Although Microsoft is rather busy these days with firing their employees, it seems that they haven't forgotten that they still have an online service to maintain, as Major Nelson has announced via his official blog that a demo for Resident Evil 5 has arrived on Xbox Live.

The demo, which is the same one released in Japan last month, allows you to play "by yourself or play with a partner in co-op mode, either online or offline with a split screen," according to Nelson.

Capcom has yet to reveal a date for the PSN demo, but it shouldn't be long before it'll be available. We'll let you know once it's announced.

This is big news for PC fans because many RE fans have been asking for a PC port and now it is here! The game is scheduled for release on March 12, 2009 in Japan, and March 13, 2009 in North America and Europe.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl can be compressed to a single rule: to knock your opponents off the sides of the screen. You accomplish this by beating your opponents to a pulp to raise their damage percentage. The higher their percentage, the farther they fly, best done with the namesake smash attack. It's really that simple. But just because the concept is simple doesn't mean it's simple in practice.

Something is wrong with this picture.

To match number of characters, there are a few dozen stages to select from, the vast majority of which include interactive elements that make each stage resemble a playground more than a standard fighting environment. For example, the recreation of the 75M stage from the original Donkey Kong features numerous elevators, ladders, and a giant, pixelated Donkey Kong who throws springs, which not surprisingly, are very dangerous when hit. Add in a huge list of variable-changing items like ray guns, explosives, and the all-important Smash Balls which enable character-specific finishing moves and you'll never encounter the same match twice.

The Luigi boogie.

The biggest addition to multiplayer is without a doubt the online component. Though you have to enter Brawl-specific friend codes, doing so grants you access to the best online experience Brawl offers, allowing you to play with as many characters, stages, and options as you have unlocked in the offline game. However, Brawl doesn't include the standard features of most online games: leaderboards and voice chat You can play with random opponents, but this option limits you to two-minute matches. The matches aren't always lag-free but for the most part the game runs smoothly - an impressive feat considering the intense four-player action occurring online. Overall, online battling is a great addition to the game's value, even if it may be a little bare bones.

Traitor.

Brawl maintains the franchise's simple control premise. All character moves are tied to one button each for special moves and normal attacks. Pressing either up, forward, or down in conjunction with one of these will result in character specific specials with the special move button and the smash attacks with the normal attack button. Smash Bros. does not wear the complexities of other move-based fighters like Street Fighter or Tekken but comparing it to those straight fighters is not entirely fair in respect to its less serious atmosphere of random items and non-static stages, which are essential to the experience.

I hope this is as painful as it looks, Little Lucas.

Brawl also features four different controller options. You can use the Wii Remote, the Wii Remote plus the nunchuk, the Classic Controller, or a GameCube controller. The latter is definitely the best choice as not only will it be a natural fit for series regulars who have spent the last 6 years playing Melee but most of the other control types have issues, especially the Wii Remote due to its lack of having a sufficient button count to be a well-rounded choice. Nonetheless, it is possible to play with all of them, which is a testament to how fundamentally simple the game is.

While the graphics are only marginally better than Melee's, Brawl still sports some great visuals. Star Fox's Lylat Cruise stage, set on a space cruiser speeding through a detailed vista of asteroids and ships straight out of Star Wars, is especially impressive – even more so considering that it and the rest of the stages feature no slowdown. As heavy as the action can get, the game runs at a silky 60 frames per second. However, sometimes the graphics can be a distraction. It is all too easy in a particularly hectic fight to lose sight of your character. This can be exacerbated in stages like Earthbound's New Pork City, a massive environment with an almost nauseating purple color scheme that makes it hard to discern the fighters when the camera is fully zoomed out. Add that to the standard flashes and zooms of character specials and items and it's guaranteed to cause an errant death or two.

This'll only take a moment.

