Hey guys it is America’s favorite pastime, no it’s not fast food… it’s baseball! Fans of the king of sports rejoice as Konami continues to bring fun to the Xbox Live Arcade with MLB Bobblehead Pros, a sweet baseball game that will for sure hook fans of the MLB. Now, don’t let the look of the character mislead you, thinking it’s just a kids game because the game has a lot to offer, gameplay mechanics are good and can easily rival major titles.
Story
Who needs one, it’s baseball… PLAYBALL!
Strike three, you're out!
Gameplay
MLB Bobblehead Pros is an arcade style baseball game that has a lot to offer. If you loved classics such as Bases Loaded or Baseball Stars this is the right game for you. Konami brings a good baseball game with the Bobbleheads a lot of people seem to love, so arcade style baseball + Bobbleheads, that’s a winning combination there right?
The game features our favorite baseball teams from MLB, so really you can’t complain for a scarse selection of teams or players to play with. Same can be said of the different game modes; exhibition, quick game, season, including co-op modes to play with a friend over Xbox Live. The selection is rich and will not dissapoint.
Controls are very simple and easy to learn, game mechanics not so easy but i’ll cover that later. Pitching was truly enjoyable, there are predefined styles or you can use the analog to throw the ball in a specific direction.
As a batter you have to move a ghost bat with the analog and predict the direction of the ball to actually hit it, not bad but is not perfect either and i would like to see this improved. I definitely liked pitching much more, fielding, well it’s kind of buggy is all i can say.
Select your favorite teams
When i noticed Power Pros was involved in the development that was a guarantee of a good baseball game. If you are familiar with the Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu series from japan, you know they have been around for a long time, this includes the Superfamicom (snes), Nintendo 64 and of course the Playstation consoles. So these guys know all about the genre.
I wonder why they did not release a Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu for the XBLA, but is understandable the Bobbleheads are more appealing for an US audience. Speaking of graphics they are not bad at all, the detail on the hair and face of the characters is good and they resemble the real players. People on the stadium have their own animations and it’s fun to watch if you hit a homerun.
Downside
Lack of a tutorial… this is a bummer really, you go right to play without much idea of how things work. There is a digital manual yes, but it’s too long and really is a bit boring to browse all of it when you want to pick and play, having a tutorial would be more enjoyable.
Learning curve, the game mechanics are good but will take time to get used to them as they are not easy, as stated before this is not a kids game. Some people may feel frustrated as the game mechanics are not simple to learn, but once you do the game is enjoyable. Fielding has issues and aside of other bugs here and there they really arent a big concern and dont ruin the experience.
Extras
No avatar awards or gamer pictures. MLB Bobblehead Stars Add-on available for 400MSP
Overall
Konami offers the fans of baseball a good choice with MLB Bobblehead Pros, if you love the king of sports and enjoy the Bobbleheads, the title has good graphics and definitely a good gameplay. If you dont mind the learning curve you will have a good game in your hands for hours of fun. Available for the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points.
We give the game a 8 out of 10
~Mario
