First Impressions: MVP 06 NCAA Baseball (PS2)

Now that I've had a chance to play a fair amount of MVP 06 games (most of them online), I thought I'd give some impressions of the game.

First, if you enjoyed MVP 2005, it would be hard for you not to enjoy this year's game. Besides the loss of the MLB license, MVP 06 seems to be a finely tweaked version of MVP 2005 with some new additions to the batting and fielding mechanics.

Unlike a lot of other opinions I've read, I feel that the graphics in MVP 06 are better than MVP 2005. The "jaggy" look of last year's PS2 version seems to have been cleaned up quite a bit this year and while the NCAA stadiums are not as impressive or detailed as the pro ballparks, they certainly look fine in the game.

EA has added alot of new animations to a game that was already loaded with them last year. The new throwing and fielding animations are smoother than ever and really give the game a realistic look. The new running and swinging (especially power swing) animations are well done too. It's the little touches that make a big difference in the look of the game though. For example, I like how the batters turn and look at the ball when they take a pitch, how the pitchers kick the rubber in between pitchers and how the ball is actually thrown back to the pitcher from the catcher. Simply put, the game is beautiful in motion. I've heard mentions of slowdown and stuttering but haven't seen any issues of either at all. In my opinion, the game plays much smoother than MVP 2005, which did have occassional slowdown on ground balls and infield pop-ups.

This year's two big additions are the new analog throwing system ('Load & Fire') and analog fielding system along with the less-talked about 'Zone-Hitting' batting system (the MVP 'Classic' batting mode is available too). 'Load & Fire' is a good start for a batting system in videogames but needs some more refinement. I'd like to see more control over swinging at pitches that are high and low in the strike zone. Fortunately for me, the 'Zone Hitting' is well implemented and is something I've wanted in MVP for years. 

Like the analog hitting system, the new analog fielding system is a good start that needs more refinement. My biggest issue with the throwing system is that diving and jumping are mapped to the same analog stick. This has caused some issues for me, but I'm really looking forward to the improvements EA makes for next year. For those interested, the 'Classic' thowing method from last year is available too.

The pitching system remains unchanged except that it's much harder to have pinpoint control over your pitches. College pitchers don't have the same control as major league pitchers and it shows, and unlike MVP 2005, walks (by the CPU and human players) are not uncommon in the game this year.

Like most EA games, the online play is quite smooth and lag-free. The timing for pitching and hitting is different than playing offline, but it's no different than last year's game. My big complaint online is that you cannot change your starting pitchers or edit your lineups before a game. This was a problem that plagued MVP 2004 and was fixed in 2005, so it's disappointing to see this problem return in 06. On the positive side, the pitching meter and pitch location icon do not appear to the opposing player, so the batter won't know where you're aiming your pitch (but you can still see the icon) or how well-executed it was.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the game and am looking forward to another online league this year.