989 Sports has not been at the pinnacle of sports gaming for the past 5 years. The once proud owner of the successful Gameday football franchise has fallen on hard times. We've seen their sports games go from excellent to average to bad with no sign of a rebound in sight. MLB 2005 is the first sign of life we have seen from 989 in years. Despite that, it still doesn’t amount to a great game by today’s standards.
Features
MLB 2005 has many features that are ahead of the competition. First, it uses the Eye Toy peripheral to add your face to a created player. The result is a representation that's so accurate that it pales in comparison to any create-a-player interface I have seen. The feature is very easy to use and is executed so well that it might be the most innovative use of this peripheral to date.
Your created player is inserted into the career mode. This is an engaging feature that isn't new to the MLB series, but it is unique to other baseball game franchises. Your mission in career mode is to use your created player to accomplish certain goals which award you new contracts as well as attribute points for your player. Conversely, if a player falls short of his goals, then his attributes will drop and he won’t get that lucrative contract. You’ll face many problems in this mode that real players face like battling for playing time and increased expectations from your team as you become more successful. If you do well enough you’ll attain the ultimate achievement: getting your player elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Overall, the mode adds a lot to the game and to the baseball video game genre as a whole.
MLB 2005's franchise mode is the closest representation to Madden's owner mode that you’ll find in a baseball game this year. MLB 2005 has all the basic features you’d expect to see in a modern baseball franchise mode; player management options like drafting, signing, and trading players are all present and very robust. You can even sign different coaching staffs. Gathering revenue plays a prominent role. Setting ticket prices, concession prices, and negotiating TV and advertising deals allow you to increase the cash flow into your franchise. By increasing your revenue, you’ll be able to work with a bigger budget and sign better players. In my opinion, this is much more engaging than Madden’s ownership mode because of how much a baseball team’s revenue is tied to their player acquisitions.
MLB 2005 offers a fantastic online mode. You have lots of stats associated with your profile that are also visible to other users. This allows you to find and challenge the perfect opponent by analyzing their record, batting stats and pitching stats. Playing the game online play is very enjoyable. During the game you can communicate with your opponent using the PS2 USB headset. If you can find another broadband player, the lag will rarely affect the gameplay beyond the integrity of you or your partner’s Internet connection. However, dialup users will have great difficulty playing because the lag at that connection makes the online play unplayable. Luckily you can see their connection speed before selecting an opponent. Online mode also supports custom tournaments as well. One significant feature omitted from the game is the lack of roster updates. While the default rosters are relatively accurate at the start of the season, they will become more divergent as the year progresses.
Finally, MLB 2005 offers the ability to unlock retro uniforms, legendary players, and old stadiums. These unlockables are typical to what you'd find in this year’s crop of baseball games. The process of unlocking is the standard in-game reward system. The only difference is that it won't take more than a hundred games to acquire enough points to unlock everything. This is good in that it allows casual users to reap the benefits of success.
Gameplay
The gameplay of MLB 2005 is overall pretty strong, but there are some aspects that really cut back on the game's potential. The batter pitcher interface is second only to MVP Baseball. The batter's box view is close enough that you can easily identify the type of pitch thrown. Pitching is very straightforward in that it’s as simple as picking a pitch location and pressing one of the throw buttons. Pitches do not always end up in the location you specify, and even a pitch on the corner can migrate over the heart of the plate depending on how inaccurate your pitcher is. Batting is also equally as simple. Depending on the difficulty level, you can either just press one button to swing or implement a swing aiming system. There are two flaws that I noticed in this interface. First, the CPU doesn't issue a lot of walks, even on the higher difficulty levels. This is odd given that some pitchers have very little control over their pitches. The second flaw I noticed is that the pitch movement is very low compared to the way the ball moves in real life. Pitchers in MLB 2005 will see very little drop on their curveballs or sinkers even if those pitches are highly rated. Sliders might only move a couple inches in contrast to the sweeping sliders I'm used to seeing from greats like John Smoltz and Randy Johnson. Overall these are minor problems in an interface that succeeds in delivering a fun gameplay experience.
