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

[Blazzen]

Played 3 innings before work today.

The Good:
-Everything felt smooth - good frame rate for the most part - no real jerky animations that I saw.
-Pitching felt good but wasn't pinpoint - strike zone is definitely variable, very cool.
-Liked the real time presentation, no more blue flashes.
-Hit types/placement good, had an infield popups off a miss timed power swing. Didn't see any choppers but I didn't really use the defensive swing either. Did see some looping foul balls. I think hit types/differentiation will be good this year.
- Until I got used to the new throwing meter I did make a throw that pulled the first baseman off the bag. That part of the game is working.
- Had a stolen base attempt at second and the throw was slightly off line but the 2B caught it and put a tag down fast. Very realistic, can tell some work was done on tags.
- 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.

The Bad:
- Maybe it will take some getting used to, but I CANNOT pickup the ball on fly balls/line drives with that new camera after the user hits. Ground balls aren't a problem, I just had trouble picking up the ball on several hits to the outfield. Couldn't see the ball against the background at AT&T park. Hard for me to tell whether or not to advance runners, etc.
- Did see a few too many soft liners like previous years. Could be my bad swing timing though.
- Had the CPU pitcher miss stepping on the base while covering first on a groundball I hit to the first baseman. It wasn't a REAL close play, but was close, I would've been out by a step but the CPU pitcher missed stepping on the base. This was an issue last year too. It did at least charge an error though.

The Ugly:
- No commentary and no player substitutions (unless I'm just dumb and couldn't figure out how to do it) in the demo.
- WTF is up with the 1 hop throws to first base from infielders? Had a relatively normal groundball the third baseman had to range to his left into the hole, made a "green" throw and he decided to 1 hop it to first for the out. It wasn't a "short hop" but a "good" 1 hop throw to first. Maybe it was because it was Pablo Sandoval, but I did see in the fielding DD video that Rollins 1 hopped a "good" throw to first base. Infielders don't 1 hop throws unless its a very difficult, long throw to make. Just kind of wonky if you ask me, but not a deal breaker.

Overall:
This feels like an upgraded version of MLB 2K10. Nothing wrong with that at all. Errors, Injuries, Hot/Cold Streaks, Hit Types, New Cameras, etc. I don't think the game went backwards in ANY areas, only improvements all around so in my mind it is definitely worth getting. I enjoyed and played a lot of MLB2K10 and I think MLB2K11 is shaping up to be even better.

[selahsdaddy]

I really disliked the demo...Oh course no commentary so no immersion factor....So much for "real pitch counts" as the CPU swings at ANYTHING close to the plate....I threw 7 pitches in two 1-2-3 innings vs the Rangers....Very disappointed

[serialmke]

Quote: Originally Posted by DickDalewood

Since we don't have a demo questions thread yet... Giants4natic, I'm assuming we're getting Giants vs Rangers, yes? Also, is hitting still the same as far as pushing up is normal, back and up is power? (I'm not a fan of that, as I wish every hit had to be loaded, ala 2K8 and The Show). How are the player models and lighting? Thanks for all the impressions dude.

Yes its the same. But what I found out last year is that you really should be using pull back and swing for most swings, contact for working count only and use contact in tandem with the left right pushes on the swing stick to protect the plate swings.

Contact is not really for normal swinging. Its more for protection mode.

[serialmke]

Quote: Originally Posted by selahsdaddy

I really disliked the demo...Oh course no commentary so no immersion factor....So much for "real pitch counts" as the CPU swings at ANYTHING close to the plate....I threw 7 pitches in two 1-2-3 innings vs the Rangers....Very disappointed

Nothing like this happened to me at all.

[DickDalewood]

^ Alright, cool. Thanks bud!

[Blazzen]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hopeful Cubsfan

Seems to only be on the foul balls then.

I think this is correct. I hit a couple line drives fall over the dugout and it seemed like the game slowed down a bit. Not a big deal since it was a fall ball but annoying none the less. I did not see any slow down on balls put into play fair.

[munky1307]

Well I only got to play two innings before I came to work but I'm really impressed with it. Everything felt really natural from fielding to hitting and pitching. I owned MLB 2k10 and played it a ton and this is a definite improvement on that. I know it's easy to nitpick a lot of things but I don't see some of the negatives people are bringing up here.

Observations:
The throw meter is fantastic. The first groundball the cpu hit to me (to the Rangers shortstop), I accidentally went into the red on the throw meter and the ball sailed right past the first baseman into the wall behind him. I've never been so relieved to see an unintentional error (really missed that in last years game). The speed of the meter feels to be a very good speed of being challenging yet not impossible (not sure if there's gonna be a slider for that or not either). I was nervous about the speed of the meter being too easy but I ended up making two errors in the second inning alone. On the flipside though I made a handful of routine throws from groundballs where I nailed it right in the "sweet" spot for perfect throws so there is a balance. (Funny to see after the second error in the same inning, a cutscene of the pitcher starting to look nervous/frustrated wiping sweat from his neck). Nice to feel some pride in making a good throw to get a guy at first and feeling like it was earned, not just handed to me.

Whoever the center fielder is for the Rangers (sorry Ranger fans, I didn't have time to look up names) only has a tiny sliver of a green "sweet" spot on the throw meter where as the third baseman had a nice large area to nail, making throws from third easier (SS mentioned above had an average size green area). Nice to see the diffference between fielders.

Graphics looked better than I expected. Like I said i played 2k10 a lot and I think the demo looks better than the first gameplay video and more crisp than 2k10 (of course i'm sure people will find a jaggie or two to complain about). Might have something to do the with colors Chase mentioned in his preview. Probably not as good as the other game (i've never played, only seen vids), but definitely a step up from last year. Lots of different cutscenes than from 2k10 so I've gotta disagree with earlier comment about graphics and immersion because of cut scenes. I was impressed. I did see a tiny hitch on one or two hits to the framerate but not on every hit. Could just be the demo. We'll find out next week.

Is it perfect? Probably not. Is it fun (or more fun than 2k10)? Absolutely! (i had deja vu of mvp 2005, my all time fav, in just two innings) Like I said people will find the smallest things to complain about but it's a game. If you want absolute realism, than I'm sure there's a spring training game to watch on tv.

Overall, I can't wait to get back home on my lunch break and play a full game(or two or three). Two innings alone showed me that I'm going to be a happy baseball gamer this summer!

[DickDalewood]

I definitely like hearing the MVP 05 comparison (my all-time favorite as well).