www.Multiplayergames.com - Multiplayer Games

A longtime franchise that has finally made its way to US, MLB Power Pros is probably the best baseball game to grace the DS yet. Given the dubious quality of the majority of them, that’s not saying much. Also, that’s only referring to gameplay, not the featureless product as a whole.

In fact, this could have been one of the better arcade-style baseball games in some time if it offered anything to do. Instead, the menu greets you with a playoff system, single game, hoe run derby, and generic team editor. That’s it. No season play, none of the RPG elements that make the console versions unique, and no Wi-Fi play.

Multi-player fans can partake in download play or wireless connection play. However, they won’t be doing much. It’s a shame too, because as its core, this is a fine example of how bring retro style baseball games into the present.

Batting is a simple cursor system, but it works well. There are standard and power swings, the latter giving you a small dot to make contact. The d-pad provides responsive controls, and there are no motion controls to clog things up. Pitching works in the same manner, with a cursor selecting where you’ll throw. The d-pad selects which pitch to throw prior to the toss.

The annoying and robotic PA announcer can go at anytime, but the pleasant, catchy music is enough to give the game some atmosphere. AI tends to go on hitting binges. After countless pitches where it doesn’t even think to swing and strikes out, it suddenly realizes it’s playing and swings at everything.

Fielding is touchy, mostly due to the automatic player swapping. You’ll control an infielder who is near the ball, and then suddenly, you’re control is swapped to an outfielder. It’s annoying and hard to adjust to. Running the bases offers simple touch screen controls, including the option to tap the lower right to help the base runner gain speed.

From a gameplay standpoint, this is an enjoyable baseball romp. It’s simple enough to perfect on-the-go, and the games go by quickly. However, playing single games is far too retro even for something like this, and it’s a shame we can’t take this big-headed players into something more.