MVP NCAA Impressions

snate · Post by **snate** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 1:19 pm

Web,

You know I am a baseball interface geek like yourself and I have to say that L&F is the most intuitive and fun hitting interface I have played yet. It is early so I can't guarantee it will hold up but early returns are very positive. I am even liking power/contact feature, which I usually hate.

I like precision throwing too. It really feels and works well. I held down too long on a 2 out gb to ss and had to hold my breath as my 1b had to make a nice scoop to pick my throw in the dirt.

Kudos for EA for continuing to innovate after losing the MLB license.

I stayed up very late last night to play this one. I can't remember the last time a game made me do that.

btmmayor · Post by **btmmayor** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 2:04 pm

pk500 wrote: Keep the impressions coming ... my wallet curses you.

Take care,
PK

A friendly reminder for your cursing wallet.......don't forget about the $10.00 off BB coupon that is still good until Jan 31. http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/6500/bbcoupon9oy.gif

I've used it for every video game I've purchased in the last 2 months. I just print them out and they scan perfectly at the register. $20 for MVP 06 is a great, great deal!

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 2:06 pm

For 30 bucks, I decided to take the plunge last night. I played 3 games so far while losing them all

(Varsity). Graphics wise is a step back, some stadiums look grainy and there is a framerate issue although it doesn't affect gameplay that much. Commentary is decent and the lack of MLB license doesn't bother me at all.

I really liked the behind the mound camera angle while pitching (although I wish I could "up" the speed of the pitches a bit from that angle) while the batting angle remains the same a la MVP. I am anxious to dust off MVP and see if they had that camera angle while pitching .(Anyone?)

Can't get used to the new analog throw so I went back to the classic one. In one game, I had a passed ball and while the pitcher was going to retrieve the ball (CPU had runners on 2nd & 3rd) I pressed accidentally second base on the analog (by instinct you think it's the home motion) so the ball went to 2nd base while the runners scored.

Batting wise I don't mind giving it more time on the analog but I have a feeling that even more "precise" timing is needed. (I only succeded twice before I went back to the classic batting mode).

Thus far, and for 30 bucks, it's a decent baseball game, I don't think it's better than MVP but it got potential for the next Gen consoles.

Oh, one more wierd thing I wanted to pass along: CPU fouled twice to the right side of the stadium (in separate games) clearly behind the foul white line and the runners kept advancing as the CPU considered it a double. A gaffe I thought, wonder if anyone had the same experience.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 2:28 pm

btmmayor wrote:
pk500 wrote: Keep the impressions coming ... my wallet curses you.

Take care,
PK
A friendly reminder for your cursing wallet.......don't forget about the $10.00 off BB coupon that is still good until Jan 31. http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/6500/bbcoupon9oy.gif

I've used it for every video game I've purchased in the last 2 months. I just print them out and they scan perfectly at the register. $20 for MVP 06 is a great, great deal!

Ah, bada-bing, BTM. Thanks for the reminder! Now my resistance is crumbling ...

Take care,
PK

jLp vAkEr0 · Post by **jLp vAkEr0** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:00 pm

1. Did anyone find where you can set up your infield and outfield?
2. Did any of you go online with this last night? The lag was GOD awful. I will try again tonight If I don't go out.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:06 pm

"I'm Melting"......"I'm Melting".......

pk500 wrote:
btmmayor wrote:
pk500 wrote: Keep the impressions coming ... my wallet curses you.

Take care,
PK
A friendly reminder for your cursing wallet.......don't forget about the $10.00 off BB coupon that is still good until Jan 31. http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/6500/bbcoupon9oy.gif

I've used it for every video game I've purchased in the last 2 months. I just print them out and they scan perfectly at the register. $20 for MVP 06 is a great, great deal!
Ah, bada-bing, BTM. Thanks for the reminder! Now my resistance is crumbling ...

Take care,
PK

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:10 pm

I'm going to dissent on the lavish praise on the game. I think MVP was the best baseball game I've played since High Heat. It rivals High Heat in many areas.

Part of me doesn't like the game becuase of the very shallow reason "it doesn't do things like MVP". But there are some things that took a step backward.

Load and Fire
I don't know about this one yet. It takes hitting away from stats and into the art of button pressing. With any new system it could get really easy or stay difficult.

Analog Throws
Again this moves the game away from stats of a player to button pressing. I have not noticed "green areas" getting smaller for players with poor throwing ability. It might be there but I didn't catch it.

The second problem is throwing it harder. If you wait until it's red and throw it "lower" does that also mean it's going to be a harder throw? In MVP when you needed to gun a throw you had to "red throw" it. The ball could have gone anywhere and sometimes did. But you had the risk of making a poor throw. With the new system, IT SEEMS that a correct green throw is fast and on the mark, so the risk is less.

