"MVP 07: NCAA Baseball" Analysis (PS2)

In my opinion, MVP 07: NCAA Baseball is a really awesome video game! I'd highly recommend it! The game has a grand total of 16 divisions and 152 teams! The game has 23 authentic college baseball stadiums, along with eight other parks that are used for teams whose stadiums are not in the game for a total of 31 stadiums. My favorite stadium in the game would have to be Twin Bridge Stadium because it's close to the river and a bridge leading to a downtown area.

The Creation Zone is really awesome! You can create a player, team or ballpark! When you create a team, it will replace one of the pre-existing teams, but you retain their rosters! 

First is the Create-A-Team feature, where you can choose from a total of 60 jersey styles for both the home and road uniforms! You can enter in what text you want on the front of the jersey! You can choose from any city and state you want while you can even enter in a name for the former, but not for the latter. For the school logo, you can choose from custom logos, letters, or pre-existing NCAA logos. You can enter in your own school name which identifies the college for the team. For the team nickname, you can choose one that's on the list or enter your own. The school's abbreviation is entered in manually which goes up from 1-4 letters. You can choose from any ballpark you want to be your team's home stadium or even use a created one! It's a really useful feature, especially for those whose school is not in the game, they want to create a Division I or Division II college or any others like NJCAA teams! 

Second is the Create-a-Ballpark feature where you can choose from a number of exciting location backdrops! There's a variety of field surfaces too! There are three different types of ballpark styles which are small, medium, and large which affect the foul territory! It even affects the wall colors, batter's eye, and grandstand! You can adjust the wall heights and dimensions to your liking! The field dimensions go from 310 ft. to 420 ft. The wall heights go from 4 ft. to 50 ft. You can select multiple edges/dividers at once and adjust them all at once. You can choose from normal edges or left and right slopes! There's also an option for dimensions and wall heights be that of the MLB stadiums from the 2007 season, though the names of the cities/states are mentioned instead of the stadiums! You can choose your camera angle for viewing the created stadium! 

Last is the create-a-player feature. You can adjust everything for a player to your liking such as with the body parts, equipment, attributes, audio name, handedness, hot/cold hitting zones, etc. After creating a player, you must choose the "Trade Players" option to add them on a team. You can delete and locate created players. Plus, there's an option to edit pre-existing players! There are videos that help you learn how to do the Rock & Fire Pitching, Precision throw control, and hitting (most of which is related to the Load & Fire Batting). 

The gameplay options are really awesome! There's an option to have strike zone pitches only or a variable strike zone! There's even a number of aesthetic options. These include the throw back to pitcher, batting view and fielding views, strike zone, hot/cold zones, pitch cursor, hitter's eye, throw meter, fielding aid, vector line, player names and icons, missed swing replays,  auto replay and check swing frequencies, and the overlay. There's an option called "Variable 'stuff'" where pitchers can pitch poorly even if they have positive attributes. It helps the game be more realistic. There are options to turn on/off errors, the catch circle assist, injuries, and blown calls by base umpires. You can turn on/off vibration for each controller. The gameplay tuning is awesome where you can adjust the gameplay in terms of pitching, batting, fielding, baserunning, and injuries to your liking. The sliders for them range from -50 to 50. For the gameplay rules which effect the bat type, base path rules, and strike zone, you can adjust them to have summer, NCAA rules or a hybrid of both! There are options to have baserunning and fielding be automatic, manual, or assisted. There are audio options for the broadcast, music, game sound FX, menu sound FX and crowd noise. There are four difficulty levels which relate to grades for both colleges and high schools! They affect the gameplay such as with the precision throw control. 

There are three different types of batting modes. The first is Classic which involves left stick influence where you can influence your hit type with the left analog stick while using the X button to swing. It also results in having to use the right analog stick to control leadoffs and slides while you can select runners and make them run to a specific base via the d-pad. You can also use L1 to advance all runners and vice versa for R1. For Load & Fire Batting via the "Analog" option, you use the right analog stick to swing while trying to make the up and down movements fluid and solid as possible while you control the batter's hips. For example, start your swing early if you want to pull the ball, but start a bit later if you want hit to the opposite field. While swinging, you can use L1 to activate a power swing and R1 to activate a contact swing! It also results in having to do baserunning for every base runner with the left analog stick, though the leadoff is also done with that during the pre-pitch instead of the right analog stick. There's also zone hitting which features a mixture of elements from analog and classic batting. In every batting mode, you can use R3 to bunt. 

