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

[NINJAK2]

Quote: Originally Posted by 15 Step

I played 5 games this morning. It does seem like more of an updated version of 2k10 than what I was expecting. The hitting camera is pretty fun to watch, but it can make fly balls in the outfield difficult to judge, which is perhaps the point of it. I don't notice any serious framerate problems other than with foul balls, so it's not really a big deal. Also, it's good to see more foul balls in general. There seems to be a lot more variety in the hitting. One problem I noticed was that in one of the games I played (and mysteriously this problem wasn't in the other four I played), there was a problem with the pitching system. After I picked my pitch but before I could throw it, there was a little delay that caused me to throw each pitch improperly. For example, the basic fastball is just down and then up on the right joystick, which is simple enough. During this game, I would press A to pick fastball, and then I would press down and then up, only it wouldn't register the "down" part of the joystick movement so it only picked up me pushing up with the joystick, which obviously caused me to throw a poor-quality fastball. Anybody else have this problem?

I have had difficulty throwing the fastball as well resulting in wild pitches. I have not had any problems with the other pitches thus far.

I must say that I'm very impressed with this demo overall. I think the graphics and animations are great and a big improvement from 2k10. The big 3 (fielding, pitching, and hitting) are all done well imo. Having biggest problem hitting(this is usually the hardest thing for me to do in these current baseball games). The last baseball game I actually went out and paid full price for was 2k3. I've been renting ever since. I may change my thinking this year.

[Mercury112491]

Just played 3 games each time with the Giants, each time with a different pitcher.

This first time playing I was mostly paying attention to the pitching and hitting.

The best thing I noticed was that all 3 pitchers I used pitched completely differently. Bumgardner(sp?) would miss his spots but only if my gestures were a bit off. If I got a max pitch he would always be near the correct location. However he definitely got hit the hardest of the 3. I even gave up a hit on a max pitch with him which I don't think I ever saw in last years game.

Zito on the other hand was pretty wild. Constantly missing his location even with perfect gestures. I walked two batters in a row trying to throw strikes.

Lincecum felt like he should, hitting corners, nasty breaking stuff.

One thing I noticed was that when the pitcher started to get rattled and my cursor was shooting around, it stayed that way even after making an out. In last years game you could load the bases with no outs get a pop out and your pitcher was settled down. Nice to see you have to work a bit more to get out of the inning.

I don't have much to say on the hitting because I love love love it. Everything about it feels right. Love the new hitting carmera just love everything about hitting.

The fielding definitely seems improved this year. I didn't see any bobbles but I did air mail two throws with Tejada. One thing I need to get used to is that I don't always need to get the meter in the "perfect" zone. Sometimes the animations work a lot better when you have a lot of time and just safely toss the ball over.

On the negative the transitions in the field still need work. Still too much snapping into the next animation and weird unnecessary throws.

Loving the outfield play though. Gave up a few inside the park homeruns because I'm loving being able to dive in a game again.

Saw a little of the framerate issues but it was only on foul balls...irritating none the less

[swaldo]

From what I'm seeing it's a day 1 purchase. It doesn't totally blow me away, but it's a bare-bones demo so that's understandable. I can definately see improvents from last year so 2K gets my support.

I do have a major beef to pick here though. What's up with all the flashy stuff? Every time an info box appears on screen it needs to make an elaborate exit with exploding bright yellow flashy colors It even appears on fixed portions of the screen - such as the long rectangle box at the top which displays the score & inning. Before a pitch that also has to flash - along with the strike zone, why?

It's making me crazy, please get rid of it! It's like that Justin Beiber video before last years World Series - this is baseball, it just doesn't belong! It might be better suited to NBA 2K because that sport is more "Showtime" or whatever. Big time baseball fans like me are slower paced people - the number cruncher types. That's why you still hear organ music playing in some ballparks. I don't want to feel like I'm playing a slot machine in a Vegas casino! These HDTV's are bright enough as it is, my eyes are going to hurt after a full 9 inning game.

