Franchise "Review"

[youngm84]

I have to say, first and foremost, I am an MVP guy. Love the game, and always will. That is why I was very hesitant to buy this game, but it worked out that I had three days off when the game came out, so I decided to take the plunge. Man was I pleased.

The gameplay is practically like watching a baseball telecast on FOX. It's incredible. The stats, the announcers, and all the little things. Like if you join a game midway through (say the seventh inning) joe morgan welcomes you as though you had just finished watching another game. It's attention to details like that that will have me coming back for more.

The Gameplay is great, but with the sliders, there is definitely room for improvement on its part. Not enough walks, too many home runs, but I guess we will have that all figured out in a couple weeks.

But now on to the main event... the Franchise. Unreal. I definitely am a sim guy. I end up simming a lot of games. Obviously playing the important ones, but simming the meaningless series, you know, Cubs vs Rockies, mid-June, stuff like that. Anyways, to my point. From the brief 4 or 5 hours I have spent playing the Franchise mode, I must deem this the most in-depth franchise I have ever seen! It has everything! Every stat, every award. It even has headlines as if pulled from CNNSI.com or some other website. It's incredible. The depth of everytihng you can, and have to do. Now I obviously haven't been at it long, and there are a lot of things I haven't tried, for instance, the off-season. But so far, so good.

I just thought I'd give a quick overview of my thoughts about the franchise (GM Mode) because I haven't seen any yet. That is personally my favourite part of any sports game, and I'm sure there are a bunch of people like me out there.

[DaoudS]

any roster glitch to note of?

[youngm84]

Roster Glitch? Not that I have seen. Other than having to name guys like Bonds and Dice-K. But I might be mis-understanding what you're asking for.

[Maverick]

what he means by roster glitch is that as the season goes on between trades, injuries and signing sometimes the CPU will make some really crazy lineups like Manny Ramirez batting leadoff. On the Yanks Jeter would always bat leadoff and Damon in the 2 or 9 spot. Or Todd Helton batting 6th in the Rockies lineup. Or like in a National league team sometimes you would have 2 guys at the same position in the default lineups. Midseason...do the default lineups look normal or at least reasonable.

[youngm84]

Ok, well I just checked it out, and im only at the end of May, but so far so good. i haven't come accross anything like that. I don't know about Helton, cuz I'm the Jays, but Damon is still leading off, and Manny, last time we played him, was 3rd. Pretty realistic I think.

One interesting note though, May 23rd was the day Roger Clemens signed... with the Texas Rangers! Strange thing was, even though he was aking for around 19 mil when i checked, he signed for just over 5. I'm not sure why this happened, but it did. Thought you might be interested.

[youngm84]

Ok, well I just checked it out, and im only at the end of May, but so far so good. i haven't come accross anything like that. I don't know about Helton, cuz I'm the Jays, but Damon is still leading off, and Manny, last time we played him, was 3rd. Pretty realistic I think.

One interesting note though, May 23rd was the day Roger Clemens signed... with the Texas Rangers! Strange thing was, even though he was aking for around 19 mil when i checked, he signed for just over 5. I'm not sure why this happened, but it did. Thought you might be interested.

[Vinsane187]

I haven't dived too far in franchise only played five games with the Indians (2-3). What I do like is the trade finder from 2k6 has been revamped. Now you don't get 100+ offers to go through only around 4-8. The most I've gotten was 12 when I placed C.C. and Pronk on the trading block just to see what kind of offers I could get.

The ticket pricing gives you a reason to pay attention to attendance and gives you that Madden 05 feel of franchise mode, giving it more replay value. And the news feed on the home screen is awesome, you can check up on things around the league without having to go through menu after menu. I'm glad that I bought this game, it's been a lot of fun so far and I think I'll get a lot of playing time out of this.

[JPG619]

Nice review man, I can't wait to play, the only question I have is what's the difference between GM and franchise mode since I want to know which one to play before I start on since the book doesn't say anything about the modes

[Electron Blue]

I have a (pretty broad) question for you:

my style of playing franchises is as a simmer -- in other words, I'm the GM. I won't play every game and I want to see my team progress over the years. How wasy is it to just be the GM? Is your manager decent enough at setting lineups that you don't have to micromanage injuries and occasional modifications that the lineup/rotation requires?

In GM mode, I'm not in charge of these things am I? And while I'm typing, I might as well ask: what is FA signing like? You may not be there yet if you're taking your time in year 1, but is it overly easy to sign players for very cheap deals?

Thanks a bunch.

[REDSFAN2004]

pretty good review man,i still have no clue why i read these,it just makes me want the game that much more.

[XizSik]

MAN the AI when playing CPU is unreall too... i mean before i'd win every game no matter the mode.... now in my franchise "im the phillies" and im 6-1.... atm... BUT the 6 games i won.. i've been winning 2-1, or 5-2, 7-6... the game i lost i was playing the mets and pedro dominated me and there hitting is too good.. and i lost 7-4... the good teams are GOOD and the bad teams are still competitive.

btw being able to buy the INSIDE EDGE HELPS ALOT when playing a dominante pitcher... the tendenciese are accurate pretty well... i enjoy it alot... but it does cost alot of $$$ tho....

hitting HR's i see i do more than realistic amount... but thats how i built my team is to be a HR hitting team... my top guys are willie mo pena, howard, burrell, glaus... ya kno HR guys.

the cap im doing great at... im spending i think only 55mil which is the 2nd lowest in MLB " in game" but players like howard n utley are on 1 year contracts for a combine total of 700k or something like that.. so thats nice.

[XizSik]

Nice review man, I can't wait to play, the only question I have is what's the difference between GM and franchise mode since I want to know which one to play before I start on since the book doesn't say anything about the modes

its the same but GM has more stuff... so basically franchise is a waste... i figured out... GM mode is alot of fun.

btw i would not recommend doing a fantasy draft, because your team will be Very Very weak, and old... cuz cpu drafts youth n talent.