Χ-Play (2003)

MLB 2006, Shining Tears, Yager and more! (3x13)

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On tonight's episode of X-Play, we review MLB 2006. While the majority of Sony’s sports franchises may be in shambles, its baseball game is still going strong, thanks to some interesting features that help set it apart from its competition. MLB 2006 retains most of what made last year’s game a success, namely the franchise mode and the engaging batter-pitcher interface. Most of the improvements come in the form of visuals, animation, and in the fine-tuning of both the pitching and hitting mechanics. If you weren’t happy with MLB 2005, chances are you won’t appreciate MLB 2006 either, as the main gameplay is the same. Yet if you’re a hardcore baseball fan who appreciates an attention to detail, you’ll want to move MLB 2006 to the top of your order. Sega's favorite word is "shining," as it goes into the name of nearly every RPG the company puts out, despite the lack of cohesion with the titles. Shining in the Darkness was a dungeon crawler; Shining Force was a (classic) tactical RPG; Shining Soul was a portable sort of junior Baldur's Gate. For its first "shining" PlayStation 2 game, Sega holds the action/RPG Shining Tears up to the light. SquareEnix is as synonymous with quality role-playing games as Donald Trump is to perpetually bad hair days. The publisher’s latest foray into the fantastic is a role-playing game based on the Japanese anime Fullmetal Alchemist, released in the States on the Cartoon Network as part of its Adult Swim lineup of late-night programming. The aerial combat genre, once a major moneymaker in the PC world, is finally starting to make a comeback on home consoles, and Yager offers up some intense dog fighting action over a series of 22 missions. Being one of the earliest games announced for the Xbox, and seeing as how it's been released over a year behind schedule, Yager does show its age. But at the bargain price of $20, things could be much worse. The legacy of SNK’s NeoGeo system lives on with this excellent re