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Good baseball sim

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: September 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is the best baseball simulation on the market (prior to '08 anyway). I found myself playing it for hours at a time, but it did get rather boring. This is more of a reflection on how long the real baseball season is than on the gameplay itself. Nearly any statistic you could ever want or need is at your fingertips with this game.

I recommend this for anyone that enjoys sports simulations and baseball.

Fun, but many issues

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: July 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a fun game for those interested in statistics and fantasy baseball, but there are many glitches in the game. Every ten minutes, the game will freeze, and you'll have to close it and restart it again, and hope you saved it recently.

Wait for 2008.

Very comprehensive baseball simulation

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game has much to offer to the strategist. Not intended to be the typical "arcade-style" game -- you do not control the players movements in any way. Instead, it allows you to construct teams and play individual games making managerial (e.g. hit & run, steal, replace players) and player (e.g. call pitches and location, swing or take a pitch) decisions. Or you may opt to play a more long-term role, letting the computer simulate games while you make personnel and business decisions. You may simulate days, weeks, or even seasons at a time. It enables this with an extensive library of player data - major and minor leaguers going back to 1901. It will also create fictional players if you let it.

Drawbacks are that the simulation tends to make some unusual decisions - for instance, computer generated trades can seem pretty random, though they can be turned off. Also, while it is good at introducing variation into the individual games (for instance it will occasionally rest starters), some of the decisions it makes can be unorthodox. I would also like to see the ability to import schedules when replaying historical seasons; the algorithm it uses tends to introduce 3-day gaps. Lastly, make sure to install the latest online updates, which fix a few bugs and add key features like the ability to perform a double-switch in the lineup.

Those negatives aside, I have not found a baseball simulation as rich in features as this one. And at a bargain price.

Baseball Mogul 2007

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is great fun, but a little simple for an advanced strategist. It has all teams from 1901 through 2006.

Hold Out for Mogul 2008... If You Can

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: March 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This might be a hard thing to do when Amazon is offering Baseball Mogul 2007 for only $10, but try holding out for Baseball Mogul 2008. The reasons are listed below, and I only offer them to show how BM '07 has been upgraded - not replaced. (Which is why holding out is better than buying both titles, if you haven't already.)

First, they are adding a new feature in the '08 title called the Encyclopedia. Basically, it is just thousands of weblinks arranged which provide an awesome resource for fans of the game of baseball. It is not necessarily for just the numbers crunchers, but usually baseball simmers/fantasy players are in it for the sport itself, too.

Also, a new database engine is being released that puts more statistics at your fingertips for comparison purposes, even if you are comparing retired, dead, or active players.

Next, Sports Mogul, Inc. changed the user interface rather sweetly for the BM '08 title. You know when you are watching ESPN and they have that little ticker line scrolling at the bottom? Well, they put that into Mogul '08, and the feature is legitimate - it even scrolls during the Play-By-Play Mode during at bats.

They also added some new logos and icons for your custom teams.

The financial system really blows me away in comparison to Mogul 2007. With '08, you get to adjust the financial records based on the year per inflation (you won't see millionaires in 1907, for example, nor a $10,000 salary in 2006), taxes, and enable/disable the free agency. Basically, if you were any good with the General Manager portion of Mogul '07, expect to spend more hours devising your strategy in '08.

I consider this an upgrade, not a replacement, because you will see more of the same, but now you are to consider more when making strategy in '08. Also, it basically just adds more realism to the numbers side of baseball for the General Manager mode.

Draft Day in Mogul 2008 is more complicated only in that the title has new formulas for how players develop and age. Basically, things are more random now, but to compare that to Mogul 2007, this feature si only optional. It is intended to mimic real life in that we rarely know what players are going to do year-to-year: slump or break out. Not a huge feature, in my opinion, but a respectable option.

Baseball Mogul 2008 hypes up the new physics-based simulations, and comparing that to Mogul 2007, one could argue that the statistics are now more realistic since friction, weather, spin, etc. are now included in the gameplay.

Playing the other Mogul titles, I saw this much like I did with the new player development formulas. Basically, it is a minor change (requiring major work and research) that produces respectable simulations. In all, it makes the Mogul titles more legitimate from an academic point of view, but still keeps the genre intact: this is a simulation game, not an action game.

Other minor, but appreciated, features (and why you should hold out for Baseball Mogul 2008 if you can) are being able to save your season at any time, including the middle of a game (Play-By-Play Mode); expanded statistics for scouting (like IBB, GDP, ground ball and fly ball percentages, etc.); updated rosters before the 2007 MLB season starts; a better player editor so that you can customize him with even more factors; better split statistics comparisons (like left vs. right pitching and hitting, RISP, etc.); and lastly, the simulation for Mogul 2008 was upgraded to speed up those season simulations where you don't intend to do any Play-By-Play (it takes about 30 seconds to sim a full season in Mogul 2008).

