2008 marks the second appearance of Konami's Power Pros Baseball series on American shores, and baseball fans everywhere rejoice. Japan's most successful baseball series mixes cartoony characters, old school gameplay, and a staggering amount of depth into a package that oozes with charm from start to finish. This combination leads to a game that has enough personality to appeal to casual gamers, and the solid gameplay and statistical depth to appeal to the most hardcore baseball fan.
From Xfire: "Sports games are the average Joe's best chance at getting to play under the big bright lights with thousands of people in the stands watching their every move. It doesn't matter if you're a hoops junkie or a baseball fan, sports video games let you live out your hopes and dreams."
GCM: "As we near the start of the third year of the Wii, it is amazing that the console still garners as much attention and excitement as it does. Even in my small town, where buying an Xbox 360 or PS3 on their respective launch days was no sweat – the same stores still field constant streams of Wii calls, they still announce Wii shipments, and they still unlock doors to queues of rabid customers on Tuesday mornings.
And after three years, I cannot believe that Nintendo would still be limiting shipments to fabricate a perceived shortage – business practices like those typically only work for a few months before people begin to catch on (see: Beanie Babies).
No, I believe there still is an honest-to-goodness growing interest in Nintendo's casual gaming console – and every day, more kids, parents, and grandparents are intrigued by the interactive aspects of the Wii's motion-sensitive controls, by its affordable price-point, and by its freebie pack-in Wii Sports game."
GameLemon Writes:
"MLB Power Pros 2008 ultimately succeeds at most of what it tries to do. The gameplay is simple, the characters are cute, and the multiplayer aspect combined with the variety of control options means that everyone can get in on the fun. While the more stat-driven modes do not fully succeed, the developers deserve props for at least trying something different, and the fact that there are so many choices for how to play means that even if you never touch the MLB Life mode, you're still likely to enjoy the game. Just don't go looking for it to replace either of the big sims, and you'll be satisfied with the result."
