MVP Baseball 2004

MVP Baseball 2004 is a baseball video game developed by EA Canada and published by EA Sports for Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Microsoft Windows in 2004. It is the second installment of the MVP Baseball series. Albert Pujols was the cover player for the game.

MVP Baseball 2004
North American cover art featuring Albert Pujols.
Developer(s)	EA Canada
Publisher(s)	EA Sports
Producer(s)	Brent Nielsen
Programmer(s)	Dee Jay Randall
Artist(s)	Ben Brinkman Terry Coleman Jon Dowd Nathan McDonald Alex Murdoch
Series	MVP Baseball
Platform(s)	Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Microsoft Windows
Release	NA: March 9, 2004[1]
Genre(s)	Sports (baseball)
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

Building on MVP 2003's surprisingly successful rookie effort, the 2004 edition made major refinements to both the game's control scheme and its dynasty mode. In a baseball gaming first, MVP 2004 was licensed by both the MLB and Minor League Baseball, featuring real minor-league teams at the Class AA & AAA levels.

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
	GC	PC	PS2	Xbox
Metacritic	89/100[2]	82/100[3]	90/100[4]	90/100[5]

Review scores

Publication	Score
	GC	PC	PS2	Xbox
Computer Games Magazine	B+[6]	[7]	B+[6]	B+[6]
Computer Gaming World	N/A	[8]	N/A	N/A
Electronic Gaming Monthly	8.33/10[9][a]	N/A	8.33/10[9]	8.33/10[9]
Game Informer	9.25/10[10]	N/A	9.25/10[10]	9.25/10[10]
GameRevolution	A–[11]	N/A	A–[11]	A–[11]
GameSpot	9/10[12]	8.3/10[13]	9.1/10[14]	9/10[15]
GameSpy	[16]	[17]	[18]	[19]
GameZone	N/A	9/10[20]	9.2/10[21]	N/A
IGN	8.8/10[22]	8.5/10[23]	9/10[24]	9/10[25]
Nintendo Power	4.7/5[26]	N/A	N/A	N/A
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine	N/A	N/A	[27]	N/A
Official Xbox Magazine (US)	N/A	N/A	N/A	9.1/10[28]
PC Gamer (US)	N/A	78%[29]	N/A	N/A
X-Play	[30]	N/A	N/A	N/A
Entertainment Weekly	A–[31]	N/A	A–[31]	A–[31]
The Village Voice	N/A	N/A	N/A	9/10[32]

Reception

The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions received "universal acclaim", while the GameCube and Xbox versions received "generally favorable reviews", according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.^[2][3][4][5] GamePro said of the game, "It may not be the league-leader in every category, but excellent performances across the board make it the best baseball game of the year."^[33][b]

The game was named by GameSpot as the Best PlayStation 2 Game of March 2004 in Review,^[34] and was nominated for the "Best Traditional Sports Game" award at the website's Best and Worst of 2004 Awards, which went to ESPN NFL 2K5.^[35]

Notes

1. Two critics of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the console versions each a score of 8.5/10, and the other gave them 8/10.
2. GamePro gave the console versions each a score of 5/5 for graphics, and two 4.5/5 scores for sound and control. The only difference in the fun factor category is that the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions each got 5/5, while the GameCube version got 4.5/5.