MLB SlugFest Loaded review (PlayStation 2)

Getting back to the crazier side of things, SlugFest has a pretty decent selection of unlockable stadiums and teams. Each object is unlocked differently. So to unlock Midway Stadium, you'll have to hit a homer in Wrigley. Hitting a homer in Midway Stadium unlocks a team full of Sub-Zero models from Mortal Kombat, and so on. The only hitch is that the unlockable teams aren't as fleshed-out as they could have been. Though the models look differently, the team you're playing is actually one of the major-league ballclubs. As a result, the announcers still refer to your team full of Scorpions as players from other pro rosters.

The announce team of Tim Kitzrow and Jimmy Shorts return for SlugFest: Loaded, and they're up to the same sort of shenanigans. The commentary, which includes a pretty good pregame joke or two, is still pretty funny. But when it comes to actually calling the game, the commentary is a bit more general than you'd like. Additionally, you'll start to hear a few repeated bits after only a few games. What's there works well, but overall, the commentary would have been better if there was more to it. The rest of the game's sound is pretty good. The sounds of baseball are accurately represented, and there are even a few nice little changes for the hidden teams. Since the Scorpion team uses swords for bats, you'll hear a clank every time a batter makes contact with the ball. The game has a selection of licensed music for the menu screens too, though it's pretty average and doesn't really help or hurt the game.

Graphically, MLB SlugFest: Loaded looks a bit more polished than its predecessor. There are some new animations here and there, and the game looks pretty solid. Some of the player models look a little weird at times, though, and the crowds in each stadium are pretty awful-looking 2D cutouts. Additionally, the game's player animation is pretty good. The game is available on both the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox. The Xbox version is a bit cleaner, but both versions of the game share the same strengths and weaknesses. The game's control is roughly identical on both platforms, so the only real difference is the slight graphical improvement on the Xbox.

Overall, the biggest new addition to SlugFest is online play. Being able to take the game online ensures that you'll have plenty of players to compete against. The franchise mode is a nice addition, though some players will definitely get a lot more use out of it than others, so it seems a little superfluous in a game that, really, is about throwing wild-looking pitches and using the turbo button to knock the ball from a fielder's hand. It cleans up well if you want to turn off the crazy aspects in favor of a more sim-oriented game, but it doesn't really surpass the gameplay found in most of this year's actual baseball sims. However, if you're looking for a superfun, easy-to-understand baseball game this year, SlugFest: Loaded is definitely your best bet.