Graphics-wise MVP baseball is put together fairly well; minus a few funny looking animations and MVP might be the best looking multiplatform baseball game this year. The batting stances in MVP are first-rate, capturing the look and the feel of the major league player that they were modeled after. While the pitching deliveries, on the other hand, all fundamental look roughly the same after the stretch. Although the ballparks in MVP baseball do look fantastic; however, no matter what camera angle you play in you never quite get a depth perception feel about how big or small the ballparks are.

Now as far as the gameplay is concerned, MVP baseball doesn’t quite have the feel of a hardcore sim. MVP baseball has two major weaknesses; first of all the fielding in MVP baseball is just giant migraine waiting to happen. Diving in MVP is controlled automatically by the computer, which can be quite frustrating when you are trying to field a ball in the outfield on a hop and your Right Fielder tries to make a 6 foot diving catch. Also, the switching control to the player that is closest to the ball is far from a smooth transition, at times the delay causes your fielder to stutter, causing you to miss out on the play. Although, not everything in MVP’s fielding controls is a totally waste. One of the newer ideas that EA has put into MVP baseball, in its debut season, is the throwing power meter. This fresh new idea allows you to throw a dart from right field to third, but also increases your chances of making an errant throw. And the second major weakness that MVP has is the pitching. The pitches in MVP look absolutely nothing like they are suppose to; fastballs go straight, curveballs go pretty much straight, sinkers drop very little and pretty much on the whole go straight, I think you are getting the picture.

While batting is a bit too easy at times, EA again gives the player better control of what they can do when they are up to bat. Want to pull the ball or drop a chopper to the left side of the infield in order to advance Ichiro to second? Then MVP has got you covered! While the batting controls are primarily timing based, you now have control over which direction you are trying to hit the ball and whether or not you want to aim for the bleachers or try to hit a grounder through the gap between first and second.

MVP has a rather robust franchise mode in its first offering. But, something that left me scratching my head was the lack of a player draft at the beginning of a new franchise. However, EA has implemented some really innovated ideas in MVP’s franchise mode. When you do select a team you get a series of goals that you need to accomplish in order to be a successful franchise. Also addition of momentum meter, which tells you how “hot” or “cold” your team, is at any given time during your season. The momentum meter drastically affects the outcome of simulated games, while having little bearing on games played by the users. MVP also has all of the usual aspects in its Franchise, salary, expanded rosters, rookie drafts and the whole nine yards.

All in all, MVP Baseball is the best baseball experience to come out of Redwood City in a number of years; with the revamping of their NBA Live series and their reestablishment in the baseball gaming market, EA Sports is making all the right moves this season. With the new batting controls implemented in MVP Baseball, giving a fresh new feeling to a very old batting system. Add that with some sweet looking graphics and a deep franchise and what you get is a very solid baseball game. If you can get past some of MVP’s fielding glitches, and appreciate this offensive driven baseball title, then you will be in for a delightful surprise this season.