MLB Front Office Manager – 360 – Review

Being a baseball nerd means knowing
the intricacies of the game and knowing the most minor stats about obscure
players. I’m not the biggest baseball nerd around, but I could certainly be
classified as one. And that’s why I was pretty excited to get my hands on MLB
Front Office Manager. Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane even makes
an appearance in the game and serves as a mentor, providing you with tips and
advice along your way to GM greatness. I’ve always dreamed that I’d make a
pretty good General Manager, and with the help of Billy Beane, how could I go
wrong?

But just how much fun is that prized
GM job anyway? Do Billy Beane and Brian Cashman and all those guys really enjoy
all the stat-crunching, prospect-hunting and contract-negotiating? Well there’s
no way to know for sure, but MLB Front Office Manager (MLB FOM) should give us a
pretty good idea. After all, it holds pretty true to the job, even to some
pretty minor details like the Rule-5 Draft.

The first step towards creating a GM
is actually physically creating him. You can pick a face, body type, even what
clothes your GM will wear. This is somewhat pointless, but a little
customization never hurt anyone. Next you can decide on your GM’s background.
This is an important step, because your background determines your GM’s starting
abilities. For example, if you choose "Ex-Player" your GM will be good at
keeping player morale up, but not necessarily good at other aspects, like
contract negotiation. These stats will increase as you play through the game and
become more experienced, but it’s nice to be able to choose a strength at the
outset.

Finally, you’ll choose a team to
represent. Different teams come with different budgets, just as in real life.
And, just as in real life, the New York Yankees have the largest budget, at well
over $150 million. This makes them arguably the easiest team to play as, as you
will have the budget to sign even the most expensive free agents. And since the
game picks up after the 2008 season, there are some enticing free agents out
there… namely Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixeira, and C.C. Sabathia.

Once you’ve customized and created
your GM, and chosen a team, you are thrust right into the mix. The game starts
right after the end of the World Series, aka the beginning of the offseason,
which is anything but downtime for the GM. You’ll begin immediately with
contract negotiations for pending free agents on your team. Soon after this
comes arbitration, which is another form of negotiation based around an
arbitrator. Basically, prepare for an offseason of managing and rearranging your
roster. Within a month or so, the Free Agent period begins, and you are able to
make offers to any players who were not re-signed to their previous team. This
was exciting at first, but I soon realized that there’s not much negotiation to
speak of. The players make contract requests, and if you fail to meet their
dollar amount or contract length, they generally reject the offer. Some players
even rejected my offer when I had met their requests. After offering Bobby Abreu
a deal and being subsequently rejected on five different occasions, I finally
gave up on signing him. Andy Pettitte also seemed determined to move on, and
eventually signed with the Cubs. Correct me if I’m wrong but sometimes players
don’t get everything they ask for in a contract.

All of this interaction with players
is done through the game’s main interface, a series of menus. There is not
really any visual/graphical representation of the events or occurences, so
you’ll find yourself staring at the same menus most of the time. Communication
with other GMs, including your mentor, Billy Beane, occurs through your email
inbox. GMs will propose trades, and you’ll be informed of important activity in
your league, such as major signings and negotiations with players. But again,
it’s just another menu, which adds to the feeling that MLB FOM is not so much
fun, but more like having a real job.

MLB FOM is remarkably deep in terms
of accurately representing the tasks of a baseball GM. It goes so far as to let
you determine your scouting budgets for countries all over the world, and even
different regions of the US. There are rosters for your MLB team’s minor league
affiliates that need to be managed. There are depth charts to give visual
representations of your roster, Active Rosters and 40-man Rosters which need to
be organized and managed. Basically, this depth comes with a lot of baggage. You
have to be either really determined, or extremely knowledgable about the inner
workings of the front office to remain interested with the complexity presented
here. I can’t really say that depth and complexity is a bad thing, but I can say
that it was difficult to remain enthusiastic when I was confused most of the
time. I actually ended up unintentionally designating Phil Hughes for assignment
out of sheer confusion while trying to add him to my Major League roster.

Once the actual season starts,
you’ll have some respite from the menu system, as the game offers you the
ability to manage your team’s games. It’s not the deepest simulation, but you’ll
have the opportunity to make certain decisions such as pitching changes, and
when to steal/bunt. There’s not really much of a point to this, but at least its
a break from staring at menus.

After playing MLB FOM, I’ve
definitely been rethinking my dream to someday be the decision maker of a real
MLB team. The game is simply unable to turn the tedious and overwhelming task of
being a GM into anything resembling fun. This is certainly not a game for the
faint of heart, or even the casual baseball fan. You’ll need to be hardcore and
devoted to baseball and its accompanying statistics and inner workings. If
that’s you, give this title a try; otherwise, look elsewhere.

Gameplay: 6.3
Gameplay is primarily menu-driven, leading the game to feel stale pretty
quickly. Of course, in a title like this, gameplay is not the primary focus.

Graphics: 6.9
The presentation is generally well done, but the graphics are far from top
notch. The inclusion of player headshots is a nice touch for browsing through
stats.

Sound: 7.2
Decent music, nothing special, but nothing to complain about either. I was a
little disappointed at the lack of voice-overs, which could have made the
tutorials a bit more palatable.

Difficulty: Medium
The first thing you need to do is learn how everything works. Free Agents,
Roster Management, Trades, Drafts, Scouting… the list goes on. Once you have
that basic knowledge under your belt, you’ll be able to handle the game, but
this learning curve may prove too steep for many to endure.

Concept: 8.8 
While I think the game could have been executed in a more enjoyable manner,
I do credit 2K Sports for the concept. I was genuinely excited to try my hand at
running an MLB team. I’m a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to get much
fun out of it, but I applaud the attempt. If there is a sequel, my fingers are
crossed that there are at least better tutorials.

Overall: 6.8
This game had great potential, but unfortunately it fails to deliver. Only
the most hardcore baseball fanatics are going to be able to stomach the breadth
and depth of this title. I’m a pretty big baseball fan, and it was even too much
for me. But hey, if the concept of this game excites you, give it a go. You
might find your true calling as a MLB Front Office Manager!