If you want to add a little presentation "pop" here & there go ahead, but can you tone it down please or give us the option to turn it off?

Rant over, onto Top Spin...

[Ollienyy]

Just finished playing a game as a giants on my 360 and here's my impressions;

- The pitching is just wonderful. The first pitch of the game I threw caught the edge of the K Zone and in last years game this would have been an automatic Strike, this year it was a ball. Gave me a big smile.

- Hitting is fun, love working the pitch counts and earning walks. The hit variety is already much bigger then last years. Hit a chopper on the early swing by Sandoval and it was a beauty.

- Love the new fielding, getting the timing right on the throws is very fun and trying to position your fielder under the ball is just so much more involving then any baseball game I've played.

- Saw the frame rate problem with a popup behind home plate. Figured it must be a demo thing.

-Love the new replay intros and animations, also felt the crowd was better, seemed to get much more excited on full counts (Which I worked often thanks to the new pitching mechanic where the ball doesn't go exactly where you place the curser)

- Players looked improved and uniforms IMO looked nice. Lighting is great.

Man, can't wait till next week!!!

[Delray]

I'm at work and can't wait to get home and download it....in the meantime, could someone answer a couple of questions for me?

When fielding in the outfield....does the player lock in position when he's under the ball's landing spot?
If so, can you unlock his position by moving the stick.

Is the names on the back of the jerseys the same font for both teams?

Thanks guys!

[Trevytrev11]

Gotta admit that from the outside looking in, things look very promising. The demo reviews/impressions have been mostly very positive and most of the ones that have been negative have provided little to no reason why, so most of those are overlooked.

Besides the frame rate drop, which appears to happen only on certain foul balls, but luckily seemed to be completely absent from Chase's preview, there don't seem to be any game-killing issues that have been brought up, which is probably some sort of record for this game on the 360.

Hopefully someone will post some video's up on you tube in the near future. It'd be nice to get a peak at what everyone else is enjoying while I'm stuck at work. On the flip side, I don't mind reading a majority of good things being said.

[colbushi]

I played for about two hours, first hour felt strange, as if something was missing. I guess is the camera angles. Animations aren't as good, specially in foul ball pop-ups, seems like the AI gets crazy to see which player will catch the ball.

Game froze twice when switching innings. Unfortunately one mayor glitch: ball hit hard to the wall, my player catch the ball but glove went through the wall and was called a home run. He didn't have to jump. Ball clearly in the glove and the circle to catch the ball was inside the ball park.

Initial line up lists looks smaller or something is wrong that makes them look bad compared to 2k10 (in my opinion).

Love the new fielding and catching system. Made a few errors first games, better to tap the bottom quick if there's time to throw the ball than going dark green all the time as in 2k10.

Pitching, I wonder if the empire makes bad calls. Pitches near the strike zone are sometimes strikes or balls. I think is very realistic. I didn't get same calls for similar or identical pitches when touching the corners of the strike zone. Sliders are harder to place in the strike zone, curve balls do a better job locating them in the corners than in 2k10.

Batting is what makes this baseball game great. Made a few home runs with Huff and Burrell. Hits are far more realistic and is a lot easier to run the bases to make doubles and triples. Even tagging from third is a lot easier as distance can be easily seen as well as ball trajectory.

Third and first base coaches stumble each time the ball passes close to them. Gets annoying. Hopefully they have more animations than stumbling to the ground. Some nice batting animations when letting the ball pass for a strike.

I hope game itself has a few more improvements. Looking forward for the perfect game, and hopefully no glitches to ruin it.

[panthers_freak]

Just got another game in.

I love the variable k zone. I have had pitches nearly on the entire strike zone be called balls, and pitches barely on the strike zone be called strikes.

Hitters are still too aggressive however. I had buster posey swing at a chest high fastball on a 3-0 count with the bases loaded and no one out...thats not realistic