Major League Baseball 2K13 Review (XBox 360)

[Armor and Sword]

Hey I picked up MLB 2K11 this past christmas for my son as he played it at a friends house and liked it. We have played that game and had some great post season series (all we play is post season mode with that one)

I am a massive Show fan as most know. And imo it is a superior baseball title and quite frankly the best console baseball game ever made for 5 years running now (every iteration just get's better and better). However 2K is a good, fun, easy to pick up and play baseball game. I think 4 is far too low of a score for game you can have fun with.

If your having fun with a game....automatic 7 minimum. I think there is enough depth to the 2K series to have a decent franchise, make some classic rosters with 2K share etc.

There are some who feel it is better than The Show. I am not in that camp at all. But is it a good game? Yeah it is.

Should 2K13 be 60 bucks? No way. wait for the bargain bin as nothing was really done except a patch to 2K12 (from everything I have read and seen posted).

[pistolpete]

I do enjoy the fact the game doesn't get graded at all based on fun.

When your buddy sees a movie is the first thing you ask him "how was the audio?" No, of course not. You ask "was it good".

The reviewer is clearly pre-disposed to giving it a bad grade when he finds a way to negatively comment on the control scheme.

We know the control scheme is the same. Is this bad? Is this good? Anyone who enjoys 2k would consider this a good thing. I am willing to bet the fans of 2k love the game a great deal bc of the control scheme.

EDIT: With that said, I think the fun factor is kind of lacking in this year's version.

[rcp225]

Question: How can 2K Sports develop such a great game like the NBA2K series, yet consistently put out crap
on the baseball diamond?

[Baile]

Quote: Originally Posted by pistolpete

We know the control scheme is the same. Is this bad? Is this good? Anyone who enjoys 2k would consider this a good thing.

That makes no sense. Anyone who doesn't enjoy the control scheme, would consider it a bad thing, obviously. I don't understand your point.

The timing-only hitting control scheme is ridiculously simplistic. IMO, this game should be docked 2-3 rating points just because they fail to offer anything in the way of a zone hitting option, which has been standard in every video baseball game. For people like myself who prefer a challenge when hitting, the gameplay is close to ruined. It's like playing T-ball.

[bigfnjoe96]

Quote: Originally Posted by rcp225

Question: How can 2K Sports develop such a great game like the NBA2K series, yet consistently put out crap on the baseball diamond?

Because MLB Series has never had a consistent developer during this generation. MLB 2K6- Blue Shift, MLB 2K7-2K9 Kush Games/Blue Castle, 2K9-2K13 Visual Concepts

Not to mention 2K Sports choose to port over the xbox engine instead of building a baseball engine from the ground up.

It's not an excuse, for the games we've seen, but it plays a BIG part in what we've seen

[Mt Oread]

Quote: Originally Posted by Baile

That makes no sense. Anyone who doesn't enjoy the control scheme, would consider it a bad thing, obviously. I don't understand your point. The timing-only hitting control scheme is ridiculously simplistic. IMO, this game should be docked 2-3 rating points just because they fail to offer anything in the way of a zone hitting option, which has been standard in every video baseball. For people like myself who prefer a challenge when hitting, the game is close to ruined. It's like playing T-ball.

So you are saying that the vast majority of Show players play tee ball?

I get the attraction of zone hitting, and it is definitely a bigger challenge. But most find it cumbersome and non-intuitive.

It's not like when you hit you wiggle your bat around in space to place it. You see the ball, you swing at the ball.

What I find, when I play the Show, is that I can't find a single mode, pitching or hitting, that feels natural or good. And it has to affect the way they tune the game in order to make them all good enough to work. I think the plethora of options works against gameplay, but it acts like pretty graphics in that it provides a nice bullet point to put on the box.

It would be nice for 2K to have a ton of control options, but I would not want them at the expense of what makes 2K more fun to play.

[Bulls321974]

All I can say is: OUCH!

[Baile]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mt Oread

So you are saying that the vast majority of Show players play tee ball? It would be nice for 2K to have a ton of control options, but I would not want them at the expense of what makes 2K more fun to play.

What did my post have to do with The Show? I don't play The Show and haven't for 5 years, because I consider 2K the better video baseball experience overall. That said, it's almost impossible for me to play 2K for longer than a few innings, I get bored with the simplistic hitting system. Hitting in 2K is like batting practice or playing homerun derby mode. I've played video baseball games since the early 90s, and 2K by far is the least difficult baseball game I've played from a hitting perspective. They removed zone, they removed step-influence, they removed the power swing in classic... the list goes on, it's plain ridiculous.

And there is no connection between including more hitting options, and ruining the fun factor in the process. You yourself can continue playing with timing-only, it doesn't affect you. And people like me can use zone or k-zone or whatever we like. I don't understand your comment at all.