The sport of baseball can be a bit boring to some, something Bud Selig is trying to resolve by not only trying to put a calm on the drug scandals but by trying to implement some rules to make it a more meaningful sport. But there's just so much you can add to change it any. George Carlin said it best- perhaps we should install land mines. Well, baseball games haven't gotten that extreme, but Midway's taken the sport and given it a little physical boost with their series, where players can punch each other around to cause balls to get loose, and throw fireballs that would make Ryu jealous once they build up enough power in their system. The formula's been working rather well for years, and now Midway's back again with MLB Slugfest 2006, a game that's available for a reasonable $20.

But there's just one problem with this, and this may be the reason the game's so value-priced. The main problem is that very little has changed in the gameplay formula between this title and the last Slugfest effort, the appropriately named Loaded. See, Loaded evolved past the previous year's effort by including some new features as well as crucial online play that allowed players to go up against each other in heated battles over several seasons. Slugfest 2006 is sorely lacking any of these changes, and also the online play.

The control still delivers when it comes to the arcade-based gameplay, allowing you to set up strong hits at the base depending on the timing of the pitch, or to have some various pitches available in your arsenal. Both pitchers and hitters have the ability to be "on fire", a feature that's been a staple in many of Midway's sports games (remember NBA Jam?). By doing this, they can pull off almost miraculous plays that are unspeakable, like a pitch that zigs and zags all over the place before zipping over the plate, or a hit so powerful, even Barry Bonds would be jealous...well, if he were in the game, anyway. It's juicing, in a way, but doesn't involve any kind of bothersome needle or a get-rich-quick publication.

But very little has changed in the gameplay. I suppose the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" rule comes into play, but some things are broken. For instance, the foul lines still appear a little badly drawn out, meaning that something that looks like a home run may not be a home run at all. There's also little variance in your "attacks" on players. I suppose the MLB had some say in this but it would've been funny as hell to see someone deliver a drop kick in an attempt to get a stolen base.

The game also looks and sounds about the same as its predecessor. Players animate pretty well and the on-fire effects do look great in all their nuclear-like glow, but the game hasn't really made any strides to look any better, and almost looks like it's running off of an engine that hasn't been touched since 2003. Oh, I see, that's because it is. In this day and age, to keep up with champions like MLB 06: The Show and MLB 2K6, some kind of work has to be done to keep the visual luster alive, and that work hasn't been done here.

The game's audio is once again handled with commentary by "Jimmy Shorts", some lame-brained color commentator, and straightman Tim Kitzrow, another staple in Midway's sports line-up (again, NBA Jam- "boomshakalaka"). Their banter can be hilarious, like it's always been, but a few jokes run into the ground a bit too often, resulting in you wishing you could turn it off or at least skip past it. It could've been a lot worse though, consisting of two stiff commentators who wouldn't know a good time if it bit them in the keester.

Slugfest 2006's biggest downfall is the lack of online play. Loaded's biggest feature was being able to match up against other players through Xbox Live, and, without this, the game seems to grind to a halt. You can still play against friends on the same machine, which is good, but the fact that the door isn't open for worldwide competition makes you long for your copy of Loaded. Midway tries to make up for this with a boisterous Create-A-Player option, but it's not even close to filling the void that's been left behind.

At $20, Slugfest 2006 isn't what I'd call a terrible title. It has the same great gameplay as previous entries and does deliver a fast game of arcade baseball. But we've seen this before, and done better, and unless Midway's planning to give it all they've got for a next-generation edition, maybe it's best to let someone else round the bases. This Slugfest has lost a bit of its punch.