MVP 07 NCAA Baseball

February 17,2007 - It’s not often that a third party sports series goes exclusive to one platform, but MVP NCAA Baseball 07 is forced to be exclusive with the Xbox’s demise. In what may be its last year of eligibility before moving onto the big leagues of next-gen, the MVP series’ second at-bat with the college ranks looks to be more fruitful than last year’s entry. With new stadiums, fight songs, Rock and Fire pitching, and a revamped college atmosphere, does MVP NCAA Baseball 07 make its senior year the best one yet?

The big addition to the game this year is Rock and Fire pitching, which utilizes the second analog stick to replace the meter-based pitching that the series pioneered four years ago. It’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it. You pick a pitch, aim it with the left analog stick, then pull the right analog stick back and follow through to “Rock and Fire” the ball. It’s a very effective way to pitch that makes meter-based pitching seem archaic by comparison while becoming the best way to pitch this side of the Wii. The analog batting and fielding controls haven’t been ignored either, as the developers have tweaked them to make them easier to utilize over last year’s game. The batting controls themselves have been tightened up so that it feels like you have better control in aiming your hits around the field. Fielding is now a tiny bit easier to control, but it still has that “anything can happen” element that makes errors all the more common in the college game. It’s not going please the perfectionists out there, but it’s an authentic trait of the college game.

The dynasty mode is still the main mode that most gamers will spend many hours in despite it being virtually the same as it was in last year’s mode with a new coat of paint. Draft buzz is the “big” new feature of the dynasty mode, which makes the top recruits a risky choice. They're susceptible to being snatched right out of your team’s clutches by the MLB’s pesky draft that results in wasted recruit points. Outside of the dynasty mode, new minigames have been added to complement the new Rock and Fire pitching mechanic, which are based on the alternate baseball games that would occasionally appear on the backs of dart boards. It can and will be an addictive game once the initial adjustment period wears off. The rest of the minigames MVP fans remember return with new facelifts but remain largely unchanged.

Multiplayer brings about some complications with the Rock and Fire mechanic because it's not too hard to see where your friend intends to pitch. A remedy was attempted with the ability to use the R2 button to hide your true pitch, but the Rock and Fire meter can give it away all too easily. This worry is long gone when you take the game online, as you’ll only see what you would see in the single player game. The game does work well in online, although expect a tiny bit of delay in every action. Just be a little quicker than you would normally be in single player games.

The rosters could wind up being the fatal blow the game, considering that none of them are correct. The correct roster for your team is located on the team that has the current rank that your team held in the beginning of last year’s game. How this was let onto the retail copies of the game nobody knows, but it is a fatal flaw for diehard college baseball fans that were hoping to take their favorite team to Omaha in a realistic manner. For those that aren’t worried about the accurate rosters and just generically rename the players, it’s not going to be as big of a factor. Since the developers have stated that they’re not looking to offer new rosters post-release this year, it’s not really going to be worth it for college baseball fans to update anytime soon.

MVP NCAA Baseball 07 does still look pretty good, but it’s kind of obvious that this engine is going about as far as it can on the PS2. The new stadiums are nicely done while the players are pretty much still as generic-looking as they were last year. The new camera angles for pitching and batting work nicely to put you in the right spot to work the analog controls for both positions correctly. The transitions between cutscenes and gameplay seem to have that tiny bit of slowdown that has been there for a few years now, which seems to be nothing surprising this year. Outside of the game, the menus are essentially the same as last year’s game with new coat of paint.

The attempt to increase the college feel greatly pays off in the audio department, as the new fight songs and crowd chants make the game come alive with college spirit. The ping of the aluminum bats sounds just as nice as it did last year, and along with the new college atmosphere, it’s just a great complementary experience. Unfortunately, the commentary hasn’t really changed much since last year, though it’s nice to see Kyle Peterson offering advice while you’re pitching by pressing the L3 button, but it seems to be the only time he’ll speak up during the game. If you login to the EA servers while in the menus, ESPN Radio and score ticker will give you all of the real world sporting news and scores that you can handle without needing to change the channel. It’s unfortunate that this wasn’t further expanded just a little bit, maybe with the ability to choose what scores you see and maybe get live updates on the games you’re interested in. Perhaps that will come with a next-gen installment if it’s in the cards.

It’s unfortunate that a series as great as MVP Baseball was two years ago has been choked off on the college baseball license these past two years-- no offense to college baseball fans. The gameplay has evolved nicely, but the wrapper that is the rest of the game seems to be wasting away as sloppy rosters and a little change elsewhere is a sign that something major needs to occur next year for the MVP series to rise out of the ashes forming around it. A jump to the next-gen consoles would suffice for the technology it offers while a trip to the Wii seems like a natural fit for the intuitive controls. Don’t take this as a sign that this is a bad game, but the series has definitely seen better days. If you’re looking for an authentic college experience, this may not be the game you were hoping for. This game is well worth a rental, but a purchase may not be justified by the improvements that MVP NCAA Baseball 07 provides.

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