If you were the kind of kid who alphabetized, categorized, and fully protected all his baseball cards, and if you stay awake nights agonizing over you fantasy baseball team, than perhaps the standard, run-of-the-mill baseball games don't do anything for you. Maybe you crave ultimate control; maybe your dream job is to be a manager in the big leagues. Welcome in 2K's MLB Front Office Manager, scheduled to release towards the end of next month and guaranteed to cater to the hardcore. If you're not familiar with such titles, than this one probably isn't your cup of tea, primarily because you don't actually control any players on the field. No, your job as manager is to manage. According to GameSpot, 2K is well aware of their target audience, and it doesn't include the guys who sat back for a few rounds of RBI Baseball back in the day and only watch the ESPN highlights while falling asleep at night. So if you even have to question whether or not this one will appeal to you, the answer is probably "no." As for the rest of you…
WorthPlaying writes: "MLB Front Office Manager is 2K Sports' effort in bringing the magic of the Football Manager series to an American audience via the Major League Baseball license. The audience is more limited, as it can be argued that there are several "big" sports in the U.S., and although baseball is America's pastime, its fan base has waned in recent years. However, due to licensing issues, the MLB is the best that 2K Sports can get. It also doesn't help that the title manages to be far too clunky and poorly developed to be a worthy game."
MLB Front Office Manager is a great idea that is beautiful to look at…and that's the problem. Very few games are actually hurt by having great graphics, but this is one of them. The focus of management sims is always going to be the stats, and so much of the screen is taken up with prettiness in FOM that it adversely impacts what you can show stats-wise. If you can keep all the numbers that us statheads want and STILL make the game pretty, then great. Otherwise it's all about balance, and 2kSports sadly got the balance wrong.
GameZone writes: "With continued growth in the online sector, developers are becoming increasingly interested in this new form of distribution. Shooters and RPGs may be the typical games developed in this area, but MLB Dugout Heroes is here to show us that great online baseball can be done.
"MLB Dugout Heroes is the first fully licensed and online-based PC baseball game in North America," said Jonathan Stypula, Community Manager. "You're able to draft your favorite players from any MLB era, level up, complete missions, compete in tournaments, and purchase new uniforms, bats, pitches, and more! We [had] a short Closed Beta Test [on] Friday, March 13, from 3pm-6pm. We'll be following that up with our Open Beta launch on Thursday, March 19!'"
