MLB - LOOKS V SOUNDS - Dazraz's Blog

Dazraz's Blog

MLB - LOOKS V SOUNDS

Posted on February 28, 2012 at 04:07 PM.

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With the release of this years offering of baseball games nearly upon us I wonder if, when all is said & done, the overall opinions of the 2 games will vary much from what we have had in the last couple of years.
From what I've seen so far it seems to be more of the same.

Both MLB 2K & The Show are very playable games & both offer decent Franchise Modes but when I look at the gameplay videos for this years games I feel exactly how I did last year. The Show looks like Baseball, MLB 2K sounds like baseball.

The Show is without a doubt one of, if not the most realistic looking sports simulation to date. It is one of the few games that really makes use of the PS3's capabilities. However the commentary in the game gets tired fast & detracts from the sense of realism the game otherwise portrays so well.

MLB 2K suffers from a combination of visual flaws. Poor frame rates, quirky animations & numerous graphical glitches abound. These spoil a game that sounds as close to a TV broadcast as you a likely to hear in a videogame. The variety, smoothness & delivery of the dialogue keeps you listening as you are actually fed information dynamically that is relevant throughout your season.

Although Sony boast of great improvements in the area of commentary for this years game there has nothing to really back this up based on current gameplay video footage. The fact that each & every game is presented in an identical way doesn't help either. I actually cringe every time I hear the 'State Farm' speech.

Now if only we could couple the commentary of 2K & apply it to The Show we really would have the definitive baseball game.

Comments

# 1 dodgerblue @ Feb 28

After viewing some gameplay of the show and the mlb2k demo I tend to agree with your initial impressions. I am actually buying both games because I appreciate different things about each. But at their core, the gameplay is looking like it is going to be much the same as in prior year.
While the show looks to be better looking and more accurate in almost every way, I feel like it is missing something that 2k is able to capture. Maybe it is a "fun factor"? Certainly commentary is better with 2k, and maybe it seems a little fresher to me because I have played the show since 08 and the commentary has changed very little.

# 2 Dazraz @ Feb 29

@ erica 69

I'm sure patches for the game are an inevitability. As to what degree the patches will be required is always the big question. There's no doubt developers are happy to release a buggy game & patch it up rather then set back the release date as was often the case on previous hardware.

# 3 DetroitStyle @ Feb 29

I think the show has far superior sound effects from crowd noise, to gloves popping, to bat/ball contact. However, the commentary does leave something to be desired.

# 4 mikemck09 @ Mar 1

You nailed this one bro... I am very impressed this year by SCEA and their new addition of sound effects. Bat, glove, and environment enhancements. 2K's bat sounds have given me sort of a mini explosion sound for the past 3-4 years that I have played that game. Now commentary is a whole other ball game. 2K is far superior when it comes down to calling the game we enjoy.