The above two options can be changed so I dont' think they should affect the game that much.

Gameplay
It looks like they made player ratings a percentage of MVP's old ratings. Speed is still comparable but terrible ratings might mean 30 points in one category rather than a 75. So you do have college style ratings.

The pitching variablity is very nice. It could be due to the ratings or that the team had time to fine-tune the MVP system. Either way, I struggle to throw it perfect.

Also the CPU will swing and terrible pitches. That's something MVP didn't do.

Graphics
What happened. I'm running the game at 720 and there's a lot of ghosting and bleeding. I have never experienced this in any game I've played through my HD TV. Second is that some stadiums cause the game to stutter. Not bad but its very choppy.

I like a lot of the animations but what I don't like is how I HAVE TO watch a player step off a plate. Why was this added. I hate having to wait for a batter to adjust himself.

Features
I do not like how they took away the Left click for pitch history. That bugs me. I LOVE how the start button will show you all kinds of information.

If you take this game and compare it on baseball terms with MVP, I think it's mostly that same. The pro license hurts the game as baseball is stats and stats are important in the majors. Take away the license and you get a very complete game of college ball.

Anybody know what's the difference in rules between summer ball and NCAA ball?

bphilipb · Post by **bphilipb** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:17 pm

All I'm going to say is that I second what everyone else has said regarding how fun the game is. I like the fact that I don't know all of the rosters and who is a great ballplayer and who isn't. Of course I can go on the internet and find out who certain players are, but the fun factor is that I don't know who the A-Rod's are or the Roger Clemens type players.

I played one game last night and I lost 9-3. He won easily over me but in the 9th I did hit two homeruns. CPU was Virginia Tech and I was Oklahoma. Cool animations and I like the fact that you even have summer baseball rules if you want them with wood bats (Cape Cod summer league anyone?). Overall I would say this is a neat venture for EA. I am looking forward to seeing this game grow over the next few years.

BB

jLp vAkEr0 · Post by **jLp vAkEr0** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:17 pm

JRod wrote: I like a lot of the animations but what I don't like is how I HAVE TO watch a player step off a plate. Why was this added. I hate having to wait for a batter to adjust himself.

This is basically my only real beef with the game right now.

tjung0831 · Post by **tjung0831** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:32 pm

jLp vAkEr0 wrote:
JRod wrote: I like a lot of the animations but what I don't like is how I HAVE TO watch a player step off a plate. Why was this added. I hate having to wait for a batter to adjust himself.

This is basically my only real beef with the game right now.

There is an option to turn off the catcher throwing the ball back to the pitcher or something like that. That may also end those particular cutscenes but i haven't tried it yet so I can't confirm.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:37 pm

tjung0831 wrote:
jLp vAkEr0 wrote:
JRod wrote: I like a lot of the animations but what I don't like is how I HAVE TO watch a player step off a plate. Why was this added. I hate having to wait for a batter to adjust himself.

This is basically my only real beef with the game right now.
There is an option to turn off the catcher throwing the ball back to the pitcher or something like that. That may also end those particular cutscenes but i haven't tried it yet so I can't confirm.

Unfortunately it doesn't as I turned off throw backs the first chance I had.

jLp vAkEr0 · Post by **jLp vAkEr0** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:51 pm

JRod wrote:
tjung0831 wrote:
jLp vAkEr0 wrote:
This is basically my only real beef with the game right now.
There is an option to turn off the catcher throwing the ball back to the pitcher or something like that. That may also end those particular cutscenes but i haven't tried it yet so I can't confirm.
Unfortunately it doesn't as I turned off throw backs the first chance I had.

Unfortunately, you are right.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:11 pm

My biggest gripe after just a few games is that it is not on my PC.

I know I am odd, but I just can't ever seem to enjoy playing a baseball game on my console.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:27 pm

JRod wrote: Load and Fire
I don't know about this one yet. It takes hitting away from stats and into the art of button pressing.

<<<<<<disagree.......it takes hitting from the art of button pressing to the art of analog stick swinging. this is why I play action-oriented video games. If I want a stats based game, I will sim the game or play something else. I want to control the action myself and let the stats come into play a little too. this is what it does.

Analog Throws
Again this moves the game away from stats of a player to button pressing. I have not noticed "green areas" getting smaller for players with poor throwing ability. It might be there but I didn't catch it.

The second problem is throwing it harder. If you wait until it's red and throw it "lower" does that also mean it's going to be a harder throw? In MVP when you needed to gun a throw you had to "red throw" it. The ball could have gone anywhere and sometimes did. But you had the risk of making a poor throw. With the new system, IT SEEMS that a correct green throw is fast and on the mark, so the risk is less.