Brawl's biggest snag is that getting maximum enjoyment from it will require prerequisite knowledge and experience with Nintendo's characters and history. If the understanding of the absurd gravity of Link fighting Fox McCloud amidst the sewers of the original Mario Bros. game is lost, then these characters might as well be anyone else. Brawl has no shame in flaunting its appeal as a Nintendo self-promoter.

Sega has released a new patch for Virtua Fighter 5 for the Xbox 360 featuring various bug fixes, improved performance and more gameplay options.

Hit the jump to view the full list.

The patch includes the following:

• Some characters will now be able to select costume-specific pants in alternate costumes, for example equipping Costume A pants in Costume B.
• Replays of online battles can now be saved.
• One additional item per character (appear as "Downloaded item" in Costume settings/Item edit dialog).
• Gamer pictures will now be shown in online battles.
• After winning the World Tournament Final, it's now more likely that rivals you have not defeated will be playing in arcades.
• When someone joins an online match, you can now see their connection quality.
• Various fixes for minor bugs, including a texture bug.
• Easier sorting of rankings.
• Rematches in Online VS. Player Matches now possible even when the players haven't added their opponent to their friend list

Following the news of the Activision Blizzard merger, the company has confirmed that, in fact, Call of Duty 5 and Guitar Hero IV are both in development. There are no other details for these upcoming titles at this time.

In addition, other titles in the works include a new James Bond, Tony Hawk, new Dreamworks and Marvel titles and a racing title from Bizarre Creations.

Those who wish to visit the official site can do so here.

Terrorists are bad. Shoot bullets at them.

Ghillie suit? More like Silly suit!

Get to the choppah!

Not much information has been released, but expect further confirmation around E3 time.

The game is scheduled for a 2007 release. Screenshots are not available as of yet.

Virtua Fighter 5 will deliver fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping action as players head into battle, taking on a host of popular characters. Players will not only achieve victory by defeating highly-skilled opponents, but will also compete for prizes and earn in-game money through the match to buy many items at an in-game shop. These items allow players to customize their ultimate warrior and become the top Virtua Fighter. In addition, the game will introduce "Offensive Move", a new maneuver that will allow players to easily approach opponents from the side, adding a more strategic element to the battle. The game will support 720p HD resolution.

Sega will be displaying Virtua Fighter 5 game footage during E3 at its booth in the South Hall, #946.

It seems nowadays that placing a game in the so-called “hood” is the way to go. In the last few years, we haven’t seen a shortage of these kinds of games. Some turn out quite good and are well received like GTA: San Andreas; some are overhyped and turn out to be mediocre such as True Crime: New York City; and lastly there those that scream quick cash-in – see 187: Ride or Die.

There’s now another game to add to the genre – the oft-delayed offering from Eidos, 25 To Life. The reason for the numerous delays was the popular reason of wanting to polish the game some more. After a couple of hours of play, I’m thinking they should have delayed it a little bit longer.

 
I hate to say it, but there’s not much good to be found in 25 To Life. Its two redeeming qualities are its great hip-hop soundtrack and the online play.

The soundtrack features a ton of different artists from the rap scene with songs ranging from old school Public Enemy and Gang Starr to more modern tracks from Shyne and Guerilla Black, who also added to the 187 soundtrack. The music fits the gritty street vibe that’s found throughout the game. What’s awesome is that they’ll force tracks to play at certain parts that fit perfectly with the current scene. Case in point – PE’s “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” streaming during a prison riot.

The online mode isn’t anything overly complex. It features quite a few team match options, most featuring a team of cops versus a team of criminals. War is the typical team deathmatch battle. In raid, the criminals need to protect their stolen stash from a group of cops trying to raid their base, hence the mode’s title. In robbery, items of value are scattered throughout the map and it’s up to the criminals to steal them all and return them to their hideout. Of course, the team of cops will be there to make sure that doesn’t happen. The last online mode features teams of criminals against each other. In tag, spraying graffiti on walls gives you control over an area and the goal is to control as much area as possible. Spraying over an opposing tag gives you control over the area, but that can also be sprayed over.

