EA Sports, "It's in the Game". We have heard this slogan for years and years, but now Take Two has called their hand and bought out the MLB license for all third party developers. So what do they do next year? EA Sports, it's in the game... unless you are talking about baseball. Well that is something we will have to talk over at the water cooler in the upcoming months, but for now it is 2005 and it is baseball season! EA's Swan Song comes in the form of MVP Baseball 2005, and while not overwhelmingly the upgrade over last year that many were hoping, EA did manage to fix the glitches, add some cool new features, and spruce up the presentation a bit. This all makes for a very solid baseball title indeed, one that masses sure enjoy and will appeal to some hardcore fans as well, provided you tinker with the sliders.

Visually, MVP 2005 seems to have taken the visuals down a bit, in favor of a better frame rate, and spectacular animations. This is all good, but the player models just don't seem as sharp as last season. It is not like a night or day difference, but to gamers who played a ton of last years title will notice this. The player models still look very good, if not a bit cartoony still. The body proportions just don't look right, as the upper bodies are massive as if helped by performance enhancers?but we all know that doesn't happen in baseball. Were EA got it right again is in the faces. You will find an abundance of player faces represented in this year's version, each supplying emotion each time at the plate. The animations are some of the best in the business, from diving catches, to backhanded throws, all the flash and drama that comes with baseball is represented nicely here with some gorgeous animations. The stadiums are nicely detailed once again, complete will all the trimmings. The lighting is unfortunately fake, with the time of day not changing as the game goes on, and this would be nitpicking if someone else didn't do it, but they did. The presentation has EA's golden touch all over it, from overlays, picture in picture presentation, cut scenes, and more, EA captures the emotion of the game quite well. Fans who played last year's version will notice some of the additions made visually, otherwise, the game looks pretty close to what was accomplished last season, with a few upgrades here and there.

Audio is very respectable this year, with all the bells and whistles you would care for in a baseball title. Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow once again supply play by play and they do an acceptable job in calling the game's action. My only gripe is that after 50 or so games, the catch phrases and "big boy" remarks seems to get annoying. The atmosphere has been replicated to a tee with the crack of the bat, crowd heckling, and the scraping of dirt between the cleats sounding so wonderful you can almost smell the hotdogs.

As with all sports games, game play is where it's at. For me, out of the box, MVP felt a bit on the arcade side, with a ton of hits, and the casual man's favorite, the HR. Granted, I like the long ball like everyone else, but I want it to come in a pinnacle moment more often than not. After fiddling with the sliders, I finally got the game to play the way I wanted it to, and once I was there, MVP was a joy again. The A.I. can be a good challenge, but not as unpredictable from game to game. I know going in that if I am facing Roger Clemmons, I'm going to have my hands full and a ton of K's in his favor, but should this always be the case? Even the rocket can have off days, and this is not reflected in MVP baseball. The game basically gives you what the stats say how good or bad a player is. This really eliminates the analogy of break out years for players and bust years for others.

Otherwise, MVP is as good as it gets on the field. You will see more walks, errors, passed balls, etc than in last year's offering and this is a good thing. You have a wonderful batting a pitching duel that is improved ever so slightly on what they invented last year. What you will see is your pitcher allowing more walks as he may not hit the mark every time, which is nice to see for a change. Hitting has been improved with the help of the Batter's eye. Major leagues can tell what kind of pitch is typically being dealt to them by how the stitching on the ball rotates or spins; EA has mimicked this idea with the Batter's Eye feature. When the pitch is delivered, the ball will show a certain color which is assigned to a pitch, be it a fastball, curve, slurve, etc. The length of time you see the color depends on what difficulty you have it set upon, and how the pitcher delivers and hides the ball. Some pitchers this feature never works, because in real life, some guys you can't guess the pitch until it is on top of the plate. With this being EA's last year swinging the lumber, I hope someone "borrows" this idea as it is true to how the game is really played. The controls are wonderful this year, as making that critical throw for a double play can be pulled off with remarkable precision. While I'm still not a huge fan of pre loaded throws, this can be turned off in MVP Baseball if you so desire. All in all, with the right slider tuning you can get what you want when it comes to accurate box scores and stats, as well as some pretty nifty controls.

EA offers up oodles of options to last your entire 2005 season and beyond. Heck, if you are in love with this series, like devoted High Heat players are with theirs, you'll will get enough out of MVP 2005 to enjoy until EA can make baseball games again. There is an Owners mode to die for, as you can not only control all the aspects of being a big league owner, you can create you own freaking ball park! The Owner's Mode even gets you involved by allowing you to help develop talent by selecting to play a bunch of mini games. This adds to the element of the game's already dynamic player progression. Not only will you see your players get better or worse from game to game, but you have to deal with their happiness with you and your ball club. It is not just the majors you have to contend with, you have all three tiers of the minor to coordinate and focus on, as you do not want that hot prospect going to the competition. Who knows, maybe you want to steal one away, and managing not only players, but also their salaries are all part of this. There actually is so much to do in Owner's Mode that it would take up too many pages to tell you all about it. Just rest assured that if you want it, it is there. Dynasty Mode is fairly similar, without all the stadium and owner aspects of the game; you just handle the GM part of it. (Dealing with players, salaries, waivers, etc.) Also unlike Owners Mode, you can play up to 120 seasons, vs. only 30 in Owners Mode. Now if you want to just pick up a bat and go at it against a friend or CPU, the exhibition games, HR Derby, and mini games are all at your disposal. You can even play online with the PC, PS2, and Xbox. Just be aware that if you want your game to count on the rankings system, you can only play 5 innings. Heck even little leaguers play more than that! You can opt to play the full 9 innings, but it will not count to anyone but you and your opponent. There is also a wee bit of lag noticeable on all platforms online, which may throw most gamers off, as the pitching meter is critical to your success or failure. Otherwise, you can play in tournaments, leagues, and much more against players all over. It is not perfect, but it will do if MVP is your baseball pick this year.

In the end, MVP Baseball 2005 delivers a really good baseball game that will satisfy both the casual fans, and critical hardcore fans, provided you've messed with the sliders enough. You have all the trimmings expected in a baseball game, and the action is quick and enjoyable, so much that you can get games in under a half an hour if you wish. If this is EA's final baseball game for a while, it's going to be a shame to not be able to see what was in store for future endeavors.