However, I feel that the MVP Baseball 2005 game is well worth the nearly 80 dollars because you can modify the game to update it for the 2009 season. You can edit audio to allow the announcers to say the players names, even if they weren’t in 2009, you can create player faces and import them into the game, you can change teams and minor league affiliates, and so on.

Now, with MLB 2k9, I have a few major beefs. The first is that the only new thing is the commentators and a couple new stadiums. The new tandem of Gary Thorne and Steve Phillips is great as a replacement for the DREADFUL Jon Miller and Joe Morgan “A Team” at ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. But that’s just about the only gem in this game. The new stadiums look like the game’s creators didn’t even look at the construction photos. The graphics are still sketchy at best, player faces look NOTHING like the actual player, and the game has so many bugs that the 2k Sports Development Lab might have to be condemned until an exterminator comes by.

Of course, then you have the typical issues that 2k Sports never bothered to fix. Playing defense absolutely sucks, the player animations are awful, and apparently, the 2k9 guys think that a guy like Omar Infante is capable of going yard 40 times a season. Oh, and as for the franchise mode? After simming out a season, I wanted to resign a reliever that happened to toss to a 2.94 ERA the past season. Not bad. Until I saw his asking price. Edwar Ramirez asks for 1 year, $400M. Yeahhhhh… apparently they didn’t get the message that we’re in a DEPRESSION here!!! For you Midwesterners who might think that Edwar just might be a prodigy, I’d compare him to a right-handed Bobby Seay.

According to IGN.com, it’s review of the game said that it was too easy to srike out hitters due to “too precise” pitching controls, the ridiculous contracts in the Franchise mode, and the fact that there’s NO online gameplay, despite constant promises by the 2k Sportsers that there would be.

The major review sites, including my own as a hardcore gamer, are as follows:

1UP.com: D- on XBOX, D on PS3
GameSpot: 4.5/10
GameSpy: 3.5/5 (they said it was good for a casual gamer but awful for a hardcore gamer)
GamesRadar: 7/10 (same reason)
IGN: 6.4/10 for the Wii
XBOX Magazine: 6.5/10
TeamXBOX: 7.1/10
Andy Score: 1.5/10

So pretty much, if you want major league action without a major league pain in the ass, either pony up the dough for a PS3 and buy MLB 09: The Show or toss in 79.99 to eBay and grab a copy of MVP Baseball 2005.

(Used Wikipedia for the review scores)