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.
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."
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!'"
x360a writes: "Let's be honest with ourselves here: baseball can be brutally boring sometimes. Those one-run games that seem to last forever. At-bats riddled with foul ball after foul ball. The situations for boredom are endless. On the other hand, there is something majestic about a 400-foot home run and nothing more suspenseful than the possibility of a game-ending strikeout. So, in a sport that can't guarantee excitement, how much hope would a video game focused on pretending to play that sport possibly have?
Maybe I'm not being entirely fair. There is much more to MLB Front Office Manager than pretending to play the actual games, and these sections are where the game can either prove its worth or confuse the hell out of you. The main bulk is played during Career Mode, in which you are the manager of an MLB franchise, making all the decisions. You'll begin by creating your manager. The options for your look are quite limited. You can change the age, which shows well on the avatar, but aside from that, there are only a handful of heads, three body types and a few tacky suits to wear. Once you've nailed your look, you'll choose your background. Here is where things get important. If you were previously a lawyer, you'll be great at negotiations, but weak at things like scouting talent. An ex-scout or ex-player will be better at working with the team and developing talent, but weaker on the business end, and so on..."
The Show is the way to go.