BM 2009 Review

[Arctic Blast]

Couldn't decide whether to post this here, or the BM forum, but, whatever. Anyway, the first review of 2009 is in (from IGN). They scored it a 6.2. I was happy they didn't detract from graphics or anything like that, since those places are typically graphic whores. They DID slam the AI for pretty much the same things we do (ridiculous trades, and the like).

http://pc.ign.com/articles/873/87384...0&RSSid=873848

[ohms_law]

Interesting. This kind of thing:

Baseball Mogul simply can't compete with the 2K Sports' of the world.

always pisses me off, though. Personally, I don't want a 2K Sports type of game. If that's what I wanted, that's what I'd buy.

Review sights have such a slanted view of the gaming world that it's ridiculous.

[Arctic Blast]

Actually, I was curious, so I did a little poking around...BM 2008 on Gamestats averaged a solid 7.0 amongst 5 reviews. This was the first review of 2009, so no comparison is really possible, yet.

I'll be interested to see what some smaller places (Operation Sports, Out of Eight, Ace Gamez, etc.) think.

[ohms_law]

Me too.

After reading the whole article (or most of it anyway), it seems apparent to me that IGN really doesn't understand the (sub-)genre.

[3RunHomer]

With the average setting of 0-percent for the "contract renewals" option that's provided by default, teams make unspeakably stupid and obviously unrealistic decisions when it comes to analyzing player value and maintaining their roster. In playing the 2008 season out, in lieu of offering them arbitration or signing them to long-term deals, teams allowed players like Prince Fielder, Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Marmol, and Howie Kendrick to become free agents.

Sounds right to me. In fact the entire review could've been lifted directly from posts on this forum. Good job by IGN.

[ohms_law]

Yes... In a few spots, I actually wondered if they did paraphrase some posts from the forums.

But, it's obvious to me that the reviewer only has a very basic understanding of what's happening.

[jcbarr]

They don't generally like beefed up text sims. I even read reviews where they have downgraded games for being just that, a text sim. I don't understand how you can compare Mogul to the 2K sports world, I mean that is worse than apples against oranges in my opinion.

[FRENCHREDSOX]

Interesting. This kind of thing:

Baseball Mogul simply can't compete with the 2K Sports' of the world

always pisses me off, though. Personally, I don't want a 2K Sports type of game. If that's what I wanted, that's what I'd buy.

Review sights have such a slanted view of the gaming world that it's ridiculous.

Ohms it is basically saying that BM is not a First hand based game like 2k8 but

Instead, Mogul is a text-based simulation with limited graphics, designed to provide the player with the experience of serving as both the manager and general manager of a Major League Baseball team.

this is to help the AVERAGE POTENTIAL consumer to understand the distinction between the 2 products which are both based on Baseball(like playing PES Soccer & Championship Manager series)

Actually the review is very very fair to BM - it has spotted all the faults (most of which have been mentioned here) & also does say the game is playable) with an extra weight on the link between minor stats (which are totally hypothetical in BM) & major stats.

Actually it misses some other faults (like out of date data for Cities/Stadia etc)

[jcbarr]

But in order to "compete" with the 2K world we must first be in that genre, which I don't think that anyone in the Mogul world would realistically say.

When you make a statement like that to someone who is not familiar with the game they are not going to understand that things are different, and that statement is taken as derrogatory.

[jcbarr]

I understand all of that, I was just making the point that someone that was just browsing around the site and saw that review would certainly think that was meant as a put down towards Mogul.

When I see a statement about a game that says it can't compete with something, I just assume that is because it is a poor game when compared to the other.

I mean just think about saying something like;

A car can't compete with the 747's of the transportation world.

Sure we know the difference, but in the world of video games when you are talking about sports games, most aren't going to know. The purpose of a review is to inform them about the game which they have not played and don't know about.

[FRENCHREDSOX]

I understand all of that, I was just making the point that someone that was just browsing around the site and saw that review would certainly think that was meant as a put down towards Mogul.

When I see a statement about a game that says it can't compete with something, I just assume that is because it is a poor game when compared to the other.

I mean just think about saying something like;

A car can't compete with the 747's of the transportation world.

Sure we know the difference, but in the world of video games when you are talking about sports games, most aren't going to know. The purpose of a review is to inform them about the game which they have not played and don't know about.

I understand your point BUT (maybe naively) I think the writer was emphasizing that it was NOT an "arcade" type game (a la 2k8/Madden) but more of a simulation style (a la Championship/Soccer management).

One has to assume his readership is a wide spectrum & some are looking for an arcade & if they bought BM would DEFINTELY be disappointed & vice versa for us OOTP/BM fans thus the Whole quote makes sense in that context:

Baseball Mogul simply can't compete with the 2K Sports' of the world. Instead, Mogul is a text-based simulation with limited graphics, designed to provide the player with the experience of serving as both the manager and general manager of a Major League Baseball team.

[waltwa]

I don't want an arcade style game. I want a game that is fun to play, has some depth, and is statistically accurate. I have played BM from the start but I finally have given up this year. I pretty much agree with the Review's analysis of player development and that has driven me from the game.

I will keep the site on my computer and i will keep track of the game however at this point it is very far behind OOTP. when this game finallly starts to get things right I will be back on board.

[HoustonGM]

I will keep the site on my computer and i will keep track of the game however at this point it is very far behind OOTP.

That depends on your definition of "very far behind." I don't know anything about the OOTP AI, so I'll leave that alone. In terms of features, yes, Mogul is very far behind. But personally, Mogul makes up for that by the facts that it doesn't take 5 hours to just set up a league, the simming is 59503544x faster, the interface is simple and intuitive and won't bog you down, and you don't have to bother with X amount of other non-MLB leagues.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

I've tried OOTP and hated it. It drove me absolutely nuts.

[ohms_law]

I understand your point BUT (maybe naively) I think the writer was emphasizing that it was NOT an "arcade" type game (a la 2k8/Madden) but more of a simulation style (a la Championship/Soccer management).

Well, then the reviewer should have said that instead.

One has to assume his readership is a wide spectrum & some are looking for an arcade & if they bought BM would DEFINTELY be disappointed & vice versa for us OOTP/BM fans thus the Whole quote makes sense in that context:

I doubt that IGN has a wide spectrum of gamers. As a matter of fact, Gamasutra recently ran an article about just that... if I can find the dang thing...