Major League Baseball 2K9
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Major League Baseball 2K9
Easy should not mean unbalanced
The 2009 MLB season is starting in a few days and after getting my hands on Sony’s MLB 09 The Show a few weeks back, I was very excited to see what 2K and Visual Concepts were bringing this year to their MLB 2K franchise. After last years’ strikeout, the developers are back with Major League Baseball 2K9, a serious attempt to fix the broken vases from last year.
Is MLB 2K9 batting for the cycle or for the golden sombrero?
Gameplay
Those who played MLB 2K8 will find out that most of the features are making a return in MLB 2K9. You can play single games against the A.I, enter the home-run derby for some good old major league fun, start a career in the franchise mode or play online through Xbox Live or Playstation Network and join leagues, tournaments or play simple games with your friends. In order to bring some novelty, Visual Concepts added the average “Living Rosters” feature found on NBA 2K9. While the season is just a few days away, it will be interesting to see if MLB 2K9’s Living Roster feature works actually better than NBA 2K9’s. As far the main game is concerned, MLB 2K9 does not feature anything new. Well, the menu interface has received a facelift but no real major additions. Although this may sound not too encouraging for MLB 2K players, the developers have made most of their changes in the gameplay department.
If you were one of those players who hated the complex batting, pitching and fielding mechanics of last year’s game, we can safely say that the developers tweaked most of them for a less frustrating experience. The same controls for pitching and batting are being brought back this year. The control scheme is extremely easy to pull off this time compared to MLB 2K8 but they bring their share of problems to the whole game since the game now loses a bit of its realism. For hitting, you pull back the right analog stick to set your batting motion and making the stick go forward will initialize the swing move. The same applies to pitching although circular moves are also required to put some effect on your pitch. It works but you will find out after a few games that the pitching brings no challenge whatsoever. The pitcher has stamina and composure meters showing on the left side right above where the pitching list is but they don’t seem to have a huge correlation on your pitching behaviour. During one of the games I played, I was able to pitch a 10 inning game with Josh Beckett. We all know that American League pitchers don’t often pass the 6th inning. During the seventh inning, I’ve lost my composure and my throw target started shaking after giving two runs and a walk, loading the bases with one out. Even then, I ended up recovering my composure after retiring the next two batters, and then I managed to continue pitching and even pushed my luck until the ninth inning after getting back into the game and of course win it. My stamina was close to the red zone of the meter but apparently it didn’t have a huge impact on my performance. My Red Sox won against the Kansas City Royals 16-12…yes you’ve read right…The Royals.
While the pitching mechanic is not as realistic as we wanted to, the batting system works extremely well…so well that actually both you and the artificial intelligence will take advantage of it. High scoring games with 30+ total runs are a frequent thing in MLB 2K9. The first times you will feel a bit off but after a few innings, you will start hitting doubles and triples in no time. Actually, your AI opponent will often take advantage of the batting system simply because the fielding system, just like in last year’s game, is extremely touchy and very hard to gauge. Your throws will be often too strong or too soft because if the little throwing meter, your outfielders will often drop the ball while trying to catch flies or respond extremely slow to your movement requests (same goes for the infielders). On the other side, AI fielding commits very few errors and respond very well to different plays, just like in real life. But the fact that I didn’t get that same feel of responsiveness made me very mad…and so the others will feel the same too. Actually, there’s a way to get all those nuisances to a certain balance but you have to keep fooling around with the in-game sliders. For me, playing with sliders is not a huge thing but those who are not very good with them won’t spend time with them because they just want to spend time playing with the game and not with the sliders.
Graphics and Sounds
Visually, MLB 2K9 does look great but not amazing…and it doesn’t have to. Honestly, It would be really surprising to see them improve the graphic level of the game for the next versions unless they re-do the whole graphic engine. Nonetheless, the visual experience holds its ground at all times and delivers. There are a few animations jagged edges and texture ripping by time to time like any other sport game out there but overall the game looks good. The menus aren’t sharp-looking, the player faces are nothing close to the real ones but the stadiums do look nice and the crowd animations don’t look like cheap cardboard cuts.
In terms of audio, the game features a new duo of play-by-play commentators in the likes of Gary Thorne and Steve Phillips, who replace the old and boring Jon Miller & Joe Morgan tag team. While there are a few lines not matching the action during gameplay and gets a bit repetitive after a few innings, the overall commentary is good. Frankly, they make the game more fun to play and of course to listen. I’m very picky when it comes down to play-by-play commentary in sport games and I’m just glad 2K decided to get a new duo. Honestly, baseball commentary is extremely hard to nail. The nature of the sport isn’t flashy or exhilarating as football, hockey or basketball so commentary in baseball games is pretty much THE thing players will notice.
Although the rest of the audio build does a great job in terms of environmental sounds, the game soundtrack feels odd and misplaced. Steal my sunshine? What I like about you? Really? Baseball is the only sport that requires a specific track list that matches the international flavour of the sport, like the FIFA games for example.
Value
While Major League Baseball 2K9’s offline experience does offer a lot for everyone, the true replay value of the game resides in the online side of the game. You can either play single games or go head to head with home run derbies but the biggest feature is the 30-team online leagues. Unlike MLB 09 The Show, online play on MLB 2K9 is steady and most of time smooth with a few lagging issues. The game has a price tag similar to MLB 09 The Show. For those players who just want to enjoy an easier baseball game without caring for the realism and the multiple options and modes to choose from, MLB 2K9 might be the way to go but not necessarily the best. If you want something prettier, complete and closer to the real thing, then shed the additional 10$ and get Sony’s game...if you have a Playstation 3 of course. If you only have an Xbox 360 and you crave for a cool baseball game, MLB 2K9 will do the thing just fine. Just don’t expect the greatest baseball game ever.
Conclusion
There’s more good than bad in MLB 2K9. While the experience has been brought down to a certain level of easiness, there’s still a lot of things that make the game frustrating and tiresome. I’ll admit, I was never a huge fan of MLB 2K series and even the World Series Baseball franchise before that. Plus, the last two versions of MLB 2K weren’t exactly great. Still, MLB 2K9 is a great improvement over last years’ game and made me want to spend a few quality hours on it. Sadly, making a “baseball game for dummies” won’t make the games better if they keep changing the recipe and trying come up with ways to be the big boy in town…I think this is what hurts the game the most. Nonetheless, Major League Baseball 2K9 is a good example of 2K Sports desire to do things right and I applaud them for that. Just make up your mind and do it before it’s too late.
Pros
+ Batting and pitching system are more accessible
+ Lots of modes available
+ Solid online play experience
+ Nice play-by-play commentary, environmental sounds
+ Solid visuals and animations
+ Menus received a nice facelift
Cons
- Frustrating fielding mechanics, throwing meter is a bit sensitive
- Pitching system is good but doesn’t bring the sense of realism
- AI fielding is a bit too good
- Stamina and composure meters are almost useless
- Throwing meter is a bit sensitive
- Weird original soundtrack choice
Final Verdict
Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.
PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)
GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.
AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?
GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.
REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.
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