Most other multiplayer online games do everything else better and while there’s nothing spectacular about 25 To Life’s, it’s still a bright spot on what is otherwise a lackluster title. The truly bad part about it is that to unlock custom items for use online requires going through the single-player mode which is rather painful to play.

Where to start? Let’s address the story first. You start out as Freeze, a drug dealer looking to leave the game to keep his wife and child safe. However, before he can, he’s asked to do one more deal. He gets there, everything that can go wrong goes wrong and he finds himself running from the cops. The next thing he knows, his family is kidnapped and he’s forced deeper into the game than he ever was. As a story, that sounds all good, but the dialogue and how the entire story unfolds afterwards is just so cheesy and forced that it makes you wonder if the writers even bothered watching the old 90s flicks like New Jack City and Boyz N the Hood that inspired these types of games.

It gets worse from there as you’ll end up playing as a gang leader that’s banished to Mexico and decides to make lemonade out of lemons by forcibly taking over that area’s drug scene. You’ll also control a cop who finds himself in the middle of some shady co-workers. Think Training Day and you’ll know what I mean. How all three of these characters connect is something that I don’t know. The narrative doesn’t do much to help you understand it, so that could be why I don’t get it. I’m sure something there explains it, but it’s so terrible that I began to tune out the story.

The gameplay, the backbone of a game, doesn’t ease the pain caused by the confusing and horrible story. The controls don’t feel quite right. I can’t explain it. It plays like a typical third-person shooter, but the aiming feels at times a little too loose. At least you can adjust the sensitivity of the reticule. In the end, however, all the single-player mode boils down to is chilling behind a corner, popping out to put a clip in someone’s body, and repeat ad nauseam. You can only imagine how quickly that gets boring. I’m amazed I made it more than four hours of repeating this every couple of steps.

The graphics are just plain atrocious. The environments are bland, the character models aren’t sharp, and the entire game has an inexplicably dark hue even in outdoor stages. I know they were trying to go for that “dark and gritty mean streets” feel, but this is a little much.

25 To Life is technically not a quick-cash in game riding the coattails of GTA: San Andreas because of all its delays, but the ugly graphics, boring gameplay, and an uninspired story certainly make it look like one. Despite a decent online offering, it’s not enough to save one sorry game. Avoid this game like the plague.

Hide, point, shoot. That’s it. Iffy controls don’t help.

Wow, this game is ugly. Knowing that there are uglier games out there is the only compliment.

Decent voice acting that’s only hurt by the weak script. Great soundtrack saves this score.

Single-player is flat out bad. Online multiplayer is serviceable, but nothing extraordinary.

You can unlock custom items for online use through offline modes,but playing it is unbearable.

]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2006 21:53:00 -0600 Tim Grube http://www.gamebump.com/go/25_to_life_ships_to_stores http://www.gamebump.com/go/25_to_life_ships_to_stores http://www.gamebump.com/go/25_to_life_ships_to_stores# This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.

Eidos Interactive just informed us that 25 To Life has begun shipping to stores and can be picked up at your local videogame retailer today. Look for a full review soon on Gaming Horizon.

]]> Tue, 17 Jan 2006 17:09:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_dynasty_warriors_5_xtreme_legends_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_dynasty_warriors_5_xtreme_legends_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_dynasty_warriors_5_xtreme_legends_ps2# This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Eric Dayday.

Koei’s “800-pound gorilla” is back – again. This time, only a mere 7 months after the release Dynasty Warriors 5, comes its stand-alone/expansion pack Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends. It’s still more of the same mindless hack-and-slash that’s become stale over the last few entries. However, that won’t stop diehard fans from eating it up like candy. There is an all-new mode, though, that might make fans drool with delight and will definitely leave them wanting more of it in the almost inevitable DW6. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the Dynasty Warriors series, then I have to ask what rock you’ve been living under the last five years. But if you really need to know, you take the role of a general during the time of the ancient Chinese dynasties (hence the title) and slash your way through thousands of faceless soldiers. With characters and scenarios based loosely upon the “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, you can expect some historical facts thrown about and a bunch load more of inaccuracies. But, none of that matters since all you really want to do is mow down an entire army.

