MLB '99

by The Rookie
January 01, 2000 00:00 AM PST

If you like your baseball smooth, fast, and with lost o' depth, you should definitely buy MLB '99. However, since there's such a wealth of talent in the baseball pool this year, you'd do well to rent each title before deciding on a purchase.

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Sony's hitting the field with the fast, smooth playing MLB '99. If you haven't had a chance to hook up with the slick Triple Play '99, and you're still looking for a worthy baseball title, MLB will definitely fill your diamond with enough excellent action and features to keep you playing through the season.

It's a Diamond Dandy
MLB '99 picks up where it left off last year, featuring the same colorful graphics and upbeat tempo. However, the features in this year's slugfest are what make it an outstanding title and really bump up MLB's replayability.

The new Spring Training mode is excellent. Instead of just creating a player and throwing him onto your favorite team, you must now put the player through the paces in two- or six-game series. If your player turns out to be a scrub, he won't make the team. However, even if he gets the call to the bigs, he must continue to perform well-otherwise, it's back to the minors.

MLB's Total Control Batting is also a big plus: If you can guess the type of pitch or its location, you're rewarded with more power or control over the hit. This feature really adds intensity to two-player contests because it forces you to outthink your opponent. And with Total Control Fielding, your fielders will throw with flare to the correct spot with the press of a button.

Oh, yeah. MLB also contains all the standard game modes, team and player licensing, official ballparks, complete rosters, trades, drafts, on-the-fly player positioning, and team and player stat tracking.

The Rocket Keeps on Smokin'
MLB hits the mark with a fast and fluid frame rate, solid control, and atmospheric sound. The player models look identical to last year's, but Sony has added a host of new animations-from home-plate collisions to "Crow Hop" throws. Plus, there are over 200 personalized batting stances and pitching motions. All 30 ballparks sport excellent details (although they're not as finely tuned as Triple Play's), as do the player uniforms.

MLB still has the pitching/batting cursor interface which is easy to get used to, but tough to master. While on the mound, you pick your pitch, then pick the spot where you want to throw it. At the plate, you move a batting cursor to where you think the pitch will end up, then swing away. Also like last year's game, you can manually open and close your batters' stance for more precise hitting. As for sounds, you won't find two-man commentary, but you will find play-by-play called by the Dodgers' legendary announcer, Vin Scully, as well as all the right ball-park efects-from crowd noises to nacho vendors.

That Ball Is Outta Here!
If you like your baseball smooth, fast, and with lots o' depth, you should definitely buy MLB '99. However, since there's such a wealth of talent in the baseball pool this year, you'd do well to rent each title before deciding on a purchase.