MLB 2005 provides PS2 baseball fans with more than just a roster update over
the 2004 incarnation of the game. The first thing you’ll notice is that the game
has undergone a graphics overhaul and that the results are good. The animations
are smooth, most of the players are recognizable, and the stadiums look pretty
nice. The only really bad thing there is to say about the graphics is that the
crowds look flat. Literally flat. Camera angles will often expose the crowd to
be cardboard cutouts which takes some getting used to because it can seriously
push your ability to suspend belief while playing the game. That being said,
let’s move on to what really matters in a sports game – the gameplay.
When pitching you’ll be able to select from the pitcher’s repertoire by pressing
the face button corresponding to the desired type of pitch. You then use the
left stick to aim the pitch using the onscreen strike zone square. To help you
decide on pitch placement, the game breaks down the strike zone into smaller
squares and color codes each one based on the batter’s abilities. Cold zones
appear in blue and indicate where you should try to place the ball, while hot
spots are colored red and are best avoided unless you want to give up a hit. To
keep you final pitch location secret, the aiming icon slowly fades from view
although you can still change the location with the stick. When the pitch is
ready to go, you hold down X to release the pitch. The longer you hold the
button, then harder the throw.
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| Swinging for the Green Monster. |
On offense batting depends on the skill level you’ve selected. On the lowest
skill setting it’s a simple matter of timing. As long as the ball is near the
strike zone you won’t have much trouble connecting. This is a nice feature for
the casual sports gamer as the more sim-focused sport games can be frustrating
affairs just trying to connect with the ball. As you ratchet up the skill level
you’ll also need to use the stick to direct the location of your swing. Also,
you can try to guess the location of the next pitch – guess right and you’ll be
rewarded with more pop in your swing.
When you have runners on base, close-up cams of each base appear in small
onscreen windows letting both players know where the baserunners are at any
moment. A small onscreen diamond also allows you to keep track of runners as
they are on the basepaths, and in a nice touch the runners are represented by s
square, circle, or triangle so that you always know which button to press to get
a runner to advance or return to a base. That being said, I did run into a few
situations where the runners didn’t seem to do what I wanted them to do despite
the onscreen button help provided.
Overall the game tends to be weighted to the offense and you’ll regularly bang
out hits in the double digits. Against the CPU it is not uncommon to play many
games before you even see a walk. This provides more action and consequently
more fun for gamers looking for more of an arcade experience in their sports
games. Sim purists will cringe at the high averages and ERAs and the decided
lack of pitcher duels in MLB 2005.
Some of MLB 2005’s nice features include its high quality play by play which
features the legendary Vin Scully, support for voice commands, and unlockable
rewards. If you play with a headset connected you can issue commands such as
ordering your outfielders to play shallow. It’s a surprisingly useful feature
and you’ll be more inclined to position your fielders since it is easy to do so
and does not detract from concentrating on your pitching. Before you play a game
MLB 2005 will set some goals for you to accomplish. If you reach these goals
then you’ll be rewarded with points that you can use to unlock old uniforms,
stadiums, and players as well as some cheat functions. MLB 2005 was also nice
enough to make the goals attainable so that the unlockable features will be
available to most players and not just a hardcore few.
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