There are two different types of throwing modes which are classic and analog. For the former, you throw to the base of your choice via one of the face buttons. You can also use R2 to pull off cutoff and relay throws. When throwing, you must make sure that the throwing meter doesn't end up in the red zone and ends in the black zone so you potentially avoid an error. For Analog control which is Precision throw control, you throw to the base of your choice with the right analog stick. When doing so, you must make the movements solid and smooth as possible because if you don't your throw will miss in the direction. You also have to make sure that the icon ends with the green when the meter is blue. If you throw too early or too late, it can potentially result in a error. You also have to use R3 to pull off cutoff throws, along with down for the right analog stick in order to pull off a relay throw. In both throwing modes, you use R1 to fake and stop throws, and hustle. Plus, you can switch fielders when fielding with L1. It's really useful, especially when the game puts you in control of a player who's further away from the ball instead of one who's closer to it. Additionally, you use the left analog stick to run while the right analog stick can do a certain action such as jumping, diving, or sliding. 

You can view your dugout by holding L2. When doing so, you can view both lineups, dugouts, and bullpens. You can also view the overrides and alignments for both the outfield and infield where you adjust them to your liking, though it's unnecessary since the game always does that automatically. I like how when a mound visit occurs, the game tells you the pitcher's reaction! It's really useful which can help you infer whether or not you should remove the pitcher or keep in the game. In the roster options, you can choose bring in a defensive substitution, switch positions or a new pitcher when on defense. When on offense, you can choose to bring in a pinch hitter or pinch runner. During both defense and offense, you can warm up one or two pitchers in your bullpen via the pause menu. For some reason, they only appear in the bullpen when you view it and during cutscenes. When you view the bullpen, the game tells you the readiness for the pitcher. If it reads "Stamina" instead, then they're ready.

The Hitter's Eye is a really awesome feature! I wish other baseball video games had it! The way it works is that each pitch type represented by the color of the ball the split-second after it's released. Fastballs (4SFB, 2SFB, CUT) are white, breaking balls (CB, SLD, SLV, SC, KNCB) are red, off-speed pitches (CHG, CCHG, PALM) are green, sinking pitches (FORK, SPL, SNK) are purple, and knuckleballs are orange. It's really useful so that you'd know what type of pitch it will be rather being tricked. That combined with the trajectory of the pitcher throwing it, makes it really easy to infer where the pitch will end up at the plate!

There are two types of pitching which are classic and analog which the game calls "Rock & Fire" pitching. In both pitching modes, you select your pitch type via one of the four face buttons or R1. You choose the pitch location with the left analog stick. You can hold L1 and then either press X to pitch out, press one of the face buttons to make a pickoff attempt or press R3 to issue an intentional walk. For classic pitching, you press a button to select your pitch and press it again with good timing to throw the pitch. If you press too early or too late, the pitch can end up being mis-thrown. For the Rock & Fire pitching, you select your pitch and then use the right analog stick to move the ball icon to the "balance point" and then release to try and match both ball icons! Depending how well you did, it can end up where you wanted it to be or mis-thrown. When playing multiplayer, you change signs or hide the location of the pitch by holding R2. 

There's a scenario editor mode where you create a scenario as to where to start for the game. You can adjust the current inning, the inning half, the number of outs, the score, the player who's at bat, the bases situation, the pitchers for both teams, along with their stamina, the batter whose due up in the next half-inning and the balls and strikes counter. There's a coach mode where you control your team as if you're the manager. 

The Mini Games are really cool! If you do well enough, you get a new high score which allows you to enter in your name with top 5 rankings for each difficulty. This applies to every mini-game except the Rock & Fire Showdown and the Home Run Showdown. Likewise, at the end of every mini-game except for the home run showdown, you're given your stats for it. 

In the Home Run Showdown mode, two batters via split-screen try to get a certain amount of distance while trying to hit home runs!  

