MVP Baseball. Post your impressions here.

No doubt.

They might own Sega Sports by this time next year.

 

I have both games and ive found MVP to be the most enjoyable in my opinon. I havent had much time to play Espn but i really like MVP.

 

Well, I'm trying MVP now. It's a great looking game and plays well but I'm already extremely frustrated with it. WTF is the deal? I throw a pitch with almost full stamina, hit the mark perfectly, throw it to a blue square, and the a-hole still rips it for a damn double. It's 11-0 in the top of the 4th. The computer AI is absolutely ridiculous. If I don't get the pitch perfect, it's one thing, but when I do everything right, they shouldn't be rocking me like that. Maybe things will improve as I play it more but this is what annoyed the hell out of me with last year's version. It is the Cardinals though.

 

ok i really need a serious advice here.

how on earth can ur runner take a LEAD and not send him running to the next base??? i tried clicking my guy on 1st base (B) then move the directional pad towards the 3rd base, and he keeps on running instead of taking 1-2 steps lead???

 

You lead off by moving your right thumbstick to the left.

 

oh the thumbstick.......... its not written in the manual. only the return to base during pickoff.... thanks a lot :wink:

 

Yea im having the same problem. The computer just kicks the crap out of me every time.

One thing missing from this game is a good practice mode like madden has. The batting mini-game is ok but not very helpful in improving my sucky hitting.

 

Well, I played a game online versus Paper and as much of a heartbreaker as it was, I really liked it. I can see what everyone means about the animations. Very smooth and realistic. I like the hitting a lot better in MVP and the camera angle as a batter being closer up than in MLB. I think the pitching interface is better done in MLB and I like it better. I think MVP punishes you too much when you're not exactly on the mark.

I like both games a lot and think both are solid products. Each has a thing or two I like versus the other one. Overall, believe it or not, I think I like MVP better.

 

That is for sure. If you miss your mark, the hitter has a huge advantage, which is good, because these online baseball games are usually pitcher's duels with tons of strikeouts... so anything we can do to shift the balance of power back to the hitters, is always a good thing.

As for your earlier comment on getting a perfect pitch with full effort in a blue zone... just because it's a blue zone doesn't mean it's going to be a whiff or a ground out. It just means that the hitter is "less" likely to do something with it at that location, but they're certainly not incapable of hitting the pitch. The other night, playing Soad, he pitched Pujols up and in with a fastball (Pujols is blue high/in). I was looking fastball and was guessing that he was going to throw it up there (I had pointed my left stick up and in). I timed it perfectly and crushed it for a HR. Now, he did throw a good pitch, to a blue zone, but I guessed correctly what was coming and executed... that will usually overcome a blue zone if you go with the pitch (especially with a good hitter). Same thing in another game with him against R.Sanders. End of the game, no score, 2 outs, and he busts a fastball up and in to Sanders. I was looking there (pointing up and in with the stick) and hit a walkoff HR to win it.

If you want strikeouts, it's tough if you're not getting them to chase balls out of the zone. In ESPN, I was always able to pitch in the strikezone and not get hurt too badly, but I think in MVP we're going to have to start throwing more junk and hope you hit your mark so the hitter doesn't get an indication of it being outside of the zone.

Anyway, the thing I like best about this game is the pitching/hitting interface (and the closer camera angle). You have complete control over what's going to happen with the pitch. If you miss your location, it's because you missed your mark on the meter. We've never had that in a game before, and it was always the AI that decided if the next pitch was going to be ineffective or not... now we have complete control. Same with throwing errors. If you want to gun the ball to try and beat the runner, power that meter up, but he could throw it wild. This game is all about risk/reward with that throw meter. I love it.

 

Well, I don't really see the advantage for the hitter you speak of when the pitcher is off. Meaning, that when I've been off the mark the pitch is not usually in the strike zone. It's not a pitch that batters with a good eye are even going to swing at. They'll get a ball though and four of those of course equals a walk. I still personally like the pitching much better in MLB. The pressure thing is an extremely nice touch and lesser pitchers have smaller aiming circles and they move faster thus making a good pitch tougher. And if you miss your mark, it really does reward the hitter, moreso I think than in MVP.

Anyway, like I said, both are very good games and like Madden/ESPN, it's really about one's personal preference and not one game being better than the other.

 

Exactly, I like feeling like I have control of the game. I hated in ESPN where the computer would randomly decide to hang one of my pitches, which if the player was good, always resulted in a HR. :evil:

 

Alot of times though those pitches are in the strike zone and they'll show up as blue,red, or neutral depending on what zone it hits. This gives the batter a huge advantage as long as you can react to it in time.

 

Maybe I haven't seen that yet. I've only played a game or two.

That was a problem with last year's game. You are very much in control with pitching in this year's MLB and IMO it's a little harder.

 

Which is why I didn't even bother with this years game. Not to mention MVP was already better than ESPN last year...it just didn't have online capabilities. :-&

 

Yeah, this is what I was talking about Army, I guess I didn't highlight it enough or it got buried in my post somewhere.

When you miss the accuracy zone, the pitch location is given to the hitter (huge advantage). If it happens to be a ball, it will show a yellow X.

However, if the pitch missed it's mark but it's still going to be in the strikezone, then you'll see a colored circle in the strikezone (red, white, or blue... depending on where it is in relation to that hitter's hot/neutral/cold zones).

 

No one will argue that MVP was better last year. But, a different studio made this year's ESPN game and the result is a product overwhelming better than its predecessor. If you're happy with MVP that's fine but basing comparison's to this year's MVP to last year's ESPN is pointless.

 

I'm not really comparing the two or I didn't mean to anyways... my point was that I like the sense of control I have in MVP.

 

Oh, my bad then.

 

Nice game. I love the animations. My sentiments are the same as Army's, Drake's, and Papernut's. I still have to get used to the controls but this game is solid. Too bad we can't combine the best of both games.

Who knows, maybe EA will own Take Two by this time next year. I think the review IGN did is dead-on.

 

so will u join the EA league???