gary hollman

The game gets kudos for superior graphics and presentation (minus the repetitive play by play and painful sideline reporting). Gameplay AI is absolutely horrific. Forget about realistic batting and pitching models. A pitcher with 99's across the board will somehow throw a ball down the absolute center of the plate at the worst possible time resulting in multiple home runs (bear in mind, this is a player constructed purposely to be perfect). A hitter with top notch power and contact will repeatedly hit dribblers to the shortstop or pop out to the catcher on middle-cut fastballs that the dreariest player in real life would pound for home rums. If you have a runner on first you can be guaranteed to hit into a double play regardless of the player or pitch, and forget about stealing a base regardless hoe fast or savvy your players are. This game is designed exclusively to ne popular with on-line players that are wiling to pay exorbitant amounts for fees, dues etc. to play against other on-line players. Forget enjoying a franchise or a Road to the show experience. Year after year the same complaints are brought forward but the developers don't seem to care. I sure wish there was another baseball simulator.

Overall not bad. Franchise could still do with some work. Game still produces questionable hitting results. A 4 seam fastball down the middle of the plate with good swing and good contact still produces way too many bloopers or dribblers. Game outright cheats when it comes to base running. It doesn't matter how fast your player is or how well he runs the bases.As soon as you push the button to try a steal the game immediately either throws a pitch out or a slide step and you are out. Heidi Watney performing between inning interviews was a neat added feature, but her only dialogue seems to be how the opposition manager isn't happy with his team's performance, or how well your team is doing. Gets VERY boring very quickly.