Bargain Bin Gaming- Episode 32: MVP Baseball

With the launch of the Sony PSP and the start of baseball almost occurring at the same time in 2005, it seemed imminent that MVP Baseball would be a PSP launch title. Unfortunately a few delays in the games production prevented that from happening, but almost three months later, PSP fans will be happy to know that despite a few gameplay flaws, MVP baseball for the PSP is a fantastic baseball title and the game to get if you’re a PSP owner with a baseball addiction that needs a fix.

Nearly five years later as well, it’s still one of the best sports games available on the system.

If you’re a fan of any of the previous installments of the MVP baseball games, you’ll feel right at home with the PSP version. Graphically, the game boasts brighter and clearer visuals than MLB for the PSP and has more realistic player animations and stadiums than MLB as well, making this the best looking baseball game on any portable system ever.

While the game has a great graphics engine, once in a while you’ll see a drop in the games frame rate with multiple runners on base and a graphical glitch that has the catcher position himself in front of the hitter when the player is being announced as he approaches the plate. Considering that these glitches don’t hurt the gameplay one bit, it’s just a minor nuisance that hopefully won’t be in next year’s version.

Despite phenomenal graphics, the control layout of MVP baseball is probably the best thing the game has going for it. It’s never been easier to spot pitches on corners of the strike zone and make sliding catches in the outfield. While getting used to the controls may take a few games, once you’ve mastered the control scheme, you’ll reap the rewards; making this great baseball sim play anyway you want it to.

The one thing that hampers the PSP version of MVP Baseball the most is the absence of minor league teams. While you can create and edit as many players as you like, there are no minor league teams to assign younger players to. This only leaves gamers with a 25 man roster to play with, making every roster spot count. This may not be a problem for casual gamers, but hardcore baseball fans may find this lack of depth a bad thing for an otherwise well produced game.

Considering some graphical glitches, and the absence of minor league teams, some gamers may turn to 989’s MLB for the PSP to quench their baseball game thirst, but taken into account that MLB doesn’t allow gamers to edit and create players, MVP is definitely the best and cheapest choice any PSP owner has in a solid, fun to play baseball game.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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