MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

[jim416]

Guess I'm gonna download this baby now, go to bed and I'll take a look at it, again, over my morning coffee. Glad to hear you guys are liking it. The best is yet to come.

[nemesis04]

How is everyone liking the routes the cpu fielders take to get the ball?

[BloodRed174]

Just finished my first game also. Got shut down hard by Kazmir on Legend. Lost 4-0.
TB 4/6/1
PHI 0/1/0
I couldn't hit anything. Hit 2 pitches solidly, my one hit by Victorino, and another shot down the right field line by Howard that went foul, everything else was just a little dinker. (Legend is definitely Legend lol)
But anyway, some things I liked that I noticed:
- Saw Kazmir chewing gum and Matt Joyce looked like he had sunflower seeds or something in his mouth. His cheeks looked all puffed out lol (prolly just me seeing things)
- Progressive lightings is AMAZING!!!!! I had a really long top of the 3rd and I could see the lighting changing throughout the inning which was definitely cool.
- CPU actually stole a base on me! Definitely liked to see that.
- Seemed like the CPU is much smarter this year. Seemed as if Kazmir was setting me up with pitches alot, especially if I was swinging early at pitches. Like he knew I was doing bad and was trying to keep me off balance.
I'll post more as I play more games.

[kehlis]

Quote: Originally Posted by nemesis04

How is everyone liking the routes the cpu fielders take to get the ball?

gameplay wise, it is the best upgrade in my opinion.

[nemesis04]

Quote: Originally Posted by kehlis

gameplay wise, it is the best upgrade in my opinion.

It really opens up the game for the extra base hits. Do some replays to check out the entire routes. Pretty impressive!

[BloodRed174]

Quote: Originally Posted by kehlis

gameplay wise, it is the best upgrade in my opinion.

Yeah i saw one where Upton hit a liner to left center field and Victorino took a wrong route and misplayed the ball and it rolled to the wall. It wasn't a glitch or anything, he actually looked like he misplayed it, stopped and turned around and gave chase. I love it!!!

[Blzer]

Okay, I've played this demo at least 10 times now. Here are just some things that I jotted down. Note that these are demo impressions only, so anything that sounds "negative" is just me jotting down notes from a demo, that's all that it is. I don't want people harking on me if they feel their game is being mistreated.

Here we go:


- Wow at the game intro, lighting, and Citizens Bank Park!
- The crowd is freakin' amazing! Seeing them move across the walk in the outfield is truly amazing.
- Whatever it is that they did with the graphics, the player models don't hurt the game's look as much anymore! Still can't wait until next year, though...
- Framerate looks to be around 30, though I will expect 60 from the final game.
- Seams on the ball!
- Everything feels much more responsive in this game, especially swinging. Now I actually feel like I don't need to swing while the ball hasn't even reached the dirt yet.
- The broadcast fielding cam shown on the replay is what I'm hoping they can find to put in as an option for a gameplay cam next year. I remember the first time I saw that Teixeira home run in the Yankee vid and went numb, falling out of my chair. If only I could do that on every play, I would probably never get out of the first inning.
- Footprints? Effing footprints? Detail galore.
- A few stances are rather laughable. I understand capturing the player, but some simply don't do it for me. That's probably just me. Bad boy, BSG!
- Pitcher cam is beyond excellent. I absolutely love the delay for camera transition off contact.
- After gloving the ball with Howard, I noticed that I could hold onto Circle and he'll run to first base on his own. If the pitcher gets there before he'll then flip it over. Nice touch.
- The strike zone is only relative to the player's height and not the batting stance itself. I can't recall the player(s), but some of the taller guys with low stances almost have the same strike zone height as Jayson Werth.
- Yes, there's a repeat crowd. No, nobody cares after seeing them get out of their seats and move about! There are even people with earmuffs!
- I have only hit a couple of home runs, so the runs that I have been scoring on singles and doubles and such is a welcoming surprise.
- I stole with Victorino and the pitch was low and in the dirt, going past the catcher. On the replay, Campbell said that it would go down as a passed ball. I tried to look for the stats that showed the stolen base numbers though couldn't find them, but I wonder how this stat was actually tracked? Passed ball or stolen base? (it should be stolen base)
- I love the fact that we can turn off almost every visual aid. I like my games to look as real as possible.
- Day progression is epic, though I noticed that once it wants to actually get darker, it does so very quickly... meaning it goes from its twilight phase to pitch black in four or five batters. I wonder if this is just a demo only thing?
- Crowd audio is phenomenal, especially when they're backing up the Phils. This game captures the stadiums very well in so many ways.
- There was a liner to the left of Utley (I was controlling him) and I went over, but the game didn't seem to want to go into a catch animation for me and it seemed to just go through him.
- Kazmir sucks at the plate.
- In manual replay, it's very awesome that there isn't really a height limit, meaning on a fly ball I can lock on the ball and still go above it and overlook the glorious stadium(s).
- It felt great getting deep into counts, having the controller vibrate, and with the crowd behind me. Foul balls are a godsend!
- I know the IGN article said something about no check swings, but I did numerous times, if not as much as in the '08 demo.
- The AI plays very human-like. I love that they've hit a couple batters of mine, they've made errors, and that they chase out of the zone.
- On one of the CPU's errors, Rollins overthrew Howard and the ball sailed into the dugout. There was then a cut scene to the Phillies dugout (because the inning was dragging) and sure enough Howard was there talking to four other Phillies guys.
- I've seen almost every kind of hit that you can get (foul balls included), and I still haven't seen every kind of hit that you can get! Absolutely epic hit variety.
- Took me a couple of minutes to find out how to quit out of the demo.
- Campbell seems to take less lines than Hudler this year.
- This game has a very rewarding feel when making that diving stop or driving in that runner from second with two outs. Not like baseball games in the past where it just feels "ho-hum."
- No broken-bats yet, even though there have been quite a few fisters from both teams. Could just be because it's in demo form.
- No injuries yet, either.
- The electronic scoreboards on the outfield walls are very sweet looking, really adds to the stadium's immersion.
- I saw a mound visit in my first game only. How do I go about doing a mound visit?
- Sometimes a pitch gets selected for me even though I didn't yet select a pitch (it seems to normally be fastball). What's weird is the game acts like I haven't yet selected it because the pitching options aren't greyed out. Don't know what that is all about.
- Say what you want, but Hamels can hit and run.
- Playing with my resident was very fun. I can't remember the last time I've played a baseball game against somebody else and had fun, that wasn't SlugFest.
- It feels great to leg out triples, or just the fact that I can is great on its own.
- I like the new look of the pitching meter. I miss getting that blue "blink" when I time my release perfectly though.
- WELCOME TO THE ****ING SHOW!!!




It will be hard to pass up this game, even if 2K9 is every bit as epic. I just want to know about the framerate and day progression. Aside from that, we're looking at, hands down, the best sports game ever!

[Bodizzy]

The progressive lighting is beautiful. I also dig the new pitching meter, especially on an aesthetic level. Fielding is great; feels tighter. I can't wait 'til the first week of March. Order a pizza, make a few cocktails, and immerse myself in rebuilding the Giants.