MVP Baseball 2003 – XB – Review

There was a time when Randy Johnson’s move
from Seattle to Arizona was thought, by some, to be both the towering pitcher’s
and Seattle’s swan song. How could they let him go? How could he move to
an expansion franchise? Then Curt Shilling joined Diamondbacks, making
the duo ­ arguably ­ the best 1-2 pitching starters in Major League
Baseball today.

Arizona’s club had a plan. Think you can
come up with one of your own and draw in some top talent to build a team
around?

The new franchise mode is the star of EASports
MVP Baseball 2003 for the Xbox. While the game sports other new features,
including better player animation and an improved game interface, it is
the franchise mode that will have game players wheeling and dealing in
a wonderful chess match that evolves around America’s pastime.

Begin the franchise mode in the game options,
incorporating either an existing roster or creating a team from scratch.
Make trades, sign free agents, create your own players, manage rosters,
and set pitching rotations. There are team goals set for you, and each
time you achieve a goal, you increase your management rating.

You can either choose to play out a game,
or simulate it. Should you choose the latter, you can interfere at any
time, and jump in to take over.

Randy Johnson just signed a two-year extension
deal with the D’backs worth $33 million. Don’t like things like that, or
want to beat the deal, then EASports invites you to try.

The home run challenge has a couple of
ways to compete ­ either in a straight longball contest, or by going
for combined distance.

Through the utilization of pop-up screens,
EASports gives players plenty of eye candy. The stadiums may not be as
crisp as in previous incarnations, but the seeing a running on first and
second in side windows, give the game a very real feel.

Other features new to the title include
a new game engine that really improves the baseball played in the game,
a hot/cold zone which reflects each batter’s strengths and weaknesses,
There is also a player council, which offers input and advice form top
Major Leaguers.

The Home Run Showdown features some new
contests, such as hitting for cumulative distance, with negative distance
penalties for fouls or strikes, and side-by-side split screen competition.

The player interface is intuitive and players
with any kind of baseball experience can jump right in and play without
a lot of manual references.

The game’s physics are true-to-life and
the gameplay is very well done. There is little not to like about this
game. Scanning through the menus did not reveal an Xbox Live! option, which
may be the program’s only failure. This game would be fantastic if set
up in franchise mode for an on-line league.

MVP Baseball 2003 is the continuation of
the Triple Play franchise, but this game offers much more, and is a delight
for baseball fans. The graphical elements may not be mistaken for the real
game, but the animation is wonderful and the gameplay is excellent. Once
again, EASports steps up to the plate and bashes the ball with authority.

This game is rated for Everyone.

Gameplay: 9.1

The games move seamlessly and there are
some very nice options in terms of how you play the game. This game has
a simple player interface that really makes the game easy for the rookie.

Graphics: 9

The stadiums don’t look as crisp as the
previous incarnation of the EASports title, but the player animations are
more impressive. EASports wants you to know how good the modeling is and
pops a real-life picture up so players can compare the image to the avatar.
It is impressive.

Sound: 9

The game sounds are superb and the play-by-play
is very well done. EASports has a reputation for inserting a quality soundtrack
into its sports titles and this game continues the trend.

Difficulty: Medium

The interface has been simplified, and
there are three difficulty settings to supply challenge to most players.
The game AI is also quite good.

Concept: 9

A host of new features makes this a
solid baseball title, one that is superior to previous EA incarnations.

Multiplayer: 8.8

This game supports up to 2 players on
the Xbox unit. While the AI is very good, playing head-to-head against
a friend, whether in a real 9-inning game, or in the home run challenge,
is quite entertaining.

Overall: 9

EASports continues the trend of strong
sports games, and have done a very nice job of improving on a solid title.
This is a good game that sparkles with player animation and modeling, and
the franchise mode is a delight.