PSP: MLB Impressions...
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PSP: MLB Impressions...
With MVP and Fifa being pushed into May im thinking im gonna give MLB a go, I would like to hear what everyone has to say before making a decision, impressions please!
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ScoopBrady
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sportdan30
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It seems only right that we dovote an entire page of impressions to absolutely nothing. 
That said, here's what I'm interested in hearing albeit after someone plays it tomorrow. After reading the 2/28/05 hands-on early build impressions over at Gamespot, I have the following questions:
Is the analog stick overly sensitive making it near impossible to locate your pitches with much precision? This of course could be a blessing for some, but also extremely frusturating for others.
Have the developers done anything to rectify the atrocious load times that was initially being reported?
Is it as difficult as they say to pick up a ground ball because of how tiny it appears on the screen?
Thanks.
That said, here's what I'm interested in hearing albeit after someone plays it tomorrow. After reading the 2/28/05 hands-on early build impressions over at Gamespot, I have the following questions:
Is the analog stick overly sensitive making it near impossible to locate your pitches with much precision? This of course could be a blessing for some, but also extremely frusturating for others.
Have the developers done anything to rectify the atrocious load times that was initially being reported?
Is it as difficult as they say to pick up a ground ball because of how tiny it appears on the screen?
Thanks.
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sportdan30
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Everything I've read says that MLB and MVP will only have a season mode. Then again, there is speculation over at Gamefaqs that supposedbly MLB ships with two UMD discs. Seems odd but some feel one of the discs will have franchise mode on it. I find that very hard to believe.MizzouRah wrote:Is it true there are no franchise modes in these baseball games? or sports games in general on the psp??
In the same hands on for MLB there is no listing of a franchise mode.
Thanks,
Todd
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FatPitcher
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I don't care either. As long as it plays like the PS2 version, has a season mode, and doesn't have any major bugs/freezes I will be a happy camper. In fact, since I'm gaming almost exclusively on the PSP now, it will probably end up being one of my most played games ever.GTHobbes wrote:Am I the only one who couldn't care less if franchise mode is missing? Give me the same season mode that is in the PS2 version, along with the same gameplay/animations/presentation, and I'll be playing this game all year.
I figure I might play through one season in a baseball game. In MVP, I simmed a year just to get some prospects up to the bigs. I figure if anything, as much as I like the Twins, I will tire of having the same players over and over again. If that happens, I'll do a fantasy draft.
As long as MLB has CAP and fantasy draft, I don't see a problem with longevity.
As long as MLB has CAP and fantasy draft, I don't see a problem with longevity.
xbl/psn tag: dave2eleven
Hope it's okay to post this here. Somebody (HoodedSoldier) over on the OS board says he got the game today from his import store:
"It's good. I can't compare it to the home version as i only play mvp. The graphics are ok but great for a handheld. Animations are very smooth. There is running commentary unlike nba. Presentation is cool. There are sliders for user and cpu. There is online but i haven't played yet i just got home. This game did make me miss my stop on the train though on my way home lol. But i like it very good game so far."
"It's good. I can't compare it to the home version as i only play mvp. The graphics are ok but great for a handheld. Animations are very smooth. There is running commentary unlike nba. Presentation is cool. There are sliders for user and cpu. There is online but i haven't played yet i just got home. This game did make me miss my stop on the train though on my way home lol. But i like it very good game so far."
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sportdan30
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A few more details that may only be important to me, again from HoodedSoldier over at OS:
"You can take 1 practice swing before the pitcher throws the ball. Yes they throw the ball around the horn after an out. Yes there is a behind the pitcher view. There are actually 2 one is called outfield the other is pitcher."
"You can take 1 practice swing before the pitcher throws the ball. Yes they throw the ball around the horn after an out. Yes there is a behind the pitcher view. There are actually 2 one is called outfield the other is pitcher."
Leebo33 wrote:I don't care either. As long as it plays like the PS2 version, has a season mode, and doesn't have any major bugs/freezes I will be a happy camper. In fact, since I'm gaming almost exclusively on the PSP now, it will probably end up being one of my most played games ever.GTHobbes wrote:Am I the only one who couldn't care less if franchise mode is missing? Give me the same season mode that is in the PS2 version, along with the same gameplay/animations/presentation, and I'll be playing this game all year.
How is PSP as your only gaming outlet going for you? Do you miss playing MVP or other games on Xbox? I am thinking about getting a PSP but not sure if it's worth the bucks to replace my Xbox.
