Visually the game looks just as nice on the surface as it’s console big brother does, but once you start noticing the little things that are gone, it is not the accomplishment we hoped for, but it’s a good start for a handheld. Gone are the actual player faces. You are treated to a hand full of generic faces that do the job if you are not watching the manual replays closely. The player models are spot on the same, including batting and pitching animations for particular players. What you also don’t get is batter walk-ups, celebrations, cut scenes, or even stadium specific HR cut scenes. The wonderfully accurate stadiums are still present however, with all the signature features of each home ballpark. I also must mention the lack of overlays when batters come to the plate. Without them, you don’t know how they have performed throughout the season, how they are doing that day, or even who is at bat, unless you memorize every play and player that is going on. You must then check your box scores often to get this information. Overall, it just does not have that visual ‘oomph’ that the PS2 version has, and with MVP offering a slew of these features, you know the capability is there.

Audio is astounding. You have the full and complete commentary that is present in the PlayStation 2 version, complete with progressive audio that gives you updates on hitting streaks, batting average leaders, etc. The sounds of the ballpark are direct ports as well, with sounds so realistic you can almost smell the hot dogs. Even the crowd participates with hecklers and chants. I’m happy to see at least one aspect was faithfully translated without fail, and that was the sound.

Gameplay is just as accurate and has the attention to realism the home version has. You will get your wild pitches, bloopers, choppers, line drives, diving plays, and wall scaling to rob home runs. All this brought to you with a tough as nails A.I. that in many ways is smarter and more aggressive than the PS2 version. One notable mention is the analog for pitching is a bit tough to get use to, so I suggest keeping the ball marker on, especially since there is no rumble feature to let you know when you are too far outside the strike zone. Don’t worry; you will still get a great number of balls and walks even with the option. Also, the analog comes into play when hitting. When using the 9 zone batting on All Star, you may find it difficult to catch up to pitches up or down in the strike zone, as the analog doesn’t move as fluidly as the stick on the DualShock 2. Overall, no complaints on the game play…and more importantly…no freezing!

MLB for the PSP offers a basic array of game play modes that will keep you occupied for a good solid season. You have exhibition, online, and season mode. The season mode is quite impressive and still allows you to monitor year-end awards, All Star Game possibilities, and a tremendous amount of stat tracking. It would be nice to have a franchise mode of some sort, even if they had to eliminate minor leagues, I would like to play more than one season. Maybe next year? Lastly, create a player is absent as is editing players, which really hampers this title for long lasting appeal.

Overall, I have not had the chance to play a final build of MVP, but I do know what both of these games offer. While I still prefer MLB’s game play, the wealth of options and visual flare that MVP is bringing makes Sony’s game a bit stale. It still plays a great game of baseball, and for most, that is all that matters.