<<<<you might have more of an argument here. I think it's more of a "release point" meter, than a velocity meter (like MVP was). Either way, I like using the stick better than just pressing a button. Feels more "interactive" to me.....just like the batting does. Theu could have tweaked this some more to give us control over velocity, instead of "release point", but it's not a big deal to me.

The above two options can be changed so I dont' think they should affect the game that much.

If u arent going to use the new features, why not just stay with MVP05?

Graphics
What happened. I'm running the game at 720 and there's a lot of ghosting and bleeding. I have never experienced this in any game I've played through my HD TV. Second is that some stadiums cause the game to stutter. Not bad but its very choppy.

<<<<Agree. But if it's "all about the gameplay".....the graphics aren't much different than MVP's, although most folks say it's a step up from MVP.

I like a lot of the animations but what I don't like is how I HAVE TO watch a player step off a plate. Why was this added. I hate having to wait for a batter to adjust himself.

>>>>Agree - that bugs me too, but the game still moves along at a pretty nice pace. Wish there was a "fast game pace" button though.

Features
I do not like how they took away the Left click for pitch history. That bugs me. I LOVE how the start button will show you all kinds of information.

>>>>I think it's all there, but it's on the while button now.

If you take this game and compare it on baseball terms with MVP, I think it's mostly that same. The pro license hurts the game as baseball is stats and stats are important in the majors. Take away the license and you get a very complete game of college ball.

>>>>exactly. although if you dont use the new innovations for hitting and throwing, you really have no reason to play this over MVP05.

Anybody know what's the difference in rules between summer ball and NCAA ball?
>>>>Summer Rules allows you to adjust all the rules to your liking....wooden bats, MLB strike zone, innings, etc.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:54 pm

Practice swings yet?

NoJoke · Post by **NoJoke** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:58 pm

Danimal wrote:My biggest gripe after just a few games is that it is not on my PC.

I know I am odd, but I just can't ever seem to enjoy playing a baseball game on my console.

I feel exactly the same way. I'll probably wait for some updated rosters over at mvpmods, and start a new MLB season on the PC. I can't even get excited for MLB2k6 or MLB06 on a console.

But I'm glad everyone is digging it.

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 1:00 am

One of the biggest complaints I've had against EA is lack of innovation. With this game, I cannot say that anymore.

I love the Load and fire hitting and also the Zone Hitting ala High Heat. Also love the new fielding even though I really liked last years model.

So far I am really liking this game mainly due to these new controls. Its fun fooling around with them and I haven't really paid attention to the gameplay.

As for graphics, it's a mixed bag. It's more comparable to March Madness than to say NCAA Football in terms of the player models and the way the game looks. Bdoughty will be glad to hear that the grass is actually green for once in a EA game. At least it was in the stadiums I played in.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 1:11 am

ScoopBrady wrote:Practice swings yet?

I forgot all about this...and it's been one of my biggest pet peeves with EA's baseball games. Anyone?

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 1:15 am

You can do practice swings in the batting mini game.

go to game modes - mini games - batting.

A few more things to add, love the little things in the game. For example, when you choose to play in a stadium during exhibition, this year you can pick the time of day you want to play. It's hourly and the day will turn into night if you choose a dusk game. Too bad EA didnt make a MLB version of this game and released it on 12/31/05. But I am so far happy with this game. I keep discovering more and more neat things about it.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 1:22 am

Inuyasha wrote:You can do practice swings in the batting mini game.

go to game modes - mini games - batting.

I mean practice swings while you're at the plate. Like you can in 2k's game and Sony's game. I'm sure they didn't include that this year. It's my biggest baseball game pet peeve as well Hobbes.

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 1:55 am

You can take swings before the pitch.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 2:15 am

Anyone tried to pop it in the 360 yet? I sold my Xbox, so as soon as it is BC (if ever), I'm all over it.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 2:18 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:Anyone tried to pop it in the 360 yet? I sold my Xbox, so as soon as it is BC (if ever), I'm all over it.

Not looking good right now.....

http://www.activexbox.com/xbox/comments ... 09&Group=1

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 2:22 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:Anyone tried to pop it in the 360 yet? I sold my Xbox, so as soon as it is BC (if ever), I'm all over it.

It doesn't work.

Bill_Abner · Post by **Bill_Abner** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 2:23 am

Danimal wrote:My biggest gripe after just a few games is that it is not on my PC.

I know I am odd, but I just can't ever seem to enjoy playing a baseball game on my console.

You and me both.