There's no way I'd sell an Xbox now to pickup a PSP. The PSP library is much much too limited compared to Xbox. As I've mentioned though, if I had no console and I could only buy one it would be a very tough decision for me.HouOilers wrote:How is PSP as your only gaming outlet going for you? Do you miss playing MVP or other games on Xbox? I am thinking about getting a PSP but not sure if it's worth the bucks to replace my Xbox.
If MVP and Winning Eleven were available now for PSP, I wouldn't have turned on a traditional console since I bought the PSP. The PSP fits my lifestyle perfectly right now because I have two small children, I travel a bit for work, and I don't game online much anymore. I wakeup each morning (even weekends) at 6:30-7AM, so late night gaming after the kids go to bed isn't much of an option for me. The PSP allows me to sneak in an hour of guilt-free gaming in the evening (for instance, when the kids are getting a bath or when Sesame Street is on) and then I usually play in bed for 30 minutes or so.
I'll have mine shortly but here are a few more comments from mgoblue and Drag66 over at OS:
"yeah, only played one game, but you get a bit of a load time before a game, but once it starts I didn't notice anything bad at all...not like TW where you have a load time between each hole (though it is a really fun game). I only had time to play 6 innings at lunch, it was really fun. Played on Rookie, so beat up the CPU, but pitching and batting seemed good. Graphics are nice, not perfect but don't hamper anything. I'll need more time to form an opinion, as well as find a better fielding cam (I think default is medium and that seemed a bit far away for me). I'm not a baseball nut, just a casual fan I guess you could say, so i just look for the fun factor. I hit 2 home runs, one was a fly ball they tracked to the outfield like a normal hit, and the other they went to a cutscene, so it's variable, depending on how good of a hit. I was impressed with the commentary, seemed well done from what I heard. Didn't get into season mode at all. Alex Sanchez was still on the Tigers, that's the only roster thing I noticed, so I doubt these are opening day rosters, but I'd bet Sosa's on the O's."
"Picked it up this morning. I can't believe how good the game plays. It is very similar to the console version minus a slight graphical hit ( a lot more jaggies) and of course the game modes. No roster editing, but the rosters seemed more up to date than the Ps2 version (I really did not get a chance to check many of the teams, but the Yanks were pretty up to date). Hitting is terrific and I even worked 3 walks. The fast forward feature is great - you can fast forward a half inning, full inning, and to the end of the game. Batting stances are spot on and the pitchers windups are customized as well. Collision detection is great - I hit a bomb with Sheffield that bounced off the top of the fence in center and went over and hit the back wall). The animations look great (DP's look real good and the dives are very well animated). Sometimes there is a slight framerate hiccup when the ball is hit in the air, but it is barely noticeable (I am a framerate whore). The AI seemed good as well - changed pitchers at the right time, sub'd baserunners in, made a defensive replacement in the 8th inning - saw nothing weird. I only played one game, but I may play this more than MVP on the XBOX. I think you guys will be very satisfied!"
"yeah, only played one game, but you get a bit of a load time before a game, but once it starts I didn't notice anything bad at all...not like TW where you have a load time between each hole (though it is a really fun game). I only had time to play 6 innings at lunch, it was really fun. Played on Rookie, so beat up the CPU, but pitching and batting seemed good. Graphics are nice, not perfect but don't hamper anything. I'll need more time to form an opinion, as well as find a better fielding cam (I think default is medium and that seemed a bit far away for me). I'm not a baseball nut, just a casual fan I guess you could say, so i just look for the fun factor. I hit 2 home runs, one was a fly ball they tracked to the outfield like a normal hit, and the other they went to a cutscene, so it's variable, depending on how good of a hit. I was impressed with the commentary, seemed well done from what I heard. Didn't get into season mode at all. Alex Sanchez was still on the Tigers, that's the only roster thing I noticed, so I doubt these are opening day rosters, but I'd bet Sosa's on the O's."
"Picked it up this morning. I can't believe how good the game plays. It is very similar to the console version minus a slight graphical hit ( a lot more jaggies) and of course the game modes. No roster editing, but the rosters seemed more up to date than the Ps2 version (I really did not get a chance to check many of the teams, but the Yanks were pretty up to date). Hitting is terrific and I even worked 3 walks. The fast forward feature is great - you can fast forward a half inning, full inning, and to the end of the game. Batting stances are spot on and the pitchers windups are customized as well. Collision detection is great - I hit a bomb with Sheffield that bounced off the top of the fence in center and went over and hit the back wall). The animations look great (DP's look real good and the dives are very well animated). Sometimes there is a slight framerate hiccup when the ball is hit in the air, but it is barely noticeable (I am a framerate whore). The AI seemed good as well - changed pitchers at the right time, sub'd baserunners in, made a defensive replacement in the 8th inning - saw nothing weird. I only played one game, but I may play this more than MVP on the XBOX. I think you guys will be very satisfied!"