If you’ve played a previous DW game before, you’ll feel right at home as the gameplay hasn’t changed at all save for the new musou rage feature that was introduced in DW5 back in March. Musou rage can only be activated when you find a musou token; after you’ve collected one, hitting R3 will cause you to speed up and double your attack damage. While in this state triggering your musou attack will unleash the character’s true musou, even if the life bar isn’t in the red. Beyond that, there isn’t much difference.

Graphically, this is the best looking DW of them all, continuing DW5’s trend of little to no slowdown and less fog to cover up the horizon. Thus, it’s very satisfying to see the entire screen filled with enemies galore while the game maintains a relatively smooth framerate. I remember in previous versions where it stayed in slow motion for a good 5-10 seconds. None of that here folks, so feel free to wreak massive havoc without having to worry about that. Kudos to the dev team for finally solving this problem.

There are four modes in DW5: XL. The first of which is legend mode, though it’s been given a makeover since we last saw it in DW4. DW4’s version of legend mode featured a single stage for every character. In DW5, you’re given a lengthy laundry list of battles and then given the choice of using 2 or 3 characters they “recommend”. The reason for this is that the recommended characters played major roles in the battles in a historical context, and thus you get to play out their role in the battle. Once you’ve beaten it with one side, you can do it with the other, or bring in an outside force such as your own favorite character.

Xtreme mode makes its return as well and there are some changes made to it, such as being able to play this mode in co-op with a friend, but it’s essentially the same thing you saw in DW4. In xtreme mode, you select a general and progress through a never-ending series of randomly generated stages. The catch is that you can only heal in-between stages by buying items at shops. You can also visit a blacksmith between stages to forge a better weapon using the spare iron you may have found while fighting. This mode is only fun for a little while and considering that all the work you do in the mode to build up a character doesn’t carry over to any other mode in the game, it’s rather pointless to play through for more than a handful of stages.

Challenge mode is the same as last time. It features a number of different challenges – defeat as many enemies as possible in a time limit, don’t let anyone cross the bridge, etc. Just like with xtreme mode, it’s fun for a time, but beyond that you won’t be in this mode much.

The mode that makes this game worth it is destiny mode. Here you create a character from scratch, starting out as a lowly peon under the command of a general you choose from the existing cast. You’ll start out with just a 2-hit combo and none of the fancy stuff like a musou bar or even a charge attack. However, perform well and meet the objectives you set for yourself at the onset of each battle and you’ll be awarded skill points that you can spend to better your character. You can purchase multiple hit combos, horse skills, bow skills, and even fire tactics that can only be used in this mode. As you progress through destiny mode, you’ll sometimes be given the opportunity to switch sides and spy or flat out defect to an opposing force. It adds another great element to an already great mode. On top of all that is that you can unlock various costumes for both sexes by meeting certain conditions or building your aspiring general a certain way though the use of skill points. And when you’re done going through destiny mode with your character, you can then register him or her in the edit mode stable for use in other modes. You may be thinking what’s the difference between that one and one you created in edit mode? Well, if you register a destiny mode general you’ll notice that they’ll have quite a head start in stats. It’s a fun mode and there’s something very satisfying about working your way up through the army’s ranks. However, it’s not without its faults.

Destiny mode is fun – there is no doubt about that. The problem is that it’s too short. It’s only eight stages long and some of them can be completed in just a few minutes. I was able to take about 4 characters through destiny mode in two days all while unlocking the majority of the costumes. It’s an awesome mode and a great start for it. Now, let’s see Koei flesh it out more in the next Dynasty Warriors.

