MLB 2K8 News Post

Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

01:24 AM - February 26, 2008 by Steve_OS

Matt Blumenthal had an opportunity to demo Major League Baseball 2K8 this afternoon. His official writeup of the event will be up later this week, but we wanted to get some quick thoughts up here for you guys.

This game looks beautiful, the player models have improved but the real leap is in the animations. The animations move silky smooth and there is no need to worry about herky jerky animations of the past anymore.
I'm impressed with how intuitive and fresh the analog controls are. The pitching takes a little time to get the hang of but the new mechanics add a whole new dimension to the pitching model.
The baseball cards feature is surprisingly cool, expect me to have more on that later on this week.
In-game saves are officially in the game this year.
Check swings don't seem to be a chore anymore. They are now accomplished by pulling back on the right analog stick - no more right trigger necessary.
Stadium-specific animations are in. The Yankee Roll Call was mentioned specifically.
There should be plenty of foul balls this year. I saw several in the few at-bats I played.
No spring training games this year.
I counted eight unlockable classic stadiums. I think more might be available by default as well.
No co-op play
You will have the option to make trades for CPU-controlled teams in franchise mode, but you won't be able to edit their rotations and lineups.
It was suggested to me that the demo is done and has been submitted. If that's the case, it's in Microsoft's hands now.
I will hit on a few of the big questions from the forum here.

Game: Major League Baseball 2K8Reader Score: 6/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS2 / PS3 / PSP / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 74 - View All

Member Comments

# 1701 superjames1992 @ 03/15/08 07:51 PM

I just downloaded the demo and it was absolutely UNPLAYABLE to me. The stuttering was HORRIBLE. Plus the text is too small for me to read on my SDTV. Looks like I may be going with MVP Baseball 2005 for another year...

# 1702 Bat @ 03/15/08 09:51 PM

Um.. did a fantasy draft and in the first game the computer pinch hit Josh Beckett with Sean Casey in the 3rd inning. Becket only gave up two runs.. so why did they take him out??

# 1703 TopDog @ 03/16/08 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YankeePride


	Am I missing something or are player highlights not in the game anymore? I'm not talking about inning highlights at the end of an inning. But say Fielder hit a shot in the 2nd inning and he comes up in the 7th, a replay showing him hit that homerun in the 2nd. I have not seen anything like this since I got the game. It was in 2k7 and we have an option to turn it On or Off in 2k8. Anyone seen it?

That is honestly something that I don't miss. With the HR problems that were abundant in 2k7, a lot of games you ended up having batters come up with highlights of 2-3 homers in the game. After a couple of times thru, I ended up skipping past all these as quickly as I could.

# 1704 Altimus @ 03/17/08 03:38 AM

Well after playing The Show most of the weekend I decided to spend Sunday evening with MLB 2K8 and the result was some great baseball.

Had two great games - Won 3-2, Phillies over Reds and won 6-4, Tigers over Rays.

Man if these bugs and stuttering problems were fixed, this would be a really good game. I'm starting to love the new pitching mechanic and I don't know if I can go back to normal. It isn't perfect but I like it.

# 1705 brendanrfoley @ 03/30/08 10:07 PM

I don't have much time to post, and more will be coming...

But after playing my first two games tonight, I'm in love with the pitching mechanic. I'm actually afraid of throwing difficult pitches to good hitters. And seeing a catcher actually "call" a game by throwing down fingers is a nice touch.

# 1706 Eddie1967 @ 03/30/08 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brendanrfoley


	I don't have much time to post, and more will be coming... But after playing my first two games tonight, I'm in love with the pitching mechanic. I'm actually afraid of throwing difficult pitches to good hitters. And seeing a catcher actually "call" a game by throwing down fingers is a nice touch.

Same here, had the game for a week and the new pitching system makes this game light years better than last year. You actually have to sweat for every single pitch like you would in a real game. It's an outstanding addition to this years game. The total control fielding is also a great touch as it's no longer just pressing a button and the ball is easily thrown to the base, you have to use both sticks to get the throw right and it really makes you work for wins. If you use total control fielding and don't take the time to get it down perfectly your in for a ton of errors. This game can't be touched when it comes to giving the user absolute total control, nothing comes close. Did I mention the graphics, they are brilliant too IMO.

# 1707 Eddie1967 @ 03/30/08 11:19 PM

Another thing that has improved greatly for this year is the at bats for you and the cpu, being able to foul off pitches is something I wasn't able to do last year and the variety of hits I'm seeing is another great aspect of this game. The CPU play is top notch.

# 1708 Wheele8 @ 03/31/08 10:11 AM

So I finally delved into the franchise mode, and I gotta say, it's horribly broken. The roster restrictions (having to have 25 players on each squad at all times) was a very bad design choice. That kind of inflexibility makes the whole process incredibly tedious. Coupled with the fact that if you have a couple injuries, you can not actually demote your lowest ranked player, and the overall unwieldiness of the interface. It's also difficult to make promotion and demotion decisions due to the difficulty in finding the minor league stats. And the minor league stats are incredibly incomplete. It's a major step backwards despite having the ability to play minor league games. The whole thing is just an absolute mess.