In the batting mini-game, you choose your batter, the pitcher delivery, the handedness of the pitcher, the batting mode, whether the hitter's eye will be turned on/off. The Batting Mini-Game is like "Simon Sez" where you have ten pitches to try and hit the ball where you're told. It takes place at an Omaha cornfield If you hit it a long distance, you get a checkpoint score! You can earn bonus points for hitting the ball off tractors or scarecrows! The yellow area in the strike zone indicates where the pitch will go. There are arrows in the diamond diagram which tell you if you need to hit a fly ball (up arrow), ground ball (down arrow) or any if there's no arrow. There are ramps which will propel the ball further if you hit where the game tells you do. If not, then the ramps will slow it down. You want to avoid hitting the ball in the vortex. When you pass a round, you earn extra points based on the number of pitches remaining. If you fail to reach the certain amount of points after ten pitches, you fail. There are four types of pitching mini-games. 

First, there's the timed pitching game where you choose your pitcher and then the pitching view, the block size which ranges from 4 to 8, the pitching cursor being turn on/off, and the pitching mode. During the timed pitching mini-game, you throw pitches at blocks on screen to score points before time runs out! The higher your score depends on the more connected blocks you hit and the more you fill your pitch meter. The colors in the pitch selector correspond to those of the strike zone. You can hit L1 to randomize blocks, but it results in a five-second penalty. 

Second, there's the untimed pitching mini-game where you everything to to start it like with the timed one and the gameplay is similar except that you have 10 pitches instead of being a time limit and you lose a pitch if you randomize blocks. 

Third, there's the Rock & Fire Challenge where you choose your pitcher and then decide to turn on/off the pitch cursor. During the mini-game, you throw pitches at blocks on screen to score runs before time runs out! By hitting connected blocks, special tiles are spawned. The more special tiles you hit, the more runs you score! As always, the colors in the pitch selector correspond to those of the strike zone. By hitting groups of special blocks in any color, you spawn special tiles! By hitting the special tiles, you get your runners on base and score runs. 

Lastly, there's the Rock & Fire Showdown where you choose two pitchers from any team you like to go up against each other via split-screen. Then you choose the number of innings and size of the blocks. For the gameplay, offense and defense switch sides when the defense gets three outs which continues until every innings is played. The player with the most runs wins. For the offense, the player score runs by hitting the flashing blocks, before the defense gets the third out. For the defense, the player must get three outs as soon as possible by hitting the flashing blocks. You select a pitch of the same color to hit a block. By throwing pitches at groups of colored bocks, you spawn flashing blocks, The number of blocks in a group decides the type of flashing block awarded. 

For the exhibition mode, you select your two teams and their uniforms. You then choose a difficulty setting. Then you can choose your roster style. These include the default roster, sluggers which can result a lot of home runs, but bad fielding and baserunning, aces which results in great pitching, but lacking in other areas of play, small ball if you want to score a lot of runs such as with baserunning and bunts, but it results in limited pitching and power at the plate, and lastly, the balanced which contains an ideal roster for a well rounded line up and a deep bench. Then you choose a bat from the bat rack with a total of six of them ranging from no stars to five stars. Then you choose your gameplay options, select your starting pitcher, and decide on the lineup. Then you choose a stadium to play in. You can choose to play a pre-existing one or playing in a created one via a quick create or one loaded. You can decide what time to start the game which ranges from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM. You can also decide the direction of the wind and the wind speed. Then the game starts. I especially find it cool to play games at sunset or night due to the dynamic sky where as the game progresses, the sky and weather changes! The game offers up to four players where two players can team up to control a team together! There's an option to turn/off the multiplayer colors. There's an option for the role switching where it's done manually, after each batter, each inning, a random batter, a random inning, or alternating between innings. When doing so on defense, one can do pitching while the other does fielding. Similarly, on offense, one can do batting while the other baserunning. 

There's even online play, along with options for it, but I'm not going to go into it. The same goes with the "Play Now" feature since it omits a few features involved with the Exhibition mode.

There's a roster management option where you can trade players between teams or even add created players the rosters. You can also edit the pitching rotation, batting order, and defensive alignment for each team! You can save a roster and make it your default roster, but you must save your options for that to happen. 

