MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

[Picci]

Sounds good all. Glad to hear that much of the gameplay seems sound. Only concern I have is I'm not hearing anything on users walking the CPU batters. Has anyone been able to walk the CPU?

Thanks

[NINJAK2]

Quote: Originally Posted by Delray

I'm at work and can't wait to get home and download it....in the meantime, could someone answer a couple of questions for me? When fielding in the outfield....does the player lock in position when he's under the ball's landing spot? If so, can you unlock his position by moving the stick. Is the names on the back of the jerseys the same font for both teams? Thanks guys!

In my short time del, it seems to depend on the fielder. I'm not a huge Baseball fan so I don't know everyone's name but when I used the LF for SF on a routine flyball it became a mini-adventure to catch the ball as the landing spot didn't appear til the last second almost. On a flyer to the SF RF though, he got under the ball a lot easier and I didn't have to adjust him a great deal to make the play..Hope that helps.

[NumberOneRB]

Just played my first game with the new demo. Here are just some quick points:

-The graphics do appear to be slightly improved. The player models/body types are a little more believable, although the lighting does seem to look a bit "off." There appears to be too much contrast in the skin and the gray uniforms of the white players (makes their skin tones look ghostly). I also noticed that the self-shadowing still has the "jaggies" which makes the shadowing on the player models look awful. The baseball bats still look like college aluminum bats (way too metallic-like). Some player faces do look great though.

-The animations overall are standard "MLB 2K", you either like them or hate them (I generally lean towards "hate"). They need to do an OVERHAUL on transition animations because they have been lacking in that department for a long time. One of the Developer Insights stated they redid all the batting/swinging animations, but they look just as choppy and incomplete as before. I really don't see things like this improving very much until they (unfortunately) get a new animation crew with a new vision. I must also add that I do agree with some that suggested the ball lacks weight and behaves more like a whiffle ball.

-Pitching is as fun and immersive as ever, although I would like to see the ball appear to have more weight behind it when thrown. I also never understood why they don't show the controls for a pitch out or intentional walk right on the pitching interface. I hate to have to read the manual (or ask forum members) what the controls are for those options, then memorize them. Batting seems about the same, although I do like the improved batting camera and view when the ball is put in play. I saw a couple pop-ups during my play time, so it was good to see a bit more variety compared to last year.

-Fielding was overall pretty fun, the timing for the meter is going to take some getting use to (I sailed a ball over the head of the first baseman with Pablo on a routine play). The overall experience would be much more enjoyable if the animations were smoother and had MUCH better transitions. I still see the annoying crow hop among the outfielders occasionally. I do like the fly ball indicator, should separate the good fielders from the bad pretty well. Overall, I'd say the fielding should be pretty fun this year, especially if they smoothened things out even more for the final build.

[pdawg17]

I wish you could change difficulty level because pitching I can throw strikes whenever I want to and the cpu still swings at everything which was one of my main gripes last year...I really hope the retail game has more patient cpu hitters this year...

[Delray]

Thanks Ninja...sounds good!

[a walrus]

Quote: Originally Posted by krazak

I'm all for options and am not proposing that they take all the extras out. Just wondering how many people consider that kind of a thing a show stopper. To me personally it makes no difference, but i understand that other people enjoy that kind of thing (and the game would be very bland if it wasn't even an option). I want to play as many games as possible, try to get into next season (without simming games) so i can take advantage of the fact that there are prospects in the game, etc... That would never happen if each game i play takes an hour.

Seem like a silly point to make , considering you can press and move through the majority of the cut scenes. While your tapping that button to get to the next pitch or at bat. I will be enjoying my beer , peanuts and the game of baseball.

[SeerMagicX]

does 2B & SS still play to far in? This has plagued 2k for years (yet doesn't seemed talked about). It drives me crazy seeing infielders catch routine grounds on the infield grass or near it.

Quote: Originally Posted by Blazzen

- Inside edge was enabled in the demo and the hot/cold zones show up on each pitch. I like that, pitch to weaknesses like the Pro's do.

I heard them talk about that, it was the first thing roy halladay made them add.

Quote: Originally Posted by Spongedaddy

3) I wish they had play by play for the demo so I could hear how it sounds.

Fear not, 2k has had much better commentary than the competition. I'm not a fanboy or anything, I owned both games for years.

Quote: Originally Posted by swaldo

These HDTV's are bright enough as it is, my eyes are going to hurt after a full 9 inning game. If you want to add a little presentation "pop" here & there go ahead, but can you tone it down please or give us the option to turn it off?

ug, that's disappointing to hear. When I play the other game the flashes from the replays and cutscenes drive me crazy. Why oh why do games do this? are they trying to blind us?

[NumberOneRB]

I'm starting to see the improved outfield animations the more I play, so that gives me hope for the final build. I also LOVE the signature styles, no company does them better.