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07-05-25 09:01 PM

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Play MLB '98 Online

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tornadocam
03-24-15 03:22 PM
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tornadocam
03-24-15 03:57 PM
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MLB 1998

 
Game's Ratings
Overall
Graphics
Sound
Addictiveness
Depth
Story
Difficulty
Average User Score
7.5
6
6
4
6
5
7
tornadocam's Score
6
6
6
4
6
5
7

03-24-15 03:22 PM
tornadocam is Online
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tornadocam
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Spring is here and that means its time for the great sport of Baseball. Sony Play Station would release a series of baseball games called the MLB serious. So MLB 1998 was the first. The rosters are based off of 1996 season. The season is the 1997 season schedule. This was one of the earlier Play Station games. So lets get to the review 

Plot: 5
Well this is a sports game so as expected there is not much of a plot. Unlike Mega Man games there is nobody trying to take over the world. Nobody needs rescuing such as in Mario Games and others.  The season is 1997 and stats are based of the 1996 season. The plot is to try to build a playoff material team and play through an entire season to reach the world series. Players can trade players as well as create a player in a limited way. It should be noted you can play as the expansion franchises Rays and Arizona in this game. 

Okay I could not give this a higher rating because there isn't much a plot. On the other hand it does not deserve a low rating because the goal is to build a championship team with you club that you chose. Plus you can trade players to help your team. So at the end of the day I came up with 5 out of 10.  As I stated its a sports game so there is not much plot to begin with 

Graphics and Controls: 6
I tried to consider that this is one of the first play station games and the first MLB game in the series. The colors are okay and the stadiums look like they do in real life. So that was a nice touch. However the graphics did have some problems as I would expect this being the first game. The people in the stands look fuzzy and even some of the ball players look fuzzy. The players sprites look out of whack sometimes. Sometimes the backgrounds look blurry. This being an early play station game I would expect that as game makers were just getting used to the new system. 

The controls are not as smooth as other MLB games in the series. But as I stated this is the first one. The batters and pitchers feel like they control sluggish. I know some of that reflects the real life ability of the players but still it can be annoying. In addition, I found a lot of the controls to be confusing. When I first played this game it took me several minutes to get a feel for the controls. The other MLB games did not have that problem. I would expected Sony making the controls easy since this was the first one. 

The graphics and controls were not terrible but not real good at the same time. I knew there would be issues because first games usually have issues. But at the same time I expected easier controls. At the end of the day I give the graphics and controls a 6 out of 10. 

Sound: 6
The sound in this game is in the middle. I really liked the opening theme and sound. When I first played this game I was like wow the sound is very good. The background music is okay I mean its not as good as other MLB games but not bad either. What really drives the sound rating down is the announcers voice. The announcer is Mike Carlucci. Future MLB games had Vin Scully and Dave Campbell and they were awesome. Carlucci just does not say much accept for foul ball, out of play or blows him away. That can get annoying really quick and it made me want to mute. The other games with Scully and Campbell would also give stats on the players, what their strengths were and say different things each time. Scully and Campbell in other games sounded like they do in real life. I do not know why Sony could not have had Carlucci say different things. It would have really helped the sound in this game. Thus, I give the sound a 6 out of 10 had they gave Carlucci more things to say in this game it would have been higher. 

Replay Value (Addictiveness): 4 
This was the last game I got in the MLB series as I got the others first. Still I played this game and it was probably fun when it first came out. But it seems to be missing a lot the others have. The depth in this one is not as high as the others in the MLB series. I play this one the least. I like to play it sometimes cause its the first but this is one I'm not going to play every day or every night. The low replay value is due to the sound and the games issues more than anything. I give the replay value a 4 out of 10

Depth: 6
The other MLB games were known for their depth. In those games you can draft players, play in franchise mode, play through spring training and other parts of the game. This one being the first did not have those in it. As no surprise there is not items to collect in this game, no secret levels and no weapons to get. The depth comes from being able to chose among 30 teams. You can even play as Tampa Bay and Arizona, which were expansion franchises that played for the first time in the real life 1998 season. If you are like me and have multiple teams its fun to play through the game with a different team. That is were the depth comes from. I also give it a 6 out of 10. 