Well, that's my review. Again, my intent in bringing it to the Baseball Mogul 2007 section was to point out my opinion that there is going to be an "upgraded 2007 version." If Baseball Mogul 2007 was going to be wholly different than Mogul 2008, then the review would stand for '07 only. But really, if you have played '07 (or if you haven't), the same features are simply made better in the '08 title with a slightly new look.

In terms of baseball simulators, I believe the Mogul franchise is the best around today, but Frontline Sports dominated the 1990s, I believe. My point is that none of these simulators will be perfect, only respectable as they dedicate to research and realism in the numbers side of baseball.

If you don't like applied mathematics or statistics, the Mogul franchise will not help you appreciate the sport of baseball. If you love numbers, the sport of baseball (through great products such as Baseball Mogul) provides an entirely separate universe outside what you watch from your couch. But you get to see that separate world when you are told a batter's accomplishments as they compare to his last 23 At bats or amongst history's shortstops (as examples).

If you love numbers, controlled simulations, and like the tie into baseball, get into the Baseball Mogul series. If you like the Baseball Mogul series and are wondering when to hop in again or upgrade, wait for the Baseball Mogul 2008 product and skip 2007.

Just missing something

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Don't get me wrong, the idea behind this game is great. I just personally find myself speeding through games just to get to the off- season parts, then simply losing interest all together. The ability to play with any team throughout history is super, but the free agency and off-season signing parts are just not realistic enough. Basically if you pay any player enough, he will sign with you and no other teams will compete for super stars. By the end of the 1st season, you can easily have an all star team assembled. And I know the argument of real players going for the money too, but there are still some players who want to stay where they are despite contract offers. This game doesn't offer that at all, and the computer simply does not try to out bid you for any player, ever. Check out out of the park baseball if you want actual strategy during the off season.

fun to play expect to spend hours on the computer

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: February 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I love this game. I already played baseball mogul2004 and enjoyed it but this upgrade is well worth it. It allows you to pick not only the lineups but also the pitches and location. You can play each game of the season or pick and choose which ones you want to play. You can pick real players from the real majors or use fictional players . Makes you feel like George Steinbrenner....

Addictive Game for Baseball Lovers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: January 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm old enough to remember the old strat-o-matic baseball games, as well as the first fantasy league baseball games, as a kid, and I have always been disappointed by baseball video games more concentrated on graphics, instead of variable and situational realism. Baseball Mogul is an attempt to mitigate some of those shortfalls. It is by no stretch perfect, and if you're simply looking for a software game that gives you enhanced graphics, you're better off with X-Box. Nevertheless, it is a first class game from the perspective of a GM/Owner, in which you can operate your own team, set your lineups, pitching staff, conduct trades, etc., based on real MLB teams, historically, as well as contemporary ones. It even allows for a draft, although it waits until after the season (even though MLB's draft occurs during the season).

This is a game that has also evolved over time in its updates and patches. The 2004 version allowed for improvement in minor league players, ones you historically know would never be that good in the bigs, simply by spending the most money and resources on minor league player development. However, until the more recent versions, especially the 2006 and 2007 versions, the players would develop haphazardly in ways the real players never did. You knew something is wrong when Joe Oliver can develop into a 50-homerun per year hitter. Nevertheless, the newer editions, including 2007's Baseball Mogul, correct many of these flaws. It even takes into account year-to-year fence setting changes in ballparks, which the older version does not. Overall, I was extremely pleased and impressed, but again this is a game for those that look to the strategic and quantitative aspects of baseball over aesthetics.

Fantasy baseball and much more.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The game is meant for people who love baseball and fantasy baseball. To begin a game and see the all of the players of that particular year is just great. You can play the game in many ways, from calling each pitch or completing a season in seconds. I have had no problems with the game play or the program. This is not a game for the arcade player, but it is a game for baseball fanatics. Absolutely, a great game.

4 & 1/2 stars...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: August 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Stumbled across BM 2007 as a result of an Amazon recommendation. Ordered it on a lark and installed it on my laptop late last week, and I am hooked!! I didn't do a THING over the past weekend except tinker with this game. If you love the wheeling and dealing, GM-centric side of baseball, this game is for you. I love that part as much and maybe more than playing the game itself.

I did take off a little on my rating because the program does have some bugs/kinks in it, and I've already seen a number of ways where the AI interface could be refined/improved. Also, the user manual provided on the Sports Mogul website is basically worthless. The Help documentation within the program is better, but still needs a lot of improvement.

All in all though, BM is easily worth $19. I expect I'll upgrade when the 2008 version comes out.

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