MVP Baseball 2004

I ignored reviews and past years' experiences (of others, not me) and got EA's MVP Baseball 2004 the others day. It is truly a mixed bag.

I've been playing computer baseball games dating back to Epyx's The World's Greatest Baseball Game on the Commodore 64. I've never been completely satisfied with any of them, although the Amiga version of Earl Weaver Baseball comes closest, probably. Certainly, that game taught me more about baseball strategy than any before or since--a feature sorely lacking in modern games.

The ads for MVP proclaim that the game's all about the art of hitting. Can't disagree there; hitting is much more frustrating than in any other baseball game I've played. It does get better with practice (imagine that!), but I'm still not satisfied with it.

On the other hand, the game's pitching component is the most enjoyable I've used. Go figure. My favorite part of baseball games is always, always, always batting, but I'm having more fun (or at least success) pitching here. So kudos to EA on that.

And the decision to include AAA and AA teams? Brilliant. They're a blast to play. I'm only a month or so into my first dynasty, so I'll be interested in seeing how things go from here, and if I run into the bugs in this mode that others have noticed.

EA's manuals get worse and worse, though, and this one is no exception. I am tired of figuring gameplay out by intuition! And the announcers? Annoying, annoying, irritating, and exasperating. Did I mention annoying? Commentary is the Achilles heel of this generation of sports games, as I've mentioned before.

MVP Baseball 2004 frustrates me because, as I've heard of previous games, it teeters on the edge of greatness, but it's not there yet. While I'm waiting for the perfect ball game to emerge, though, I'll keep playing.