Fielding is a different matter. The gameplay on the field is just too fast. Players cover ground that no human could cover in the amount of time given. Line drives move at impossible speeds. This makes it very hard to match the computer's reaction time. It also means that you cannot improve upon the fielder's AI and take chances in the field because you are already a step behind. This makes fielding more of a chore than an engaging experience.
Base running is depicted very accurately. While the sped-up action is still an issue on the base paths, it never gets to the point where you cannot handle the base running dynamics. Players can reach base if the fielders are playing too far back on a weak infield chopper or bunt. Stealing is equally dependant on the pitch placement, the catcher's arm, and the runner's speed. Success rates can even differ based on how good of a "jump" the runner gets.
Overall the gameplay is very balanced. However I feel that because of the sped-up gameplay, you're made to feel that you're more of a hindrance to the success of your team rather than the catalyst of its potential greatness.
Graphics
The graphics fail in just as many areas as they excel. In a word, the graphics are functional. Players are rendered very accurately, especially their faces. Fielding, batting, and pitching animations are very accurate and smooth due to the high frame rate. The animations are detailed right down to Nomar Garciaparra adjusting his batting gloves.
While some areas of the graphics are very good, there are some very significant shortcomings. MLB 2005 fails to capture the environment very well at all. The ballparks, while relatively well rendered, do not look as detailed as the competition. In addition the crowd lacks a lot of detail and refinement. Similarly the animations are accurate they also aren’t very diverse. There are just too many recycled fielding and hit animations than there should be from a baseball game in this era.
Homerun celebrations are by far the worst graphical aspect to this game. Replays of homeruns are shown from horrible angles and it is easy to lose the ball in the lights. In MVP Baseball 2004, the camera for the homerun replays is always positioned perfectly to watch as the ball sails into the stands. Camera angle problems also exist in the custom stadium celebrations too. After hitting a homerun at Philly's new Citizen's Bank Park, it cut to a prominent shot of the catcher's backside for 5 to 10 seconds with the park's Liberty Bell ringing in the upper right hand corner of the screen. While I recognize there are some folks who go to the ballpark just to catch a glimpse of all those sexy ballplayers, this should be limited to the real ballpark experience. Average gamers and sports fans shouldn't be subjected to gratuitous butt-shots of the catcher when our focus is mainly on winning a baseball game.
Sound
The audio in this game is awful. The worst aspect to the sound is the commentary. While I recognize that commentary is a tricky to implement, I usually don't hold it against a game if it fails to be more than functional. However, in the case of MLB 2005 the commentary is actually detrimental to the overall gaming experience. The play by play is done by Vin Scully and is by far the worst commentator I have ever heard. His calls are dry, boring, and uninspired. It doesn't help that his lines begin to repeat by the end of a full 9 inning game either. The color commentary is done by Dave Campbell with the occasional comments by Matt Vascersian. While Dave Campbell is average, I don't understand why Matt Vascersian is even in here. His remarks are sporadic and they never have any value.
The sound effects in the game are roughly average. Batted ball sounds are right on the mark as well as the sounds of a sharply hit ball hitting the one of the ballpark walls. However, other sounds like the ball entering the catcher’s mitt are very bland and muffled. The stadium atmosphere is almost non-existent. The crowd roars, but there is very little organ music or intro music for the batters during the game.
Overall the sound is just horribly done. Enough so that it actually factored into my final evaluation of the game. My recommendation is that you should just mute your TV when you play the game. It will just make the experience much better.
Controls
The controls in MLB 2005 are functional, but far from perfect. The controls follow the same standard of most baseball games. The fielding buttons on the right side of the controller correspond to the throws to their respective base. The longer you hold down the button the harder the throw. You can even preload a throw to a specific base before you even field the ball.
The pitching controls are very similar to fielding. You press a certain button corresponding to the type of pitch you wish to throw. The longer you hold it down, the more effort is put into the pitch. One annoying aspect to this is that if you hold down the pitch button too long, it will register as a preloaded throw to home plate. If the ball it hit to a fielder when that happens, there is no way to cancel the preloaded throw.
The controls for the baserunning are somewhat intuitive, but they do not offer an easy way to manage specific runners. The controls allow you to advance or retreat a specific runner, or do the same for all runners. However, it can get complicated if there are runners on 2nd and 3rd when the batter hits a line drive to the gap. Managing this situation can turn a mildly complicated set of baserunning instructions into a button mashing affair.
