E-Mail This Article to a Friend Play ball! EA smacks MVP Baseball out of the park BY AARON SOLOMON
	MVP Baseball 2005 Published by Electronic Arts. Developed by EA Canada. For PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, and PC. Rated E for Everyone.

Never mind that World Series MVP Manny Ramirez is on the cover. Never mind that once you’ve gotten past the requisite ballplayers’ (and curiously, Cards’ fans) announcement that it’s "in the game" you are treated to a rendered re-enactment of last year’s Red Sox championship run, complete with Big Papi’s home run over the right-field wall. Never mind the Zutons.

Actually, that last one you should mind, as their song "Pressure Point," off of their album, Who Killed…the Zutons (I don’t know, but I’d sure like to shake his hand), figures prominently in EA Sports’ MVP Baseball 2005, the latest effort in their charming baseball series. And it’s not just the Zutons that you should look out for, but pretty much every other artist featured on the soundtrack, too. Despite EA’s claim that "you’ll be pumped when you step up to the plate with these EA SPORTS trax" (that "x" is never a good sign), you’ll be even more pumped when you discover that you can adjust the music volume to any level you want.

It says something about MVP Baseball 2005 when the biggest complaint I can muster has to do with the quality (or lack thereof) of the songs on the soundtrack. Aside from the Dropkick Murphys' "Tessie" and a deliriously catchy tune by Hot Hot Heat that I would have liked a lot more in college, these so-called "trax" seem to be nothing more than a redundant way of getting hip young boys to buy this game. If MVP Baseball 2005 weren’t any good, this would be a huge problem.

Fortunately, MVP Baseball 2005 is better than good, and not in that Krusty-the-Clown "It’s good enough" kind of way. For those returning to the series, you will notice a whole bunch of new options. The one EA is touting the most is the "Hitter’s Eye," which allows you to pick up the color-coded pitch (red for a breaking ball, white for a fastball, etc.) from the pitcher’s release point – this comes in extra handy when facing Randy Johnson or Mariano Rivera. Another new feature is the pitch/swing analysis replay, which exists for those people for whom a 120-year Dynasty mode and 30-year Owner mode are simply not enough detail.

That’s right, a one-hundred-and-frickin’-twenty year Dynasty mode with one- and three-year goals such as leading the AAA league in saves and leading the majors in steals. With the addition of 30 single-A teams, that’s a helluva lot of minor-leaguers, all playable. The new Owner mode takes the same basic concept of the Dynasty mode while adding a front-office aspect (and an emphasis on simulating, rather than playing, your minor-league games). You wanted to be Theo Epstein? Well, now’s your chance.

In the Owner mode, you start by building a ballpark from scratch, with only two sections of seats, a wimpy scoreboard, and few if any concessions. The better your team is, the happier your fans are, and thus the more revenue your team earns to upgrade your stadium or team. Through a dozen games, my version of the Red Sox was hemorrhaging money Euro Disney-style, but since then I’ve been slowly creeping towards the black; I guess pizza wasn’t the best food to start out with. (I do love the shouts of the pizza men in my stands, though.) It’s tricky, and with the depth of this and the Dynasty modes, it’s almost too much.

There are three new Mini-Games – one hitting and two pitching – that allow you to hone your skills while earning MVP points to put towards unlocking players, stadiums, and, my personal favorite, uniforms (over 100!). The rosters are current as of January 12, so out of the box Doug Mientkiewicz is still on the Sox, but with Xbox Live the rosters can be updated. You do get the Edgar Renteria – or as Remy might say, "Rent-ah-rear" – and Matt Clement experience, but unfortunately for me, Edgar has a concussion and Clement shattered his toe one stinking pitch before I was going to remove him. Whether these unfortunate events are a harbinger of this season I do not know, but I can tell you that David Wells has some sick stuff.

This is an easy baseball game to get into, which some people may not like. That’s not to say it isn’t challenging, but rather just challenging enough (paging Dr. Krusty). As far as hitting is concerned, you simply need to point the left toggle stick up for power, and down for, well, a grounder. The Hitter’s Eye includes the ability to move in and out of the batter’s box, which allows for directional hitting; this makes it much easier than other titles – when you seemingly needed to remember your 12th-grade math to be successful. At the same time, your batters will not bat .400.

While these bells and whistles are all nice, it’s the little things – the ball caroming around the outfield, a pitcher’s finger sticking out of his glove, Manny adjusting his uniform after hitting a bomb – that make this a truly enjoyable baseball experience. Hell, my virtual Sox even got shut out by the fifth starters on Tampa Bay and Toronto, just like in real life!

Score: 8.0 (out of 10)