Bad Habits - Geeked - June 22 2005
Some games are so good you can’t stop playing them. Some games are so bad you can’t stop soon enough. The PSP version of MVP Baseball looks so good and plays so bad it’s like having bad sex with a supermodel - you may look really good doing it, but don’t count on having a whole hell of a lot of fun.
Where this game is good, though, it’s actually pretty impressive. The sound is excellent - lifted right out of the console version of the game. EA is doing its EA Trax thang here, with all the songs you know and love. The Dropkick Murphys, Hot Hot Heat and Rock ‘N’ Roll Soldiers make appearances. As a bonus, this title includes the videos for both the Donots’ “We Got the Noise” and the Zutons’ “Pressure Point.” Considering this game’s overall lack of depth, it’s at least one extra you can be happy about.
The graphics are another thing EA got right - another direct port of the console. The problem with the PSP version, though, is that the ball ends up being too small, making it hard to see. As a result, hitting is difficult well beyond the point of being fun. As you learn the game, you’ll strike out a lot. Sadly, though, let’s say you do smack a deep line drive into one of the outfield corners - you’ll get to watch as the ball gets wedged along the wall with the outfielder running in place unable to get to it. OK, so you’ve just got an inside-the-park home run, but only because the programmer sucks. It’s not exactly a confidence builder.
But let’s say you get past all that and decide to start a season (one of only two game modes available). You start playing along, and lose your first eight games. Not just lose, mind you, but crushed 15-0. Not just that, but you get a no-hit every other time out. You’re definitely not having fun, so you go to the Tweak Menu to try and make your team a little better or the CPU a little worse, or both.
You move those sliders around, and now you’re losing 12-1. But you’re still losing, so you try the max tweaks, making your guys super fast and able to hit anything, and the CPU so slow you can throw him out on a single to left. You start winning, but you don’t feel good about it, and despite your tweaks, the CPU is still getting five homers off you per game and you feel bad every time your slowest player can leg out a triple on a bloop hit over the second baseman’s head.
So, now frustrated with season play, you try out Home Run Derby. You like Home Run Derby, which is a relatively fun game you can win without tweaking, but after playing it a few times, you long for more. Where’s the GM Mode here? Where are the minor leagues? Where are the other cool mini-games that populated the console version? The challenge mode from FIFA Soccer for the PSP? I mean, music videos are cool, but I would’ve said hold the videos and give me more game, man!
If you’re a real baseball geek, don’t bother buying this one. Don’t bother renting it, either. Just be thankful you don’t own it, and be sure to make fun of those who do.
WHAT’S COOL: Real players, real teams, excellent graphics and sound as good as the console version.
WHAT’S UNCOOL: Home Run Derby is the only mini-game; impossible to tweak games to reflect reality.