ESPN Major League Baseball is instantly recognizable by anyone who's played the former World Series games. When you first pick up the controller, you might almost feel like you're playing last year's game, but you'll quickly realize that ESPN has been much improved over its predecessor.

The first thing you'll notice is that the ESPN influence has been fully fleshed out this year. All the menu screens, statistics, camera angles, overlays, replays, and the K-Zone and in-game sports ticker are as close to an actual ESPN television broadcast as you'll ever see in a videogame. Even the opening movie that plays when you first pop in the disc is the same one that ESPN uses in its actual Sunday Night Baseball games.

Once you start up an exhibition game, you'll have a new batting system to get used to. The default "True Aim" batting option is essentially just another version of zone hitting, but it feels very natural and works like a charm. Simply move the left thumbstick to where you anticipate the ball to be in the zone and time your swing. If for some reason, you still prefer the "classic" cursor hitting, Visual Concepts wisely left that option in the game as well. With either method, you can choose to swing for contact (A button) or power (B button). I've found the game to be a little too "homer happy" (even on Legend difficulty), so I only hit for contact and still hit my fair share of dingers. And because ESPN offers a bevy of adjustable gameplay sliders, the human power rating can be lowered if the long ball "problem" still persists for expert gamers.

Pitching in ESPN is also quite similar to last year, except for the new "Power Pitching" meter (which can be toggled on or off). With the meter on, the longer you hold down the A button to pitch, the more it fills, resulting in some extra "oomph" on pitches or tighter breaks on curveballs. "Power Pitching" really isn't anything special since you actually could hold in the A button last year to do the same thing, but now you have a visual indicator to allow you to be more specific with power output; and you'll want to measure out the extra effort on pitches accordingly, since maximum effort does drain your pitcher's stamina faster. One caveat (something that I had hoped would have been fixed from last season) is that selecting pitch location with the left analog is extremely sensitive. The vibration that tells you you're on the fringes of the strike zone goes off with just the slightest touch. Yes, you too will feel like you're playing a game of "Operation." (Did I just date myself?) Even though the pitching is very precise, you can adjust easily enough with practice, especially if you've played WSB2K3. It was nice to see, however, that Visual Concepts included a greater variety of pitch types this year.

All players in ESPN have also been given confidence meters this year. The more a player hits, the higher his confidence will be, which supposedly results in his being more likely to make solid contact in his next at-bat. Likewise, a pitcher who's just struck out the side will get a significant boost to his confidence meter and will supposedly have more effective "stuff." And I say "supposedly" in each case because the differences in my experience have been so subtle that it doesn't matter if I play with confidence on or off. The confidence also appears to be much too strikeout-dependent. What if you pitch into the eighth inning and you have a shutout going, but you don't have any strikeouts? Shouldn't your pitcher's confidence be pretty high? You'd think it would be, but it doesn't always work that way.

In the field, ESPN also now offers brief (about 3 seconds duration) turbo boosts. You might think to yourself, "Hey, I thought this was supposed to be a simulation. Turbo boosts?" It's not as unrealistic as you'd imagine, though. Have you ever seen an outfielder kick it into "high gear" at the last moment to catch up to a ball? Well, by holding in the left trigger you can do just that and it feels great! The turbo boost can also be used to give you a little "somethin' extra" on your throws, provided that you haven't just used it during a sprint.

One area of gameplay that should have received a bit more tender loving care is the baserunning. I'm sorry, but little red dots just don't cut it anymore. The picture-in-picture windows found in EA's MVP, as well as the user-controlled slides, are far superior. I've also found the controls to be a little unresponsive at times, especially when trying to advance the extra base after a runner rounds first. Sometimes you can press the left trigger or X button like a maniac and he still won't advance; this has cost me a few doubles, unfortunately.

The other major addition this year is First-Person mode. ESPN NFL had some success with its First-Person Football mode, but the first-person perspective in ESPN Major League Baseball is largely unplayable. At the plate, you have literally no idea where the ball is going, making it near impossible to hit, and in the field tracking down balls is an exercise in frustration (even worse than Acclaim's "Fieldercam" in ASB 2005). The camera also switches so fast from fielder to fielder after each throw is made, that you'll soon be reaching for a barf bag. ESPN does, however, include an "Action Cam" that gives you a third-person view. It's nothing spectacular, but at least it is actually playable and can be enjoyable every once in a while.

