GameGuyPete

Despite the fact that we're cleaning up from yet another snowstorm here in New England (with another on the way in a couple of days), Spring Training is in high gear down in Florida and over in Arizona... and now the last of the PS2 baseball games has seen a retail release: 989 Sports' MLB 2006.

I've started playing in Career Mode, creating, well... myself. I'm a first baseman and am competing for a spot with (who else?) the Red Sox. I managed to get Dave McCarty sent down to AAA already, which is a good start, and have two games under my belt-- both were wins (7-6 over the Mariners and 6-2 over the Rangers).

How is it, you ask? Well, even if you didn't ask, I'm going to tell you.

Visually, it's not bad. The frame rate is on par with MVP's frame rate (consistent 60fps), but MLB 2006 seems to do this with a bit more detail than MVP. Since I'm only in Spring Training, I can only comment on the two Spring Training venues-- one's in Florida and the other is in Arizona. Both are very nice to look at. The Florida venue has rides going in the background, like The Zipper and a Ferris wheel. The Arizona venue looks as arid as you'd assume a desert to look.

There are some nice animations for the players, although a few look canned and not as free-flowing as MVP's. The CPU seems to make a few spectacular plays in the field each game that prove harder for human players to make. The camera work isn't bad, although some of the camera angles during pop-up can make you a little queasy.

As with MLB 2K5, MLB 2006's presentation stomps all over MVP. Unfortunately, Vin Scully has been replaced by Matt Vasgersian... not that Vasgersian does a bad job in Scully's stead, but there's definitely a dropoff in quality. ESPN's Dave Campbell returns as the color man. The commentary is varied, with timely observations by both men... it's much deeper than MVP's vague blather, but doesn't quite match the quality of MLB 2K5's duo of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. There are a decent amount of stat overlays (unlike MVP) and each game gives players a good "TV broadcast" feel. The replay angles are pretty varied (about on par with MVP).

How does it play? Well... pitching is much like MVP, with a very similar meter-- although it's much more finicky. Each pitch also has much more movement than MVP (or MLB 2K5 for that matter)... so until you learn how each pitch breaks and account for the break via adjusting your aiming target, expect your accuracy to be off. The pitching meter's sweet spot is also much thinner than MVP's, leading to less accuracy, on average. As pitchers gain confidence, the sweet spot gets a little wider... but if you get into trouble, it's possible for the sweet spot to disappear altogether, leading to serious accuracy issues.

There are both timing and cursor options for batting. I prefer the timing option, and MLB 2006 handles it well. Before a pitcher makes a pitch, batters have the opportunity to guess which kind of pitch that will be made. If the guess is right, batters will see exactly where the ball is going-- and, unlike MLB 2K5's Slam Zone, you have to still time your swing AND not every pitch can be belted 450 feet. Batters can still use the analog stick to give more bias towards fly balls or ground balls as well as trying to pull a pitch or take it to the opposite field. Default settings don't allow for too much power, but there are sliders that can adjust gameplay tendencies to your liking.

I can honestly say that I'm not a fan of MLB 2006's fielding... it's the worst of the three games. One example: On a routine grounder to the first baseman, I decided to tag the runner instead of going to the bag... I ran into the runner and obviously tagged him... but it never registered and the runner was safe. HUH? BZZT. WRONG. On defense, unless it's set to Auto, fielders don't seem to get down and dirty to make plays on hot shots or line drives. The whole fielding element just doesn't feel intuitive and problems with the fielding can easily cost you at least 1-2 runs per game. That's inexcusable.

Baserunning is better, thanks to the combination of face-button assignments and using the D-Pad to indicate the destination base. Even fast runners seem a little slow, but it's not a nagging issue at this point.

The Career Mode takes in-game team management out of your hands. The CPU makes in-game substitutions, warms and inserts bullpen staff without human interaction, and can make some questionable decisions. In Spring Training, most starting pitchers last MAYBE 2-3 innings at the start, and might go to 5-6 innings by the end. Not here. In my second game, the CPU kept David Wells in for 7 innings and over 80 pitches... and that's the second game of Spring Training overall! Blah. At least in the late innings, the CPU seems to make better calls, bringing in setup men and closers as the score dictates.

Outside of playing each game, Career Mode enables you to interact with your teammates or the manager in several different ways, depending on your situation. If you don't agree with the manager's strategy, you can tell him. Do you feel like your team's not playing to its potential? You can call a players-only meeting. Do you feel that you should be moved up or down in the batting order? You can tell the skipper that. While I haven't used these options yet, they seem like a neat idea and add a level of depth not seen in any other baseball game this year.

It's hard to deny that 989 is getting closer and closer to the competition with every baseball game release. With EA out of the loop next year, 989 could pose a serious threat to Take Two for the PS2 baseball crown in 2006. MVP reigns supreme on the PS2 for another year, but the battle for second place is tighter than you'd expect.

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Peter J. Skerritt, Jr.
Senior Editor, PSX Extreme.com

This Week\'s <B>Pete\'s Perspective</B> column: <A href=\"http://www.psxextreme.com/scripts/misc/misc.asp?MiscID=87\"target=blank>Silence Is Deafening</A>

Gamefan46

I actually picked up this game today. It is excellent, imo. 989 Sports has really stepped up their game in the baseball genre the last couple years.

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Currently Playing:
Xbox360- Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham Racing 3, NBA 2K6, Quake 4, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Kameo: Elements of Power, Dead or Alive 4, NHL 2K6, Need For Speed Most Wanted, Ridge Racer 6, Call of Duty 2
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Jonesy22

I picked it up also! I really like this game it has very good graphics and the game play is fun and easy.

im working on taking my Reds all the way...It's not easy haha

akira

http://sb.tsutaya.co.jp/WM/db/VW273J1.asx

japanese basebal‚Œ@game