Finally, the batting interface is pretty decent from a controls perspective. You use the analog stick to aim your swings. There’s one button to swing the bat and another that sets up for a bunt. One shortcoming is that there is no check swing. It’s kind of weird that 989, despite being a Sony company, didn’t implement this feature to showcase the Dual Shock 2 controller's button sensitivity.
The fielding does have its share of bugs and shortcomings. They are enough, combined with the faster than normal game speed, to really cut down on the user's experience with the game.
Challenge
The game offers a decent challenge from the lowest difficulty level to the highest. My first game went into the 13th inning before I finally pulled out a victory. The box score produced from that game was very realistic, with the exception of a lack of walks. As I bumped up the difficulty, the game became much more challenging. The most positive aspect about the challenge is despite how high the difficulty level is, the computer does not cheat to try and beat you. The lack of a cheating computer AI is very refreshing to many sports gamers. The lack of gameplay sliders hurts the game’s challenge. They could have helped to tweak some minor gameplay balance issues.
Despite those good points, MLB 2005 does not deliver in terms of its challenge. First of all there are only 3 different difficulty levels. All of which does not seem to affect how the computer plays the game but rather how you play it. The most notable difference is that the higher the difficulty level, the more complicated the batting interface. At rookie level all you have to do is swing when the ball enters the strikezone. At the pro level, you must aim your left analog stick in the general direction of where the pitch is when it crosses the plate. If the ball enters the strikezone in one of the 6 squares you're aiming for, and if you time it properly, you'll have a higher percentage of making contact. Finally, if you bump up the difficulty level to the highest level, it forces you to aim your left analog stick to the exact square which the ball will cross the plate. The closer the square you pick to the actual location, the more likely you are to make solid contact. Instead of the computer players offering you a better challenge, it’s the interface that challenges you more.
Outside forces seem to control the game more than the player. The computer batters do not notice your pitching patterns or lack thereof. Whether you're pitching predictably or mixing your pitches up, the computer batters seem to react the same way. Therefore, strikeouts almost seem random and dependent more upon your pitcher's raw abilities than your pitching techniques. When you bat against the computer, you can do everything correct as far as timing and aiming your swings. However, in the end you might still find yourself with only a few runs and just a handful of hits. Bad play is penalized and good play just keeps the status quo. While this leads to more realistic box scores, it doesn't make you feel as if you're taking control of the game but rather that you are playing not to lose.
Replay Value
MLB 2005 has a decent amount of replay value. However, its success is hindered by many aspects of the gameplay that do not allow you to create your own success. The franchise mode is so deep and engaging that most players will spend much of their time there. However, one of the greatest aspects to the franchise mode in a game like this is the ability to take control of your players you assemble on your team rather than just simulating season after season. If your only desire is to simulate, then there are other games that better capture the art of managing a baseball team.
When you factor in the gameplay, it either can be very fruitful and satisfying or very frustrating. The gameplay leaves you with the feeling that you are just getting in the way and that you aren't capable of playing up to the ability of the computer players. The sped- up gameplay doesn't allow you to react as fast as the computer fielders to hard line drive shots to the gap. Thus some doubles turn into triples even when you play the angles correctly. Also, the game seems to force realistic box scores even when it's clear that one team is outperforming another. While this will thrill people looking for a realistic baseball games, it will frustrate the players who clearly felt they performed much better than the final score indicates. If the opposing pitcher throws too many fastballs over the heart of the plate, you should consistently drive them if you aim and time your swing correctly. It is because of this that MLB 2005 will turn off many gamers. I personally do not like to assume the role of a bystander of the action, but rather the hero if I do my job correctly.
Depending on what kind of gamer you are, MLB 2005 is either a must purchase or at best a rental. MLB 2005 has many elements that standout among its competition. However, 989 also made some puzzling design decisions that will only serve to isolate themselves from a sizable population of gamers. One thing is for certain, 989 still has something left to contribute. Like many other baseball games this year, MLB 2005 is just a couple steps away from being a great title.
