As daylight savings kicks in and the snow begins to melt it's starting to become evident that spring is in the air. And what comes with spring? Baseball. Unfortunately being an XBOX 360 owner leaves me few options when it comes to choosing a baseball game. In fact it leaves me with just one option: MLB 2K8.

Living in a city (Pittsburgh) which has woefully attempted to field a winning team for last 15 seasons has made my love for the game of baseball dwindle; not to mention everything else that has gone on with the sport in the last decade and a half. Still, every spring I get an itch, and it's not pollen related. The itch is for some digital baseball on my console.

Last year was the first year I spent with the 2K series, and while I enjoyed it enough to make it through a whole 162 game season, plus playoffs, I knew it could have been better. This is what I was hoping for when I recently started getting geared up for the newest rendition. This is not what I got at all, however.

Upon firing up the game for the first time I quickly realized that something was, well boring. I cannot think of a better way of saying that. The front end is lousy and dull, and everything presentation wise is more or less exactly the same as last year. Aesthetically speaking, I began to feel like I had just paid sixty dollars for a roster update, even though I still had to wait until Opening Day to download an up to date roster.

Commentary was exactly the same, especially after all those games I played last year. Honestly, how many times do I need to hear about, "PFP, Pitchers Fielding Practice", Joe Morgan?

Where is the groundbreaking presentation that placed 2K games above the bar for so many years? Replays and cut screens looked the same, well almost; there was that renowned stuttering issue to enjoy. In addition, animations and every other little nuance was pretty much exactly where I left it at the end of last summer. What a disappointment. How can I possibly be inspired to keep playing a game that got old seven or eight months ago?

Then I began to start disliking features that I liked in the previous year's game. The lineup card you can bring up during the pitcher batter interface was still there, but the writing was so small it was hard to read even when zoomed in. I am gaming on a 42-inch plasma, I should be able to read this stuff; I am still a relatively young guy here!

The one feature I really do like happens to be the 2K beats. This is where you can import any music you like, even streaming from your computer, to the game and have it play for all kinds of circumstances. This should be in every game!

That alone was the bright spot I found though. The game itself played mostly better as the new controls were inventive, and fun. Pitching takes too long to keep me interested though. It's a neat idea it just needs to be tightened up. Waiting for the catcher to give the sign and set up takes a little too long, and then just the act of pitching is pretty drawn out itself.

There is a better variety of hits which is nice, along with the new fielding mechanic being sound.

At the end of the day, however, all the new game mechanics can not make up for what this game lacks. The atmosphere is dull; graphics look bland; player models have taken a step back, physics are pretty weak again; and the overall experience was just lame. Even the lighting and weather just downright atrocious. And this isn’t even getting into all the bugs and problems I have encountered personally, or ones members in the forums have been complaining about. I'm talking about issues that have ranged from games freezing to gameplay errors and mishaps. It's exactly the type of problems I don't want out of a game that has no competition.

Maybe you can play this if you really love baseball and put in the time to tweak the sliders post-patch, I cannot though. Knowing that other games, like GTA, are coming out next month I don't see any reason to try and force myself to like this game.

It is just a boring game. A game I had already mastered last year; a game that I expected so much more out of; and mostly, a game that will sit on my shelf no matter what happens with baseball in this town.

Can I have my money back 2K?