MLB Power Pros was released for the Nintendo Wii late in 2007 (after baseball season). Gamers were thrilled that the highly respected Japanese baseball game finally made it over to America and this reviewer was willing to overlook some of its issues just to be able to enjoy a great baseball game on the Wii. Power Pros was a decent seller and so now we have MLB Power Pros 2008 which adds one new feature, MLB Life, and that’s about it.

Expectations were high for this new game and for those new to the series you’ll be amazed in the package that Power Pros provides: the stat engine for this game is unrivaled and the attention to detail is amazing. Individual game box scores provide enough data to keep you busy for longer than the time of the actual game itself!

The new MLB Life mode enhances the game’s old Success mode. Life mode is very reminiscent of MLB The Show’s Road to The Show; however while the idea is great, the mode just isn’t as good. First off, when you create a fielder (shortstop in this example), you NEVER field the ball. There really doesn’t seem to be a reason why you would spend your very valuable training time working on fielding. Second, while the game is great for telling a story – you’ll meet up with the ladies, develop a relationship with your agent, and work in AA, AAA and the Majors, the strategic decisions of the managers leave a lot to be desired. When playing the game as a shortstop hitting over .400 after the first month of the season, the character was often batting 8th or 9th in the lineup.

Opportunities to get RBIs were very few, 80% of the time when the character was batting it was with the bases empty. It’s very tough to get the call up when you only have five RBIs even though you are hitting over .400! Minor League teams are not in the game so instead of being the Pawtucket Red Sox you instead will play for “AAA Bos” in a generic stadium. The AAA teams mirror the MLB schedule which is rather odd. The most bizarre thing in the minors is that games end in ties, which makes absolutely no sense at all.

To further complicate things, when you do get called up to the Majors, you’re often put in pinch hit situations, which makes sense – you aren’t going to start unless you’re called up due to a player injury – however the situations in which you get called to pinch hit make no sense – it’s always in the 8th inning and the score seems irrelevant. My character has come in when losing in a blowout (which seems like he should have been put in sooner to avoid injuring the marquee players), or when winning in a blowout (same rationale). You don’t see your utility guy coming in and playing for someone taking a day off either.