MVP looks great. The field, players, and animations are all smooth and realistic looking. Instead of placing the camera directly behind the batter in the default view, they've gone for a slightly tilted camera that better simulates a batter's view of the ball screaming in. The only graphical glitch is that the batting box is too small visually. Curves don't break correctly, change-ups don't drop enough, and this just plain looks weird. However, the mini-diamond that shows the situation (including how much of a lead the opposing team's runners take) is just about perfect.

Rather than simply demanding you keep your eye on the ball, MVP has a batting box that predicts where the ball will go. This makes hitting too easy and pitching a bit too hard. A pitcher has too little time to get the ball icon within the strike zone. Other sims do it better. The other problem is with fielding. You have decent control (they avoided World Series Baseball's rookie error) but changing players is neither quick nor easy and the game forces your player to dive when you don't want to. Tossing it back to base isn't as intuitive or smooth as it should be either. You'll get used to it but, again, other games do it much better.

MVP is a strong debut but it just isn't a contender for the Hall of Fame.--Andrew S. Bub

Pros:

• Great graphics
• Realistic baseball action
• Franchise mode

• Pitches don't "break" correctly
• Fielding system is out of whack
• Franchise mode lacks initial draft

~Peace Out~


awesome game   February 18, 2004
garami (Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts United States)
this game lets you do almost everything. the only bad things about the game is that when you are on defense, somtimes your players would dive when you dont want them too. it doesnt happen all the time, just about once a game, which can lead to extra bases for the hitter. another thing is that most of the hitters have the same batting stance. the goods of the game. full swing control. you can do it all, hit a ground ball, line drive, bunt, hit to right field or left or center, or just swing for the fences, whenever you want. the franchise mode is good. if your team does bad, payroll budget decreases, but if it does good, then it increases, which is good because then you have to stay below budget rather than be steinbrener and sign every available guy on the market.


Awesome!!!!   February 5, 2004
This game is great. The controls are easy and it is so realistic. The graphics are good, but only for the players. The crowd look like moving cardboard. Other than that it is a great game.


Best baseball game to buy!   November 4, 2003
Ralph Henderlite (Imperial Beach, CA United States)
If your looking for a baseball game to buy this is the one. I've played allstar baseball, mlb, and world series baseball 2k3 and they don't even compare to mvp 2003. The franchise mode is great. The pitching meter is very easy to learn and use. The graphics are great and this is a must buy mvp 2003 is hours of fun.


Best Baseball Game In Ages   October 20, 2003
WhiteRecluse (Cali-friggin-fornia)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

But, people are leaving out major, dumb things EA messed up on.

First off, the fielding. You can play with manual fielding, but you CANNOT manually dive for balls or climb the fence to rob homeruns. To me, that is flat-out pitiful. I get the feeling, they will change that for the next version. Also, as someone mentioned, the ball hardly ever goes into the fielder's glove, yet you still make the catch. Graphically, that's a downside. It really looks ridiculous when it hits their head & such. Also, many times that happens when the computer robs you of a home run. Which pisses me off as well. The fact that the computer has no problem climbing fences & robbing home runs.... not to mention diving for balls, wtf!

Also, you will not be able to stop sacrifice flies. Your throw meter doesn't come up until you have the ball in your glove. But, on double plays, you can do 'future' throws. Like before the ball gets to your turnover player, you can press which base you want him to throw to & how hard you want him to throw it, before he catches the ball. They should have installed that for sac-flies too. & also, double plays look horrible graphically, because the base runner does not disrupt the throw at all, he slides right on through your turnover player.

Now, for the people/morons who said it's impossible to hit home runs, walk, & steal bases..... They have no idea how stupid they are.

To hit a home run, simply press UP & the direction you want to hit it. If it's on all-star or pro, you will have to pick up the pitch quickly & if it's coming inside, pull it. If it's going over the outside, go opposite field. You can pull pitches on the outside, but you're less likely to hit it out. It's better to slap it opposite field. On rookie, timing is really all that matters. I hit home runs on pitches out of the zone when I played on rookie.

On all-star, the computer will throw balls much more often to try to get you to chase bad pitches. & if you can lay off those & work the count, you will get walks much more often. And, it will help you get good pitches to drive. Hey! That's like, realistic!

Stealing being difficult is semi-understandable. When I first started playing I did feet-first slides every time & stole 1 base out of like, 20 attempts, no joke. But, then I read the book & found out to press 'up' along with 'a' to do a head-first slide & now my steal rate is about 75%.... at least with my fast guys. A minor qualm I have is only being able to take 2 lead-off steps. But, that is enough. Make sure you take those 2 steps or you will not get the steal. If your player has a 70 speed or less, more than likely you won't be able to steal anyway.

I have absolutely NO qualms with the pitching. It's sick! & the first baseball game EVER MADE in my opinion where pitching is FUN & doesn't make me sick close to turning the game off.

A couple things they could add, like someone said, is better batting animations. Like, Sammy's hop, or Soriano's bat flip, etc. I remember the Triple Play series had players staring down home runs & I loved that.