# 1709 brendanrfoley @ 03/31/08 12:01 PM

I've only had time to play two full games.

Again, best pitching interface I've ever used. It is what MVP's meter was back in 2003; it's new, intuitive, exciting, and engrossing. The analog throwing in the field is good, but not the revelation some treated it as. I'm still getting a feel for the hitting interface, so I can't comment on that yet.

I know 2K8 doesn't look as good as The Show, or even 2K7. But it's my first next-gen game. Which means it still looks better than anything I've ever owned!

I'll post more when I get a chance to squeeze another game or two in. But my first impression is this... it has problems, but I still like it. And I found myself having a lot of fun in my first two games (both losses).

# 1710 NumberOneRB @ 03/31/08 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baa7


	I agree with the pitching - adds a lot of excitement. But what's the difference between pressing a pressure-sensitive button for fielding, and moving a stick in one direction? It's the same principle, just mapped to different controls.

The stick method gives you much better control of the amount of effort behind your throw. Depending on how long you hold the stick in the given base direction, you can completely control just how much effort you want to put on the throw. With pressure-sensitive button input, the amount of pressure you put on the button can be very difficult to gauge when it comes to the degree of effort you want behind the throw. There are basically only three types of pressures that would coencide with the effort of the throw (light, medium, and hard), while there are numerous degrees of variation you can apply to meter throwing to determing throwing effort.

# 1711 Pared @ 03/31/08 06:15 PM

I believe he's asking what's the difference between holding the stick in a specific direction and holding the button down while a meter fills...

None, IMO.

# 1712 Eddie1967 @ 03/31/08 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baa7


	I agree with the pitching - adds a lot of excitement. But what's the difference between pressing a pressure-sensitive button for fielding, and moving a stick in one direction? It's the same principle, just mapped to different controls.

I guess it just feels like you have to work harder using the sticks for the control and all but I can see your point.

# 1713 brendanrfoley @ 04/02/08 09:41 PM

Here are my impressions after several games (about 8 or so)...

PITCHING
Total Control Pitching is the best pitching mechanic I've ever used. Pitching is fun and challenging. I believe there's something immensely satisfying about a perfectly executed pitch -- especially when it fools the CPU. It just feels right.

CPU hitters do have a tendency to swing too much early in the count. But I've fixed that with sliders. I'm seeing the CPU hit a great variety of liners, choppers, dribblers, pop-ups, etc.

HITTING
The hitting model is very MVP-ish. Some don't like it, and I understand why. But I do. I'm seeing lots of variety. Doubles, triples, homeruns, etc.

The biggest problem with the hitting model is two-fold. On default (All Star) settings, the CPU does not throw enough balls. That problem is intensified by VERY forgiving umpires. Through my first 6 games, I drew 1 intentional walk. And I'm very patient.

But there's an easy fix. I went into sliders, and lowered CPU Throw Strikes Overall, Throw Strikes Ahead, and Throw Strikes Behind. Zeroed all three out (and only those three). During my next game, I drew 5 walks and saw several hitters counts (2-0, 3-0, 3-1).

That picked up the rest of my offense as well. I wasn't hacking to "protect" when down in the count... and there were men on base when I did rope a double. I actually earned back-to-back walks. Millwood (the starter) allowed 5 runs in 6 innings. 90 pitches, 36 balls. The next reliever to come in threw 36 pitches over an inning and a third, 20 of which were balls. VERY pleased.

FIELDING
Fielding to me is "okay." I like the analog throw meter, but I don't think it's the be all, end all some people do. I've also found diving stops VERY hard to time. It's serviceable, but it doesn't feel 'exciting' to me.

SOUND/PRESENTATION
John Miller's commentary actually isn't bad. But Joe Morgan's is awful. He says nothing specific, EVER. It's 9 innings of... "The shortstop made a great play there." Or... "He tried throwing a strike, but it was a ball." Gee, thanks Joe. But again, I like Miller. He gets excited at the right times, etc.

The crowd noise isn't awful. But it isn't good either. It's just 'there'. They need to work on this.

GRAPHICS
Just as a disclaimer, 2K8 is my first 'next-gen' experience. I know it doesn't look as nice as The Show (or even 2K7), but I still think it looks pretty damn good.

There are times it's awkward looking... but there are times it's beautiful. And the game looks better while actually playing it. The crowd behind home is a little blocky, but I spend 90% of my time looking at the pitching meter. 2K8 could look better -- but I don't think the visuals detract from the game.

As for the framerate, there are serious hiccups with VIP on. And the postgame highlights rarely run smoothly. It's the games biggest drawback, honestly. But if I log out of my profile, the game runs as smoothly as The Show did last year on my PS2. And that's not bad.

All in all, I'm very happy.

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