Top Five MLB Games of the Last Decade

[Garcia]

1. The Show '10
2. The Show '09
3. The Show '08
4. High Heat
5. MVP '05 - the most overrated "great" game in my opinion.

[bkrich83]

Gonna have to disagree with this list.

MVP 05 imo, most overhyped overrated baseball game of all time.

ASB, had a fabulous franchise mode, plus expansion mode, which no one has ever been able to match, But was lackluster on the field. It really didn't "play" a very good game of baseball.

MVP 05 is #1, ASB is on the list, but no mention of the HH games? I don't get it. The HH series set the bar for true baseball simulations. I simply can not see how they are left off, but a game like ASB or even MLB 01 is on the list.

[Altimus]

Re: Top Five MLB Games of the Last Decade

MVP Baseball 05
MVP Baseball 04
MLB 10 The Show
ASB 2003
MLB 2K3

[MSUHitman]

Mine would be:

5. High Heat 04
4. High Heat 03
3. MVP 05
2. MLB The Show 08
1. MLB The Show 10

High Heat 04 gets the nod over MLB The Show 09 and High Heat 02 because of fewer bugs vs. Show 09 and High Heat 02 was just SO much uglier than the other games out there. I'd give the other honorable mention to MLB 2K7.

I should also note I've only had a PS2, 360, and PS3 in the decade, did not have a PC that could really play games on for most of it.

[jkeefeholmes]

Having played bb sims thru all these years, I agree that High Heat should definitely be on this list. Was very surprised to see it wasn't. But the games you chose were great too.

[nike31]

still got my MVP 05(PC) to date, play it every once in awhile......MLB10 is far better than 07......

[rudyjuly2]

I would put MVP 05 on the list because that was the game that brought be back to baseball gaming. I would never put it #1 though. The Show 06 continued that in a big, big way for me. I would definitely say the Show 09 was better than the Show 08 - opposite field power was toned down and it was just better imo.

[tril]

I agree Rondoman. MVP 05 didn't become one of the greatest until I played the PC version that was modded. Unmodded MVP 05 is nowhere near as good as MLB The Show 7,8,9, or 10. In fact, High Heat might surpass MVP 05 unmodded.

cosign what Choadler said. MVP05 is great on the PC because of all the modding.

[Pared]

Re: Top Five MLB Games of the Last Decade

You know, I typically feel Christian's content is so off-the-mark when it comes to the sports genre, but this isn't that bad as a list. The exclusion of HH though is just... head-scratcher, close to being number 5 or not.

HH pushed sim-style gaming harder than most other baseball titles did out of the box.

To be fair, HH was never all that good either without its extensive modding (yes, I consider the tune file to be that), out of the box it played as exaggerated and arcadey as any game has. Try throwing a good curveball on the default settings...LOL. So it's not really fair to hold that against MVP, IMO.

But I still think at least 1 version of the Show has to be #1 - it doesn't even require mods and is easily my favorite sports series of all-time.

Strongly disagree. The game had a sim slider for a reason. They left it up to the user to decide.

While some tweaks were nice, I could change minor things to my liking because I wanted less reliance on my input and more reliance on ratings... which were typically very well done. Players performed like you expected.

Those early 2000's 2k baseball games were crap. All of them. Dreamcast, PS2, XBOX...

You don't know what you're talking about. WSB 2k3 was right up there with realism compared to HH.

Sure, it had an issue where all the catcher's arms were over powered making steals difficult. But you always had realistic results, and players performed how you would expect right out of the box.

[Juiceman]

Are text-sims automatically excluded here? Because there is absolutely no other reason for Out of the Park to be excluded in this list. Easily the most accurate representation of baseball on the market.

[aukevin]

Re: Top Five MLB Games of the Last Decade

Are text-sims automatically excluded here? Because there is absolutely no other reason for Out of the Park to be excluded in this list. Easily the most accurate representation of baseball on the market.

Probably because OOTP isn't a MLB game like the title of the list describes, just a baseball game.

[douggoud]

1. MLB 10: The Show (come on, i really don't need a reason)
2. MVP Baseball 2005 (modded or unmodded, that game is just plain fun)
3. Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey, Jr. (N64) ( this game got me started on baseball, not to mention it had my favorite player of all time on the cover, gonna be in my to 5)
4. MLB 06: The Show (the game that truely turned me into a baseball nut, not to mention some of the best soundtracks ever)
5. Triple Play Baseball 2001 ( i loved this game, especially the homerun derby in the family room, its so much fun to break things, lol ) (or the fire place "Gee Buck, i sure hope Santa wasn't commin' down the chimney" lol)
6. MVP Baseball 2003 (had all the players from the 2002 world series angels on it basically, why wouldn't i love it? lol
7. MLB 2K8 (the last great 2k baseball game, atleast since 2k10, but i havent played it, so i cant say that. but i loved the player customization, that was about it, along with having playable single A teams)

Baseball games i've played:
MLB 06*, 07**, 08*, 09*, and 10*: The Show (PS2 and PS3)
MLB 2K6*, 2K7**, and 2K8* (PS2 and PS3)
MVP Baseball 2003*, 2004*, and 2005* (PS2)
MVP NCAA Baseball 06*,and 07 (PS2)
Triple Play Baseball 2001* (PS1)
Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey, Jr. (N64)
MLB Power Pros (Wii)* and MLB Power Pros 2008 (Wii)*

* = i own it
** = i own it for both the PS2 and PS3

like i said, i'm a baseball nut (at least a baseball video gaming nut )

[kehlis]

Re: Top Five MLB Games of the Last Decade

I was getting ready to mention Hardball 4 for PC as I read through and was surprised it hadn't been mentioned yet...

Then I realized how old I was getting...

[Juiceman612]

Probably because OOTP isn't a MLB game like the title of the list describes, just a baseball game.

Huh? How is OOTP not an MLB game? It has MLB teams, rosters, and even farm systems.

Anyway, I'm guessing OOTP isn't included since gameplay was one thing being weighed in his list it seems. Being a text-sim I guess that excludes it.

[aukevin]

Re: Top Five MLB Games of the Last Decade

Huh? How is OOTP not an MLB game? It has MLB teams, rosters, and even farm systems.

Anyway, I'm guessing OOTP isn't included since gameplay was one thing being weighed in his list it seems. Being a text-sim I guess that excludes it.

Last time I bought OOTP (3 years ago maybe) it came with generic rosters, is it different now? There were MLB rosters that you downloaded and added to it, but the base game was generic. Maybe I'm thinking of a different game (Puresim or something like that).