The franchise mode was impressive in WSB2K3, and ESPN adds to that by including a new GM career mode. The only difference in the GM mode is that on top of setting lineups, making trades, signing free agents, calling players up from the minors, hiring coaching staff, etc., you now are given goals by the team's owner that you must meet or your contract won't be renewed. Just like last year, the excellent player fatigue is kept intact. Tired players won't perform as well and are more susceptible to injury; therefore, resting players and giving benchwarmers some playtime is all but necessary. There are only a couple chinks in the GM/franchise armor. ESPN (just like WSB2K3) only contains one level for the minors; EA's MVP does far better in this regard with its authentic AA and AAA teams. It's also disappointing that ESPN still has no spring training games.

Visually, ESPN Major League Baseball is fairly similar to WSB2K3. The graphics do seem a bit "cleaner" and you'll notice some improved textures and player models, but at a quick glance the average gamer wouldn't notice. The game's stadiums, however, are markedly better (although not quite as nice as those in ASB 2005). There is just much more detail present in every stadium this year, and the lighting in night games and in domed stadiums is impressive. Unfortunately, the animations in ESPN could use an overhaul. There aren't many new animations, and the players in general just don't seem to move naturally; there's something stilted about them, almost mannequin or puppet-like. They are also the most fidgety players I've ever seen -- constantly waving their arms, hands or torsos while gesturing. Worse yet, there only seem to be a handful of swing animations and most of the time you'll witness the same ugly uppercut swing over and over. Player faces and personalized stances/wind-ups are also hit and miss. Some look fabulous (e.g. A-Rod, Pedro, Frank Thomas), while others look as if they've been mutilated in some terrible farming accident involving a tractor -- Hideki Matsui comes to mind. Despite all the negativity in this paragraph, keep in mind that ESPN still looks great; it just could have been so much better.

In the audio department, ESPN also suffers from a few problems. Worst of these is the lackadaisical crowd. Even with the crowd pumped up to the max in the options screen and the Xbox properly set for and hooked up to a Dolby Digital 5.1 system, the crowd is too soft and doesn't react with enough enthusiasm to exciting plays or curtain calls. When they finally do start to cheer, it only lasts for a few seconds and it quickly gets cut off, rather than slowly leveling off. At least the hecklers in the crowd are audible and can provide a laugh or two occasionally. Another "problem" (more my personal taste) is the stadium organ, which sounds like it's from a country fair instead of a baseball game; it also plays the exact same melodies from last year -- very annoying. Finally, in the broadcast booth, the game offers the duo of Jon Miller (play-by-play) and Rex Hudler (color commentary). Miller is the consummate professional and sounds wonderful. Rex "The Wonder Dog" Hudler, on the other hand, will probably make you want to smash your speakers. He's just a bit too "colorful" and his style really clashes with Miller's expert tone. Perhaps next season ESPN can include the actual Sunday Night crew by replacing Hudler with Miller's partner, Joe Morgan.

So what else is wrong with the game? Well, there's no option to intentionally walk batters, so you're forced to watch four straight pitchouts thrown; the first baseman is pulled off the bag on throws too frequently; infield hits are ruled errors too often; catch animations sometimes are of the magical "vacuum" variety; and the game suffers from glitches when played in 720p. Additionally, playing on Xbox Live is a bit more "laggy" than I'd like, thereby making it very hard to check swing. Hopefully Sega/ESPN Videogames can iron out the online portion on their end of things, or with automatic downloadable updates.

On the whole, though, ESPN Major League Baseball is a joy to play. The A.I. seems smarter; you can work the count and get walks; stealing is no longer laughably easy; and drag bunting with fast players is very cool. If you enjoyed WSB2K3, then pick this up without hesitation. And even if MVP Baseball is your current favorite, you owe it to yourself to check out ESPN, as a gamer and as a fan of our great American pastime.