Major League Baseball 2K10 Demo Available, Post Impressions Here (360)

[NoSkillz50]

i dont know how many choppers or weak ground balls there are, but considering every other hit isnt a line drive like in the show i'm loving the hit variety. soft lines drives and bloopers, i rarely ever get a legitimate doinker in the show.

[nld230]

Got the demo late, but I will post some impressions. As a forewarning, I am a player who cares little about graphics and focuses on realism and gameplay..... that said, graphics look very good.

1. It's definitely a pitcher's game. Maybe it's rust, but in the few games I played (a couple against the CPU, two against a friend), I found it easy, for the most part, to hit my spots. Hitting, for pro, seems like a challenge. I love it. My only concern is that pitching might be a little too easy, but that can be fixed.

2. The above might be because we don't get to see stamina really come into play. 3 innings isn't enough to wear out a starter, and since it gets easier to hit a pitcher when he is tired....

3. Minor gripe, but when the inning is over and it's the Phillies turn to bat, the Yankee order is displayed, and vice versa. Ryan Howard is due up, but the order at the bottom of the screen is headlined by Nick Johnson...

4. Either the OFers are too fast or the baserunners are too slow. I hit one slow chopper down the third base line, just fair, and was gunned down at 2nd base with Granderson. Either way, it's not a huge problem. They just need to be a hair faster.

5. Fielding is good. No dropped flyouts, which is a relief....

6. Stealing was weird for me. The mechanic was fine, and against the CPU I had no problem. But against a human player, I had issues with my leadoff. He picked his pitches too fast and I only got a 1 step lead. Not saying this is unrealistic, but maybe an exploit if you're facing a team like the Mariners who will need to rely on the swiped bag now and again.

7. Love the defensive swing. The batters eye doesn't give much of an advantage. It's nice to know what is coming, but the location could be in or out of the zone.

8. Getting rattled really shakes up the pitching, which is awesome. The strike zone disappearing is a nice touch. I wonder, for extra added dificulty, if there will be an option to turn the pitch cursor off. When playing my friend, I had to really concentrate to nail the corners.

I'm sold. The only thing that could really ruin it for me would be game-crippling bugs....

[Bondsfan]

I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I can't even make contact with the Yankees lineup in this game. I've NEVER had trouble like this before. MVP was an only timing hitting too, and I was good at that. For some reason, I just can't seem to gauge the speed of the incoming pitch. Also, is anyone else noticing that once again, balls/strikes are nearly impossible to differentiate? The CPU paints the corner on nearly every pitch. All the talk about the new camera angle making it easy to judge balls/strikes is absolutely untrue if the pitchers paint the corner 90% of the time.

I know it sounds like I'm bashing the game, but I'm still really excited about this game. I'm thinking there are two excuses here. Maybe the pitchers painting the corners is just a result of the pitchers I'm facing. The developers have said that good pitchers will be much harder to tell the difference between balls/strikes.

As for the timing and swing stick, maybe its all just the new camera view. Is anyone else struggling badly with the new view?

I'm desperately hoping this game doesn't play like this at the plate for the long run and it just takes time to get used to. If not, then I'm just going to break down and buy a PS3 this year. I can't go another year without a baseball game.

[HK-47]

^ It might be the slow pitch speed that's giving you a hard time. I'm having trouble hitting in the 2k10 demo cause, I'm so use to the ball coming in faster from playing 2k8 with the pitch speed maxed out.

[boomhauertjs]

I played 3 games of the demo and overall it was a positive experience. I have a few comments/questions:

1) The fielders (especially the OF's) have rocket arms. Every throw from the OF is made to the base on the fly. Hopefully, there's a slider to correct that.

2) I love the stats displayed in the game, especially the stats with a certain count. When you're playing a Franchise, will those stats be a reflection of your franchise stats?

3) My wife, who could name about 5 active MLB players, walks in the room and says "Is that Derek Jeter?" as the Yankees walk off the field after the third out. I was impressed that the graphics were good enough that she could recognize him.

[pistonpete]

can you turn off the pitching motion analyzer? the fly ball spot locator? and all of the help and stat overlays? any word on a ps3 demo?

thanks

[tsp120]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bondsfan

I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I can't even make contact with the Yankees lineup in this game. I've NEVER had trouble like this before. MVP was an only timing hitting too, and I was good at that. For some reason, I just can't seem to gauge the speed of the incoming pitch. Also, is anyone else noticing that once again, balls/strikes are nearly impossible to differentiate? The CPU paints the corner on nearly every pitch. All the talk about the new camera angle making it easy to judge balls/strikes is absolutely untrue if the pitchers paint the corner 90% of the time.

Personally, I have not had any of the issues you're discussing (though I only play as the Phillies because playing as the Yankees would be a sin for me). I'm making decent contact, though I'm striking out too...which is how it should be.

I have not owned any of the previous 2K baseball games on the 360, but in anticipation of this game I went ahead and downloaded the 2k9 demo. I had a very difficult time differentiating balls and strikes in that demo. However, on this 2K10 demo it seems perfect. I wouldn't call it easy to differentiate as that would be unrealistic. I find it challenging to differentiate pitches, but not impossible.

[Bob Digital]

Quote: Originally Posted by boomhauertjs

3) My wife, who could name about 5 active MLB players, walks in the room and says "Is that Derek Jeter?" as the Yankees walk off the field after the third out. I was impressed that the graphics were good enough that she could recognize him.

Hah, every female ( my girlfriend included ) can recognize Derek Jeter in a video game. I'm just playin'. I get your point.