The biggest downfall, however, is the fact that it’s $30. They advertise it as being a competent stand-alone game, but it really isn’t. Destiny mode is awesome and all and legend mode will eat up some time, but those two aren’t enough to carry the game by itself. You can only truly appreciate it if you also have the original DW5 disc as well. Having that in your possession opens up musou and free modes for use in XL. Earlier I mentioned that you can use your destiny general in other modes. Well, if all you have is Xtreme Legends, then the only other mode you can use them is in an already cleared legend mode stage, and trust me when I say that having that be so limited sucks.

And even if you do have DW5, I’m not sure how willing one would be to shell out an extra $30 for game where only two of the five modes are worthy of your time. It’s the same exact game of hack-and-slash and the original DW5 disc does it better.

Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends is an ok game, but I’m sick of the blatant milking of this cash cow. DW5 was released earlier this year and for another $30, all you’re getting is a decent legend mode and destiny mode while the rest of it can be easily overlooked. Diehard DW fans will most likely pick this up, but if you’re on the fence about it, I suggest you only get it if you already have the original DW5 disc, which is now impossible to find new these days. If you’re planning on buying just DW5XL alone, I suggest you avoid it and spend the $30 elsewhere.

Same tired hack-and-slash formula that fans still eat up. Destiny mode is great though.

Best in the series with little slowdown and less fog to eat up the background.

Voice work is generally better. Instead of being atrocious, it’s now just serviceable.

May be the old tired formula but mowing down a whole army single-handedly is downright fun.

You won’t come back much except for legend and destiny mode. Add an extra point if you have DW5

]]> Mon, 28 Nov 2005 13:23:00 -0600 Tim Grube http://www.gamebump.com/go/spike_game_awards_tonight_in_la http://www.gamebump.com/go/spike_game_awards_tonight_in_la http://www.gamebump.com/go/spike_game_awards_tonight_in_la# This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.

Gaming Horizon is on location and will be posting up the winners and tonsof pictures after the show. The awards will air on TV Saturday, December 10 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT).

Nominees List]]> Fri, 18 Nov 2005 12:32:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/new_dynasty_warriors_5_xtreme_legends_shots http://www.gamebump.com/go/new_dynasty_warriors_5_xtreme_legends_shots http://www.gamebump.com/go/new_dynasty_warriors_5_xtreme_legends_shots#
Originally written by Shiva Stella]]> Thu, 17 Nov 2005 14:01:00 -0600 Shiva Stella http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_25_to_life_ps21 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_25_to_life_ps21 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_25_to_life_ps21# This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

You’ve of course heard of 25 To Life, Eidos and Avalanche/Ritual's cop-killer currently hogging the limelight down at the “videogames are evil” camp. In what can only be taken as a reality check (or cops and robbers for the twenty-first century), gamers are able to hit the streets as gangsters or cops to shoot at the opposing side. It’s fun, it’s flamboyant, it’s easy to pick up and play, and it strongly resembles a ]]> Thu, 14 Jul 2005 21:45:20 -0500 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_50_cent_bulletproof_ps21 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_50_cent_bulletproof_ps21 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_50_cent_bulletproof_ps21# This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Eric Dayday.

For baseball fans, February doesn’t mean cold weather, Groundhog Day, or even Valentine’s Day – it means baseball. It’s the time when pitchers and catchers report to Florida and Arizona for spring training, and it’s also when the current crop of baseball videogames is released. This year there are three very good baseball games for the PS2, and because each game offers something that the others don’t it’s important to check out the reviews for each game so you pick the one that’s right for you. MLB 2K5 has the ESPN license, outstanding commentary, and smooth online play, but it also has several bugs that might be too much for the hardcore fan.