Picked it up at lunch and played 2 innings on ROOKIE and 4 more on ALL-STAR.
Go ahead and grab the super-glue, because I might as well permanently close this thing into my PSP UMD Drive. Damn good game from early impressions.
I play MVP on the XBox as my baseball game of choice, and MLB on the PSP is a great companion. It's easy to transition from MVP to MLB due to similar control lay-outs, pitching style, and overall pacing of the game.
In my play on ROOKIE, hits were easy and you could make contact with almost anything and put it in play. I jacked 2 homers, one after correctly guessing the pitch (which give you a black target icon) and one without. Both showed a nice touch in terms of physics. The first hit just over the top of the green monster and against a solid wall, not the netting, so it promptly bounced back onto the field (though correctly registered as a dinger). The second was to straight away center and it rattled around the former bleacher section at Fenway before bouncing back onto the field. It's a nice touch to see the ball interact with stadium elements.
There is no AUTO-REPLAY as far as I can tell, but there is a manual replay system. Adequate, but I would like to have seen dynamic shots of my homers. CPU homers were accompanied by an instant 'cut-scene' after contact showing that the hitter was certain that the ball was gone (dropped bat, stood and admired, arms raised).
Once bumping up the difficulty to ALL STAR, the sim elements of the game really started to stand out. Even in a few short innings I saw a GREAT variety of hits/foul balls, including pop-ups back to the catcher, drives down the line and weak infield dribblers. Making contact in ALL STAR is A LOT more difficult. You'll miss on most balls outside the zone, and good hitting clearly requires patience and reading the pitcher (even if you don't guess) in terms of location etc.
Commentary and sound are amazing. This may be the only game in my PSP library that I actually regularly listen to the sound on...
Graphics are more than adequate. Relatively steady frame-rate; good custom batting stances, solid animations, and player proportions that are more accurate and natural than MVP. If player faces are present, you don't have the opportunity to see them, so that's either a good or bad thing.
Comments for the ADD sufferers:
+ Excellent commentary and atmosphere
+ Stadiums (Fenway at least) are terrific
+ Easy to pick up and play, hard to master on higher difficulties
+ Sensitive Analog Nub makes precise pitching challenging, in a good way!
+ Good zone-based batting model, forgiving on lower difficulties.
+ Some gameplay tuning ability: Pitch speeds, etc.
+ Solid graphics and animations, excellent physics
+ Good hit variety on higher difficulty
+++ ONLINE PLAY!!!
+ Polished, console-like title (the only other one so far is Tiger Woods)
- Ball can be difficult to pick up even though it's larger than it should be
- Pitch location is easy enough to read, but spin/type can be hard.
- A few jaggies spoil an otherwise excellent look
- Long load time to get into game, none once in.
- No auto-replays (so far)
Overall an EXCELLENT baseball game especially for an hand-held and well beyond my expectations in early play. I may not end up picking up MVP for PSP afterall..
Go ahead and grab the super-glue, because I might as well permanently close this thing into my PSP UMD Drive. Damn good game from early impressions.
I play MVP on the XBox as my baseball game of choice, and MLB on the PSP is a great companion. It's easy to transition from MVP to MLB due to similar control lay-outs, pitching style, and overall pacing of the game.
In my play on ROOKIE, hits were easy and you could make contact with almost anything and put it in play. I jacked 2 homers, one after correctly guessing the pitch (which give you a black target icon) and one without. Both showed a nice touch in terms of physics. The first hit just over the top of the green monster and against a solid wall, not the netting, so it promptly bounced back onto the field (though correctly registered as a dinger). The second was to straight away center and it rattled around the former bleacher section at Fenway before bouncing back onto the field. It's a nice touch to see the ball interact with stadium elements.
There is no AUTO-REPLAY as far as I can tell, but there is a manual replay system. Adequate, but I would like to have seen dynamic shots of my homers. CPU homers were accompanied by an instant 'cut-scene' after contact showing that the hitter was certain that the ball was gone (dropped bat, stood and admired, arms raised).
