Anyone else playing MLB 2006? Career Mode = RPG

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Sofa King Cheap

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I have all three of this year's baseball games that are out so far and I'm pretty impressed by MLB 2006's career mode. You start off creating your player with limited attribute points and then proceed building up your CAP throughout your career. In this mode, you can also choose to pitch or bat only when it's your turn in a game and "fast forward" a game until those situations arise. In my first spring training game I went 3-4 and earned myself 55 "training hour" points that I allocated to my "Catcher Blocking" skills (I'm a Catcher). I choose to play for the Dodgers because their catchers are the weakest in all of MLB and will probally earn me the fastest track to the majors if I don't make the team out of spring training. There's more to career mode than that, but I've only played 3 spring training games so far.

This and MVP 2005's Owner Mode have me impressed.
 
[quote name='thingsfallnapart']im going to buy mlb 2005 rite now. ive always a game where i can be just a starting pitcher. this rocks.[/quote]

MLB 2006;) Make sure you buy a copy that has the offer for the free New Era hat on the packaging. I forgot about it and opened up my copy from Outpost.com that didn't have the offer. Otherwise, if I had remembered, I would have "exchanged" it at a local retailer that had the free cap offer.
 
yeah,I might go for this one out of the 3 baseball games,since I mainly play one player games.any good deals on this one? Some those options sound neat.
 
[quote name='js1']yeah,I might go for this one out of the 3 baseball games,since I mainly play one player games.any good deals on this one? Some those options sound neat.[/quote]

Outpost had a pre-order deal for $24.95 with free shipping, but that's been long gone. I can't imagine why Sony didn't keep up with the "Joneses", and price accordingly ($29.99 or below). I'm sure the day for another deal for this will come sooner than later.

RE: headset feature. I heard it was in last year's game, but not this year's game.

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My first year, I didn't make the Dodgers out of Spring Training (Catcher) and they didn't even offer me a contract, so I was still a Free Agent, but they then offered me a contract on June 1st while I was simming a month at a time to see if an offer would come my way (from any team). They offered me a one year deal for $30,000...I countered with my own offer of $200,000 for 2 years with a mutual option for the 2nd year...they countered back with their initial offer, which I took. I now bat 3rd or 4th for their AAA club after only playing one game for the AAA club.

One thing I would recommend is to max out speed when creating a player. My guy would hit sure doubles but he would just lag down the first base line because I'm not into speed so much in baseball and didn't up his speed rating when creating him. Bad idea for this game. In spring training I hit about .537 with NO extra base hits because of my lack of speed. My batting average would have been greater, too, because I most likely would have had more infield hits.

With that, I started a new Career Mode (Catcher for Diamondbacks) and set my ratings as far as I could for these categories (for some reason they limit you on some attributes from the get go):

Con vs R
Con vs L
Pwr vs R
Pwr vs L
Speed (The game let me MAX this out!)
Arm Accuracy
Fielding

And then I took what was left and divided it between BR Abilitiy and BR Agility.

Played a few Spring Training games with my new CAP and the manager even let me bat leadoff one game. I even hit a triple and beat some infield throws for hits.

I love this game. MVP is great, too, but the Career Mode for MLB has me hooked!
 
IGN gave it a 8.7, but it would have had a higher score if it weren't for some bugs the reviewer encountered during Franchise Mode. I haven't had the game freeze on me once, then again, I'm not playing Franchise Mode.

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/593/593600p2.html

(About Career Mode)

What really sets MLB 2006 apart from both Visual Concepts and Electronic Arts, though, is its excellent career mode. Building on the idea that you only need to manage just one player, the career mode effectively simulates what it's like to come up through the ranks as a major league ballplayer. To be more specific, you'll get your first shot at the pros by participating in spring training to earn your spot in the Major, AAA, or AA ball clubs. Most of these teams are the real deal too, complete with a selection of minor league parks and official team colors. And depending on how effectively you can accomplish your spring training goals, you'll get offered a contract somewhere in a professional baseball league -- though if you don't like the offer or aren't good enough to be asked in the first place, you can become a free agent and shop yourself around to the highest bidder. But that's only scratching the surface; because once your guy gets picked up that's where the fun really begins.



As a rule, players can constantly improve their abilities. To exploit this, users can earn specialized training hours to work on specific skills (while a handy depth chart helps illustrate what attributes your team's looking for). Moreover, your player's performance affects just how much playing time he'll continue to get -- so if you're swinging a hot bat or putting up zeroes like there's no tomorrow, you can expect the manager to react accordingly. One of the coolest aspects of this system, though, is that you can also help shape your own destiny by actively affecting your team and manager's morale.

Examples of how to do this include barging into your trainer's office and demanding more playing time or requesting a trade to somewhere else. You can even grant the media an exclusive interview to spill the dirt on your teammates or pool the team together and give a heartfelt speech to help them rally. All of these actions change how your viewed and play too, and it can become just as much of a strategy as planning a sacrifice bunt.

You don't have to play an entire game with your created player either. An innovative (and extremely useful) Fast Forward feature allows you to zip ahead to specific portions of the game so that you don't even have to play them. Don't want to play defense? Just fast forward to the top of the next inning! Would you rather just participate in your player's at bats and nothing else? You can do that too! The flexibility here is great, and it should become a standard feature in every baseball game this moment on.
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