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

[mva5580]

I've played both demos, my thoughts on 2K specifically are:

+ I prefer the hitting, pitching, and throwing analog controls of 2K. Just feels more natural to me.
+ I love all of the stats 2K throws at you. Most baseball fans are probably stat junkies, so this is a really big plus and great for them to have.
+ The fielding is most definitely improved over 2K10, which was drastically needed

- The framerate just doesn't feel as steady as it should be. It's not horrible, it's not gamebreaking, but it just doesn't feel as smooth as the other game. Hopefully the PC version doesn't have this issue, which I would expect it not to.
- Too bad that there weren't any announcers in the demo, just to have a comparison. But if it's at least as good as 2K10, they'll be fine.
- The graphics are again, not horrible, but not as good as the other game. Once again though I expect the PC version to look better, and I would imagine it won't be as much of an issue there.

I was going to get The Show for PS3, but I've decided instead to get 2K11 on the PC. 1) The mods of PC always increase the quality of the game, 2) It's half the price, and 3) 2K11 really is a comparable game at this point. I understand all of the "little things" that The Show does amazingly well, but really at some point those just aren't a big deal to me. The game of 2K is definitely fun to play, and that's what matters. So that's what I'll be going with this year.

[DickDalewood]

Man, I wish I saw what some of you PS3 guys were seeing, as I was REALLY pulling for 2K this year... but this darn game just looks downright awful to me, and definitely like a step back from last years, which I thought looked pretty good! Even the menus have a somewhat low-textured look to them. This just makes me sad

I'll just have to wait and see on the final retail reviews/impressions I guess. The good news though, is the gameplay has definitely been improved, so for you 360 guys, where it sounds like the graphics definitely look better, you should have a VERY solid game on your hands.

[MukaMuka]

Quote: Originally Posted by Redemption

change the difficulty in your profile to hard... that'll kill any automatic feeling you've been seeing. And it will make you wish it was back in there nothing is more frustrating than having your guy stand there like a statue as you delay a second to figure out which guy you're controlling, only to let a ball that should have been an out end up a hit.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will give that a shot, although to be honest at this point I don't know if the automatic feeling is a blessing or a curse. Like I said, the balls are usually hit so hard and the infield in this game feels so small, I don't know if I can actually field those hot shots if it is not automatic, lol

[Shakedowncapo]

Quote: Originally Posted by Giants4Natic

I posted that on the previous page and nobody has said a word about it and I put a screen shot of the box score to prove it

resized

[Giants4Natic]

Quote: Originally Posted by Shakedowncapo

resized

Thank You for doing that man. I have no clue how it was so darn big before

[hitstreak13]

Quote: Originally Posted by Peter_OS

Not for people to say, but for 2K to see and fix.

No, it is for us to say AND for them to see and correct. We are "their" customers and we have every god given American right to express any legitimate concerns that we may have. For a $60 game, they better at least stop and listen.

Also, I'm with Dickdalewood. I am extremely dissapointed with the demo on the PS3. I don't have an xbox, so I'm sure if its good there, but they took a major step back IMO. I will still give it a rent first and see how the final build looks.

[nemesis04]

I walked away with mixed feelings from this demo. There were moments of "hey this is nice" to "ughh WTF"! Overall there is definitely improvement but from what was described in the developer blogs I am not particularly seeing at the moment. This game is definitely going to need some slider love as it seems out of balance at times.

The good, the bad, the ugly:

The Good:

-I played the demo on the 360 and thought the color palette was significantly improved over last year.

-I like the graphical representation on the overlays in the opening scenes.

-Animations seemed to be a little more fluid especially during fielding but at times there was also a disconnect.

-I liked the delay in revealing the landing spot for fly-balls based on ratings.

-Pitching still felt good but untouched (slider wise) it is still too easy to paint.

-They have some sweet break-up plays at second base. They were believable when they occurred.

-The differentiation in bats sounds seems to be improved as different grades of contact gave off the appropriate sound.

-I have a love hate relationship with this post hitting cam. I like it on the infield plays but don't really enjoy it on the outfield plays as you feel too far removed. On several hits in the outfield I could not see the ball so it was hard to focus on what was actually happening. I like the concept but not sure how to make it better.

The Bad (Not necessarily terrible):

-Bunt physics are bad as the ball takes some weird trajectories off the bat. Also bunted balls seem to be hit too hard overall.

-The ground ball friction seems to be too much especially in the outfield. It appears to be suffering from Show-itis when they had it a few years back where a ground ball would die in the middle of the grass never reaching the wall in a lot of situations.

-Too many line drive outs in the infield. Hopefully some tuning can be address this but it became redundant.

-While fielding showed signs of improvement the animations chosen for certain throws were not warranted for the situation. On routine grounders fielders were doing these acrobatic fielding animations which were over the top for the situation.

-Something that was prevalent in 10 was how fielders covered when a play is unfolding. The pitcher is probably the worst culprit as he seems to be all over the place except for where he is supposed to be with backing up a play.

-Post fielding animations seemed to be unfinished. Fielders will throw the ball, act naturally and then automatically stop like they are unplugged. It really gives you a disconnect from the action.

-The pace of the fielding seems to have a little stuck in the mud feeling. I mean its moving but seems to develop slow. Also the throws seem to be slow and a little floaty. The only one who seems to have some oomph on their throw is the catcher throwing the ball back to the pitcher.

-I am still perplexed by this opposite field HR dilemma. I can rip and pull the ball with ease but when it comes to a home run the closest I have come to pulling the ball is center field. All the others were opposite field. Seems odd to me especially since they made special mention of it being addressed. Also, I had no suspenseful HR's, all were no doubter's. I noticed with the no doubters the outfielders don't move they just swivel in place which looks really bad.

-The throwing meter seems a little pedestrian to me. I am sure we can up the difficulty on it but feels far too simple and a little boring. On a positive note it does seem responsive and reacts according to your input.

-I know people have mentioned about liking the ball physics/ hit variety in this game but I just don't see it. With some at bats visually I saw what was going to be a certain type hit but behind the scenes it appeared like the hit was being forced to do something else. I did not walk away impressed on this front.

-No practice swing? Or is there a certain button other then the stick?

The Ugly:

I don't have anything major that is truly horrendous. The only thing I would mention is that the the ball icon/pitch break indicator is grossly out of proportion with the rest of the game. I am sure turning it off solves that problem!


Even though my "bad" list is a little lengthy I walked away feeling there were some positive strides made in the game. It still needs work as far as overall game flow goes as it is a little rough around the edges at times. Overall there will be two viable choices this year for a baseball game as each has something different to offer with each one having its own interpretation of the sport.

[Giants4Natic]

Quote: Originally Posted by hitstreak13

No, it is for us to say AND for them to see and correct. We are "their" customers and we have every god given American right to express any legitimate concerns that we may have. For a $60 game, they better at least stop and listen. Also, I'm with Dickdalewood. I am extremely dissapointed with the demo on the PS3. I don't have an xbox, so I'm sure if its good there, but they took a major step back IMO. I will still give it a rent first and see how the final build looks.

Why you salty with Pete, he is saying that we are posting this so 2K can see to fix it. The other guy was saying that it was already posted and what do we expect others to say.

It better be fixed because it was an issue 2 years ago as well