Once bumping up the difficulty to ALL STAR, the sim elements of the game really started to stand out. Even in a few short innings I saw a GREAT variety of hits/foul balls, including pop-ups back to the catcher, drives down the line and weak infield dribblers. Making contact in ALL STAR is A LOT more difficult. You'll miss on most balls outside the zone, and good hitting clearly requires patience and reading the pitcher (even if you don't guess) in terms of location etc.
Commentary and sound are amazing. This may be the only game in my PSP library that I actually regularly listen to the sound on...
Graphics are more than adequate. Relatively steady frame-rate; good custom batting stances, solid animations, and player proportions that are more accurate and natural than MVP. If player faces are present, you don't have the opportunity to see them, so that's either a good or bad thing.
Comments for the ADD sufferers:
+ Excellent commentary and atmosphere
+ Stadiums (Fenway at least) are terrific
+ Easy to pick up and play, hard to master on higher difficulties
+ Sensitive Analog Nub makes precise pitching challenging, in a good way!
+ Good zone-based batting model, forgiving on lower difficulties.
+ Some gameplay tuning ability: Pitch speeds, etc.
+ Solid graphics and animations, excellent physics
+ Good hit variety on higher difficulty
+++ ONLINE PLAY!!!
+ Polished, console-like title (the only other one so far is Tiger Woods)
- Ball can be difficult to pick up even though it's larger than it should be
- Pitch location is easy enough to read, but spin/type can be hard.
- A few jaggies spoil an otherwise excellent look
- Long load time to get into game, none once in.
- No auto-replays (so far)
Overall an EXCELLENT baseball game especially for an hand-held and well beyond my expectations in early play. I may not end up picking up MVP for PSP afterall..
Sport73
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"Can't we all just get along? I'll turn this car around RIGHT now!"
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jLp vAkEr0
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sportdan30
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Wonderful impressions Sport. A couple quick questions for you. How is the pace of the game? I've read on the PS2 game, it takes a long time to play a game. Do they have a setting to speed up the game? I know about sleep mode and that's definitely a bonus!
How's the fielding in this game compared to MVP? I should ask do you feel in control of your fielder?
The variety of hits concerns me a little. I know you said you see more once you up the difficulty, but shouldn't they be the same on all levels? I've never quite understood that with baseball video games. Or perhaps it just seems that way possibly?
Thanks again!
How's the fielding in this game compared to MVP? I should ask do you feel in control of your fielder?
The variety of hits concerns me a little. I know you said you see more once you up the difficulty, but shouldn't they be the same on all levels? I've never quite understood that with baseball video games. Or perhaps it just seems that way possibly?
Thanks again!
Dan,
I think it makes more sense to see more hard-hit liners at the easier levels due to user ability being better than the game's difficulty. If you can time the hits well, you should sting the ball if it is forgiving.
With the margin of error reduced, I'd expect more squibbers, loopers, et al.
Sounds like this one is a winner. How customizable is it? Sounds like there are big-time roster limitations.
I think it makes more sense to see more hard-hit liners at the easier levels due to user ability being better than the game's difficulty. If you can time the hits well, you should sting the ball if it is forgiving.
With the margin of error reduced, I'd expect more squibbers, loopers, et al.
Sounds like this one is a winner. How customizable is it? Sounds like there are big-time roster limitations.
xbl/psn tag: dave2eleven
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sportdan30
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Excellent point. Thanks for the clarification.Dave wrote:Dan,
I think it makes more sense to see more hard-hit liners at the easier levels due to user ability being better than the game's difficulty. If you can time the hits well, you should sting the ball if it is forgiving.
With the margin of error reduced, I'd expect more squibbers, loopers, et al.
Sounds like this one is a winner. How customizable is it? Sounds like there are big-time roster limitations.
I guess I've seen where another one of my questions has been answered regarding pace of the game. I'm reading where there are no batter walk ups, and you don't see the batter trot around the bases after a homerun.
If this game matches the 'quick game' pace of the High Heat series, that would be awesome. I don't mind some bells and whistles while sitting at home, but definitely want the ability to do without them on a portable.
Dan, what's up with your new gun, Mulder? He's killing my fantasy team's otherwise excellent ERA and WHIP!
Dan, what's up with your new gun, Mulder? He's killing my fantasy team's otherwise excellent ERA and WHIP!
xbl/psn tag: dave2eleven
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dbdynsty25
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