MLB 2K9 First Hands-On (Gamespot)

[brendanrfoley]

I don't think it's fair to say the game is "dumbed down."

The Show uses very simplistic pitching and hitting controls, to great effect.

[thundergatti]

I'm thrilled at the ability to control all 30 teams in franchise. No more players sitting on the bench or in the minors when they should be in the lineup/rotation

[JayhawkerStL]

The dumbed down pitching mechanic really bums me out. The pitching mechanic was what sold me on last year's game despite the other problems. Plus, I got to point where I was throwing one meatball every few games. This is what I wrote about 2K8's pitching earlier today on another forum, before I saw this preview.

"Now pitching is a different matter altogether. The stick did not merely make it more difficult. It did several things that made pitching much more realistic. You had two steps, and timing was important on both steps. But better pitchers had more leeway in that timing. But further, as pitchers got tired, that leeway shrank.

"Another thing it did was make breaking pitches tougher to pull off for strikes. So if you got behind in the count (which could happen, because the controls were imprecise, it was common to go back to your fastball, which mimics the way the game is played. But it also created a situation where better pitchers, like a Greg Maddux, could get away with breaking pitches when behind. This really drove the gameplay experience for me.

"But they did one more thing that really amped it up. I think it was poorly named, but the payoff pitch element could help you really get on a roll, especially with a fastball pitcher. With two strikes, or pitches in key situations, you were asked to hit a spot. hitting it boosted your pitcher's rating on that pitch. Missing it, however, dropped your rating. I was then faced with situations where I knew my curve ball was just not clicking, but I count on my slider. You could choose to cancel the payoff element, which would avoid the risk, but you would also lose the chance to boost.

"Where I would simplify hitting, I placed restrictions on my pitching, in order to keep that element of stress. For one, I never altered my catcher's target or signal. If he asked for a strike up and in, that's what I did. There were times he would call for balls out of the strike zone. I generally even obeyed this, as we were tryingto get the batter to chase a bad pitch, or set up for the next pitch. But that made the payoff pitch even more critical. I never opted out, but I sweat every time he called a curve ball. It was just really hard to place. It was tempting to just fire the fastball, which was much easier to hit.

"But there was another catch. Let's say I had Wainright, that opened with a fastball rating of 83. I could work him up to over 90 at times. But if I missed, it didn't drop to 89, it dropped to 83, and I had to start over. So once I was in the seventh inning, and the leeway started to shrink, I really sweated even hitting my fastballs. It could make the difference between Wainright pitching the 8th, or forcing me to go to the bullpen.

"Pitching became a meta game, that actually mimicked the meta game pitchers go through in real life. And the cool thing was, there were plenty of sliders so that you could adjust just how hard pitching was. I started out playing on easy, but it didn't take long before i had moved it up. I wasn't worried about what level I played, it was just if the game felt right. This is what I don't think I would ever want to give up in a game again."

Yet, it looks like 2K just sucked a healthy part of what made 2K8 a good game right out of it. This seriously bums me out.

[Behindshadows]

I like what I read, and the pictures look amazing.

Thank you Gamespot for posting nice resolution..and good job from Visual Concepts, from the ground up. Incredible detail...

Looks like I'll have 2 Baseball games to play this season.

[HK-47]

Yeah, it sucks.

I never was a fan of the pay off pitch though.Your starter would start throwing 98+ mph by the 7th inning.I just press B so that when I hit the spot, theres no ratings boost.

The Angels starting rotation is filthy, so I don't need no boost!

[JayhawkerStL]

Quote: Originally Posted by HK-47

Yeah, it sucks. I never was a fan of the pay off pitch though.Your starter would start throwing 98+ mph by the 7th inning.I just press B so that when I hit the spot, theres no ratings boost. The Angels starting rotation is filthy, so I don't need no boost!

Well, I forced myself to use it and not just avoid it after I got my guy's ratings up. I was playing solo, so I wanted provide the right kind of challenge for myself. Knowing i coud lose it just added that extra big of adrenaline which would just increase the chance I would screw up a pitch at some point.

It would be awfully hard to follow my home rules when playing online, though.

And let's just say that the Cardinals rotation needed some boosting.

[brendanrfoley]

My hope is, considering the reduced timing aspect of the pitching meter, players are able to reduce pitcher accuracy. I do not want to spend the entire game throwing exactly where I want to.

[MJeter02]

I'm a little worried because of the new screenshots, the Lincecum ones were amazing...now we get these. If you go to this link youll see a jose reyes screenshot from 2k8 and it looks about 10 times better than the new one.... http://2ksports.com/screens/new/all/534 if starting from the ground up means the game is gonna look terrible, im not a fan. lets hope these new screen shots are just early and there is work to be done in the next month...