This offseason has seen quite a few changes in the business of making sports games, and while football may have grabbed most of the headlines, the landscape of future baseball games has changed as well. Take-Two has nabbed the exclusive third-party rights to Major League Baseball, but they lost the ESPN license to Electronic Arts in the process. That means that MLB 2k5 will be the last game from Take-Two and developer Kush Games to feature ESPN logos and overlays, but it’s here this year, and it has been implemented perfectly. As soon as you hear the theme from "Baseball Tonight" everything about the game’s presentation is sublime. Jon Miller and Joe Morgan call the action, the K-Zone is used to diagram pitch location, and TV-style replays show off web-gems. Even the little things like the score that’s displayed in the corner and the way the game goes to break in between innings, are all straight from an ESPN telecast. There’s simply no contest from the competition when it comes to how the game is presented; absolutely none.

MLB 2K5 has all of the standard gameplay modes that you would expect to find in a current baseball game. You can play an exhibition mode, start a season, take over a franchise, play as the general manager, challenge someone online, or participate in a home run derby. There are a plethora of options for tweaking the gameplay and presentation, allowing you to get the gameplay just the way you want it. Rest assured, if you’re one of those people that enjoys tinkering with sliders to get things just right, 2K5 gives you the most control.

Home run derby is more than just going deep this year. There are several different ways to go about playing the derby, from hitting as many homers as you can in a set amount of time, to taking three players up against another team of three and bashing home runs in an effort to take down the opposing players’ hit points. You can even call your shot to do extra damage, but call your blast and guess wrong, and the damage goes to your player. It’s an interesting twist on a competition that often gets boring due to a lack of challenge.

The franchise mode is very deep and even allows you some control over your minor league system. If micromanaging isn’t your thing, you can let the computer handle calling up players, leaving you to worry about tweaking your everyday roster. You can make trades, release players and sign free agents – pretty much everything you’d expect in a franchise mode.

On the field, Kush has totally changed the way you play the game, which is a good thing after last year’s disappointing effort. Hitting is simple – you try and guess the location of the pitch, and then take a swing. The square button is a contact swing, and the circle button lets you swing for the fences. Unless you’re down 0-2 and really need to make contact, most of the time you’ll be better off using the power swing. When trying to guess a pitch, you can take a look at your hot/cold zones to see where the pitcher will likely pitch you. If you guess right, the controller will shake, and you’ll know to stay put in order to put some good wood on the ball.

The biggest addition to the hitting interface is the Slam Zone, which allows you the chance to crush a pitch that is in your wheelhouse, or punish a pitcher for hanging a pitch. A few times a game, a cursor will pop up, and you must quickly maneuver it over the pitch location to enter the Slam Zone. The camera will zoom in on the ball and you must quickly tap X to hit the ball as far as you can. The game will prompt you when to swing, and then you just have to sit back and watch how far the ball travels. It’s not always a home run, but it’s always a hit, and it always travels a long way. Whether or not this is a positive or negative really depends on the person playing. It does make the games more high scoring, but it punishes pitchers for making stupid mistakes, so it’s not a total freebie.

Throwing strikes is made simple with the new pitching interface, which offers a great amount of control, and is easy to use. After selecting a pitch, you must tap the X button twice to make two moving bars intersect where you want your pitch. If you miss-time your button press, the pitch will start to wander, generally towards the center of the plate so it’s important to hit your spots. Different pitchers, depending on their control will have slower moving bars, and taking things a step further, each pitcher will have varying speeds for each of their pitches, which reflects their control over each pitch.

Taking the game online is easy and there are a lot of options to make it worth your while. There are leagues and tournaments, and, since baseball’s all about statistics – full stat tracking too. The gameplay is smooth and relatively lag free, but that of course depends on the quality of your connection. Even people with fast connections will experience the occasional laggy pitch here or there, but as a whole, the online mode is very good.

MLB 2K5 is a nice looking game, even without taking into account the ESPN presentation. The players look like their real-life counterparts right down to their batting stance, and there are more varied body types this year, so you won’t be getting Ichiro confused with Albert Pujols.

The stadiums are very detailed, and the game even shows the outside of some of them before games, which is impressive. The fans are 2D and look pretty bad from most camera angles, but on close-up shots, they are rendered in 3D, and look very good.