Difficulty: 7 
MLB 98 was difficult but it was for the reasons one might not expect. The players seem to be based on how they perform in real life. If a player is prone to strike out in real life they will strike out a lot in this game. Batters that are power hitters the game reflects that too. So when trying to score that can be challenging. But what really makes the game difficult and I think it is for the wrong reason is the controls. The controls in this game are confusing and can get some time getting used too. Other MLB games had smooth controls but not this one. Also in other games you had a batters box but not in this game. Due to the confusing controls it is so easy to hit foul balls again and again and then end up striking out. Also the controls makes it hard for batters to adjusts. The pitching is not good either again it is due to the controls. I give the difficulty a 7 out of 10 mainly due to the sloppy controls. 

Overall: 6 
As I mentioned earlier this was last game I got in the series. When I first got my Playstation in 1999 the MLB game that was out then was 2000. So the other games I got after that. Then I went back and got 99 and 98. This is the first one so I expected flaws. Also this game came out in 1997. 1997 the Sony Play station had not been around that long it was fairly a new system. So this being one of the first Play Station games I expected flaws. 

The controls are not as sharp in this game as they were in other games. Thankfully thought Sony fixed the problems in MLB 99 and it got better in every game. The sound improved as Vin Scully and Dave Campbell provided the announcing in future games. I'm glad of that because hearing the same thing over and over again gets annoying. MLB 98 I would argue is not the template for future MLB games. MLB 99 is often seen as the template. 

Not a lot of players that play sports game know about this game. Most are familiar with 99-2005 and rightfully so as those are what made Sony Sports lab shine. To be honest when I got MLB 99 I thought at last I got the very first one. Then I learned MLB 98 was the first. So I found it and I got it. I played it hoping it would be like 99 and up. I was wrong, as the controls were different the sound was different, and the game was different. As I alluded too under the depth section future MLB games had were you could draft players and play in franchise mode. This game does not have any of that. 

The good thing is I think SONY realized the problems this game  had and did MLB 99 a different way. I'm glad MLB 99 is the template that the other baseball games were based off of. The controls and sound got so much better in 99. I still play this game despite its flaws cause it is the first one. But I play it the least due to its flaws. 

As for recommending this game; its hard for me to say. If you want to play the first baseball game of the series then I would say by all means play this game. If you want to play the first MLB game that was good then do not play this game  and play MLB 99. I hate to say t his but I would probably not recommend this game unless you just want to play the first one. The controls and problems could turn new players off to the series. I got frustrated due to the controls and it made the game difficult for the wrong reasons. This game just has too many flaws for me to recommend it to everyone. I will however say Go play MLB 99. MLB 99 is the first one that has good quality and the games after that got better and better. I give MLB 98 a 6 out of 10. Despite the negatives its not a horrible game and not the worse one out there, but is it in the same league as other baseball games certainly not. 
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03-24-15 03:49 PM
MattyIce is Offline
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Great review man! I think you did a great job with explaining all the different parts of the game in great detail. Personally, I didn't play this game very much when I was younger. However, I 100% agree with you about the plot. I think the plot of any normal ( non-enhanced, I mean ) sports game should be rated in the middle of whatever the scale is. And from what it sounds like, I'm really glad that I didn't play this game because you didn't give any of the categories higher than a 7.

Another thing...I ( again ) 100% agree with you about playing MLB 99. I did play the hell outta that game when I had it. It was definitely my favorite baseball game to play growing up. The only thing that I can see wrong with this review is that maybe you shouldn't have talked so much about how great MLB 99 was at the end, since your reviewing MLB 98. But then again, MLB 99 was so great of a game, in my opinion, that perhaps it is worth mentioning when reviewing any of the games in the MLB series.

Great job again, and keep up the good work buddy
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03-24-15 03:57 PM
tornadocam is Online
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tornadocam
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thank you so much. Yeah 99 is good.  My personal favorites are 2001, 2002 and 2003. I plan on making reviews of them later on. I think I did one on 2002 will have to see. 
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