers looking for a genuine baseball experience.

I also must commend Take Two for their unlockables. Unlike all other games to date, which allow you to unlock historical players and form a sort of time-trotting superteam, 2k5 allows you to unlock entire historical teams, such as the 1927 Yankees. This is a wonderful innovation, one I've been waiting for year after year. It's just a shame that such great historical ball players have to be resurrected in such a confusing and ill-conceived game.

It must be noted that Take Two has created a resounding success in the On Command Base running, a feature which puts you in direct control of any base runner. This makes stealing feel more effortless and intuitive without decreasing the challenge.

With all these flaws mentioned above, the game is still playable and does recreate some facsimile of a major league baseball game—all the mechanics will win you games. Bunts, squeezes, bloop singles, and errors achieve accurate results. It just doesn't feel, sound, or look very good in the process.

Buy or Rent?

Some will tout the 19.99 price tag as a selling point for this game, but anyone familiar with the adage “you get what you pay for” will rightly be suspicious. You might be better off asking yourself—do you want the cheapest game, or the best game? This is your last chance to check out the competition—do yourself a favor and leave Major League Baseball 2k5 on the shelf.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/11/05