There's a Tournament Mode where you can do an NCAA Baseball tournament right away! You can even decide on the tournament format and series length, along with the teams participating. 

In the dynasty mode, you can turn/off suspensions, injuries, rained out games, and the energy level effect. There's even an online play option to have the Dynasty Menu Ticker Display show real games or dynasty ones. Every Team has a team prestige rating which affects the number of recruit points you'll receive each Monday which ranges from no stars to six. You can use them to recruit other players so they can join your team. Certain recruits have special needs such as a specific prestige rating or a specific level coach. You can select recruits via Baseball American Top 100 or "All Other Prospects. After you gamble a recruit, they will be on the targeted list the next Monday where you can see their effect via the interest meter. Beware though some of the recruits have Draft Buzz where you can gamble on a recruit who ends up not being there for you to sign in the offseason as they're drafted. There are team goals to complete! When you complete them, you gain access to access additional assistant coaches and improve your scouting ability. The coaches include hitting, fielding, pitching, and conditioning. You can get new coaches at the in the offseason depending on which team goals you created. After you complete a team goal, you'll get a much harder one the following season. The team goals can be really hard such as a pitcher getting 10 season wins or strikeouts, getting three pitchers to win 10 season games, winning the Roger Clemens Award or MVP, hitting 75 home runs as a team, having a player bat .375, pitching a perfect game, hitting for the cycle, or getting player(s) to be part of a specific Team All-Conference! When you complete a level 5 team goal, then in the following season, you're told every specific team goal for it is complete. You can check out the top 25 rank out of every team, the standing for each division, the leaders for stats, individual stats for each player, and lastly, the award watch! You can check your roster status and decide to redshirt players or make them inactive. There's a depth chart option which is really useful during the off-season where players are outgoing and you take notice of what holes you'll need to fill in your roster. Other things that happen during the offseason are the player progression which relates their attributes while you can convert their second position with the trainer, and you're told about the incoming players to where you can sign/release players. When you sign a player, you have to give a scholarship percentage and a promise. There's email where you learn about player happiness, and can get email challenges to unlock challenge items or try and recruit a draft buzz! When you check the schedule, you can view the games for the day where the pitching matchup is shown or the box score if the game has concluded. You can also sim the day you're on or skip to a specific day while you're told about the results of the game(s) for your team in the process. You can sim games and play it during the middle which is pretty nice. When simming, the game tells you which pitchers are on the mound, along with some of their stats!  Dynasty Mode is pretty fun, but it can get dull sometimes.

The graphics look good for what could be done on the PS2! The developers added new grass textures, re-lit all of the pre-existing stadiums, and updated several textures that they felt stood out. They even got to add some clouds which the previous game didn't have. The models of the coaches, players, and umpires look really great! The scoreboards update, though they can't have double digits as they reset to zero when a team gets more than nine runs, errors or hits. The same goes with when they score ten or more runs in an inning. Certain stadiums have a replay screen.

The audio presentation is really good! Mike Patrick & Kyle Peterson are the announcers! Kyle Peterson does an excellent job with the "Ask Kyle" feature where you press L3 while pitching to ask him what type of pitch you should throw, along with where you should throw it! It's a really cool feature! It's much like the "Ask Madden" feature in the Madden NFL games. His other dialogue is awesome! Mike Patrick also does a good job with the announcing! I especially love hearing him exclaim "I don't believe it! A steal of home to win the game!" whenever a player pulls off a walk-off steal of home. I even love what they have to say when a game is played at an authentic stadium. The intro is really awesome as it shows footage of Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha and Mike Patrick & Kyle Peterson talk to the player! I even love the sound effects in the game such as when a wooden bat or an aluminum bat hits the ball, when a player gets hit by a pitch, and the crowd. For the soundtrack, there are 65 fight songs, and one licensed song. You can hit R3 to skip songs while in menus. There's even a jukebox option where you can turn on/off songs. I even love the instrumental music that the game uses such as at the start of a game, in between innings, when a player on the home team hits a home run, and at the end of the game.

I'll give this game a 9/10!