Baseball Mogul 2011 (PC) Review

Posted by Armando Rodriguez on 08.20.2010

Baseball Mogul is back with plenty of new additions that make it the best version yet!



Game: Baseball Mogul 2011
Developer: Sports Mogul
Publisher: Sports Mogul
Genre: Sports Simulation
Rated E for Everyone


Baseball Mogul is one of the best known and longest running sports simulation series of our time. The game has a hardcore and dedicated following that continues to grow to this day, in part because the game has perfected the art of the simple and easy to understand text-based simulator. While games like Out of the Park Baseball and Football Manager offer more depth, they also overwhelm newcomers with the dozens of menus and unfriendly interface. Baseball Mogul is the total opposite: the presentation is always clean and easy to understand and most of the complex calculations are done behind the scenes, which allows you to get down to the meat and potatoes of the game: setting a lineup, making trades and leading your team to success.

That’s not to say there is nothing to do in Mogul. The fact that it is simple and easy to understand doesn’t mean it has an automatic “Win” button for players. The game has several difficulty settings, from Fan (easiest) to Mogul (hardest) and they affect such things as Team Budget and the difficulty of the A.I. during games. Even Fan difficulty will provide a challenge, since it is hard to turn teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates into a dynasty even at that level of difficulty.



The economics are very simple to manage and don’t get in the way. You just adjust a few sliders to set concession prices, ticket prices and your Television strategy (which includes Normal, PPV only or Local Blackout) and then split your budget between signing players and adjusting how much money you want to spend on Scouting, Farm System and Medical Staff. Your city size and fan loyalty affect greatly how much money you get, which is why teams like the Yankees and Red Sox get tons of money to play with, but the Pirates and Marlins always struggle. Signing the best players even at the risk of overspending on them sounds like a good strategy when you are the Yankees, but finding bargains and good drafting (and subsequent minor league management) are the only way to go with smaller markets.



When you first boot up Mogul you have several options of play. Modern allows you to play this season. Classic allows you to play any season from 1901 to 2009, with accurate rosters and league setups. Fictional allows you to play with fake players and teams. Expansion allows you to select a team during their expansion year, run the expansion draft and manage that franchise since the very beginning. Custom allows you to setup your own league. With over 100 years of baseball history, the ability to play fictional teams and players and the ability to create your own league format (even “dream” scenarios like an entire league composed of the All-Time Best Yankees teams, for example) the replay value of a single entry of Baseball Mogul is infinite.



The hardcore Mogul enthusiast already knows this, so the big question is: What’s new in 2011? For starters, you can now play the All-Star Game, something people have been asking for years. The manager A.I. for the All-Star game has been improved as well, meaning that now pretty much every player selected gets to see some action, just like in real life. However, this is not by far my favorite addition. As a matter of fact, three things where added that will change the landscape of the series for a long time.

The first one is the ability to skip “half innings” during Play by Play Mode. This is such an amazing addition that it is worth the purchase price alone. If you enjoy hitting, but not pitching or vice versa, you can now play the parts that you like and let the A.I. handle those that you don’t. This feature can also be used during blowouts, for example, if you are leading 8-0 in the 6th inning and want to focus on keeping the opposing team from catching up, you can simply skip your at bats and focus on pitching. It might seem like a simple thing, but after having this feature at my disposal I honestly can’t go back to the older versions when I didn’t have it. The second big feature is the Free Agent Bidding Wars. In previous entries, it was easy to retain your free agents since you always had a first crack at them and as long as you put forth an offer they liked they would sign with you. Also, if you went to sign a free agent from the free agent pool, it was possible to sign all the good players if you wanted (and had the money for) because you could always give them an offer they liked and they would sign without giving the A.I. a chance to get them. That is not the case anymore! If other teams are interested in these players (and chances are they are!) they will be able to bid a higher offer, forcing you to match or surpass said offer if you want to retain/add that player to your team. It means that there are far less bargains, a higher possibility of losing a player and no more super teams. The third addition that I absolutely love is the improved Trade Logic for the A.I., especially around the trade deadline. Now you will see contending teams adding good/great players at the expense of prospects if they think they have a chance to win it all, while teams that are far out of contention will begin trading expensive players and veterans for cheap players and prospects in an attempt to rebuild. The A.I. for trades has been given such a boost that I find myself doubting my own moves, trying to read between the lines and find out exactly how the A.I. is screwing me over.



Besides these huge additions the usual minor adjustments have also been made. Career progression for players is much better now, especially when it comes to ability and stats. It keeps things interesting, since, for example, a 94 rated pitcher can have a serious injury, like a rotator cuff tear and return a 77 rated player after missing the season. Or a 74/77 rated prospect can develop better than originally expected and end up an 87 rated player. Or a prospect with a 96 peak will prove to be a bust and end up a 75 rated player. It feels much more realistic now. You can also “unretire” a recently retired player and add him to the free agent pool if you have intentions to sign him. It is possible to assign a personal catcher to a pitcher now. While playing “Best Teams of All Time” leagues, one player can play for several teams in different “stages” of his career, so for example, A-Rod can appear as a young prospect in the 1995 Mariners, a talented player with the Rangers and a veteran player in the 2009 Yankees if all three teams are active in one of these leagues.

The 411:

Overall Baseball Mogul 2011 is a much better game. Like it is always the case with the series, you can read the feature list and think “There is nothing there that makes it better than last year”, but once you play the new version you can’t go back to the old one. I have played every single Mogul entry and I can tell you that Baseball Mogul 2011 is one of the most improved entries in a long time. Free Agent Bidding Wars and the new Trade Logic will forever change the way you build your team, the ability to skip half-innings is one of the best additions to Play-by-Play in years and all the minor additions and corrections makes it feel like one of the most polished entries in the series. Thumbs Up for Baseball Mogul 2011.

Pros:

- Accessible to newcomers
- Easy to navigate menus and clean interface
- Free Agent Bidding Wars, New Trade Logic A.I. will forever change the way you approach the game.
- The ability to skip half-innings is a time saver.
- Tons of additions and corrections make it one of the best Mogul games in years!
Cons:

- The game’s presentation is identical to last year’s game.
- The default database has plenty of missing pictures, forcing you to look for mods.

Graphics	8.0	One of the cleanest, most user friendly interfaces in text-based sports simulators. Too bad it looks just like last year's game.
Gameplay	8.5	Mogul combines accessibility with depth and provides an experience that is friendly to newcomers and extremely deep for veterans.
Sound	8.0	While many text sims lack sound, Mogul has a very decent ballpark experience in the Play by Play Mode.
Lasting Appeal	10.0	With over one hundred years of baseball history to play, the ability to play fictional leagues and customize pretty much everything about the experience give this game near infinite replay value.
Fun Factor	9.0	If you have ever wondered what it feels like to be a General Manager, Coach and Scouting Director, then give this game a shot.
Overall	8.7   [ Very Good ]