Even with the ESPN television-style broadcast, the pace of the game is brisk, and should you want to move things along, you can skip all of the cut-scenes. Sometimes you miss the little things like a shot of the pitcher stomping around the mound after a bad pitch, or Nomar doing his O.C.D. routine with his batting gloves, but it’s a small price to pay for moving the game along quickly.

Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, the voices of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball provide commentary for the game, and are second to none. Miller’s smooth voice calls the action, and Morgan adds his insight from the perspective of a former player. Joe will often tell a story that lasts through an entire at bat, just like commentators do in a real broadcast. Once in a while they will get a bit behind calling the action, on things you wouldn’t expect, like foul balls, but there’s no question that this is the best announcing in a videogame to date.

The music during the game is standard stadium fare, but it’s rather low key. The organ will play tunes like "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?" and all of the clap-along ditties are there, but you won’t be hearing any "Rock and Roll Part 2" after a homer, nor will you be hearing sirens blare as a player rounds the bases. This is a classy choice, and goes along with the refined commentary of the game, but it may disappoint some people.

You’d think that since menu screens have been around for a good 25 years or so that it wouldn’t be too tough to make them easy to deal with, but 2K5’s menus are cumbersome and poorly named. How the heck is someone supposed to know that "IN YOUR FACE" means "play an exhibition game"? The instruction manual is an atrocity and doesn’t explain the basics of the game, much less what each option does.

While there’s nothing wrong with the franchise mode per se, there are several ways it could be improved. The menus are slow to load, and the screen moving around like a fancy DVD menu after you make a choice is a complete waste of time. Managing rosters, especially minor league players is a chore, and the computer doesn’t make things any easier by fiddling with your batting order before every game. Again, it’s not a bad franchise mode, but it’s a bit boring and not user friendly.

One thing that 2K5 is lacking in the visual department is a large variety of animations. Sure, what is in the game is nice, but after just a couple of games you’ll notice the same animations over and over. Players will hop after fouling off a pitch, thinking it’s a homer, the first baseman will snag line drives the same way… it all looks the same after a while. It would be nice to see more unique home run celebrations, a little more emotion from the players, and smoother fielding transitions next year. Oh yeah, the zombie fans singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" look like they are straight out of Resident Evil, and they’ve got to go. It was a nice thought, but it’s just not pretty.

There’s really only one complaint one can make with the game’s audio, and that’s the endless repetition of the Baseball Tonight theme. I love the song as much as the next guy, and nothing says "baseball" like that song, but it is used in the main menus, before the game, in between innings, during in-game menus, and after the game. If you make it through an entire season, you’re looking at hearing that song a good 2,000 times, and no song is tolerable that many times.

If there was one thing that held NFL 2K5 back, it was the abundance of bugs and glitches in the game, and sadly, the same holds true for MLB 2K5. After the sixth inning or so, it’s not uncommon for the computer to uncork wild pitches faster than Rick Ankiel in a playoff game. It’s not just two or three times, but in some cases the wild pitches will total six or more. There are also times where the outfielders won’t pick up a ball, infielders won’t make a throw, or outfielders will let a lazy fly ball hit them in the chest and not get charged for an error. There are also many reports of the game freezing, and I personally had one of my franchise games freeze while I was perusing the box scores. Some people will be able to look past these problems, while serious baseball fans won’t.

ESPN MLB 2K5 features an outstanding presentation and smooth online play, but fails to get a lot of the little things right. Fans of high scoring games, great announcing, slick overlays and camera angles will be happy with 2K5, while people that prefer a more realistic experience with fewer bugs will want to go with MVP or MLB 2006.

It’s tons of fun, but the little thins hold it back.

ESPN stuff is top-notch, the rest is just good.

Jon Miller and Joe Morgan are great. Endless Baseball Tonight theme isn’t.

The home run derby’s fun, and so is the standard game.

Online is smooth. The bugs and freezes hurt how long you will want to play.

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