MLB 2K11 News Post

Major League Baseball 2K11 Review (360)

04:11 PM - March 15, 2011 by RaychelSnr

For the past couple years I have been rooting for the MLB 2K series. At one point on the last-gen consoles, it was a masterful series. But when MLB 2K6 came out on the current-gen consoles, the franchise unfortunately spiraled out of control. That downward spiral culminated in MLB 2K9, one of the more disappointing games in recent memory. However, I thoroughly enjoyed MLB 2K10 despite its flaws, and I had very high hopes for MLB 2K11.

So did MLB 2K11 find its source of power this time around, or did it just find another way to swing and miss?

Game: Major League Baseball 2K11Reader Score: 5.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: NDS / PC / PS2 / PS3 / PSP / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 17 - View All

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Member Comments

# 21 jeffy777 @ 03/16/11 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirwoodz


	wait a minute...hold up..**nning THROUGH the walls to catch HOMERUNS!?** that's a game-KILLER. that's not even something I saw or even heard of in 16, 32, or 64 bit baseball games, and you guys know it. being too nice here fellas.

Wasn't there a bug like that in The Show last year?

And in 2K11, I haven't heard of the fielding going through the wall. What I've seen is a running robbing a home run AT the wall and it being considered a homerun. Maybe they're separate bugs, but I haven't seen any fielders go through any walls.

# 22 bkrich83 @ 03/16/11 01:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffy777


	Wasn't there a bug like that in The Show last year? And in 2K11, I haven't heard of the fielding going through the wall. What I've seen is a running robbing a home run AT the wall and it being considered a homerun. Maybe they're separate bugs, but I haven't seen any fielders go through any walls.

That's the one I heard about. I have yet to see it however.

# 23 jeffy777 @ 03/16/11 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkrich83


	That's the one I heard about. I have yet to see it however.

I personally have only seen it once, and I've played about 50 games. So it's not happening constantly or anything. Definitely not enough to be a "gamekiler", but certainly needs fixed.

# 24 lilrosati56 @ 03/16/11 07:05 AM

This review seals the deal for me I think. I bought 2k9 and didn't like it, I bought 2k10 and liked it for a while, until the bugs and glitches got to me.....The fact is, I like to play, not sim, my franchise games, so a baseball game has to keep my attention and not frustrate me through the course of my franchise and I don't think this game has the ability to do that....I guess I'll keep going with my NCAA 11 franchise for now.

# 25 roadman @ 03/16/11 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffy777


	I personally have only seen it once, and I've played about 50 games. So it's not happening constantly or anything. Definitely not enough to be a "gamekiler", but certainly needs fixed.

My sentiments exactly.

# 26 NAFBUC @ 03/16/11 07:47 AM

good game for the casual baseball gamer

I will pick the pc version after the allstar break for a couple of bucks and enjoy the
modding version.

# 27 roadman @ 03/16/11 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NAFBUC


	good game for the casual baseball gamer I will pick the pc version after the allstar break for a couple of bucks and enjoy the modding version.

Also a good game for the hardcore gamer when you dabble with sliders awhile.

# 28 bigfnjoe96 @ 03/16/11 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NAFBUC


	good game for the casual baseball gamer I will pick the pc version after the allstar break for a couple of bucks and enjoy the modding version.

Nothing casual about this game or the people who play it..

Sent from my Awesome Phone via tapatalk

# 29 Blazzen @ 03/16/11 10:05 AM

Fair review - game is just short of being really good/solid because of frame rate issues and bugs. Despite that, plays a solid game of baseball. I'm so used to having to overlook small issues from playing 2K baseball since 2K7 that I'm having a lot of fun with this game and am addicted to it.

# 30 DJ @ 03/16/11 10:59 AM

Very fair review. I don't think anything in the review scares me away from purchasing. I'm really looking forward to MLB Today once the regular season starts.

# 31 Vermin @ 03/16/11 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudyjuly2


	I think the new format would be better if it was just two parts - Early Impressions and a Final Review. I'm not sure if we need the other stuff as it just gets rehashed in the final review. On a side note, started a Tigers franchise tonight and Zumaya got hurt and is out 4-6 months lol.

Interesting. I started my Cubs franchise, and in the first inning of the first game of Spring Training, Carlos Zambrano went out for 4-6 months. I brought in a starter from Iowa to replace him next start, and he went out for 36 days in the second inning.

Enjoying the game still, but found the similarity to our injury situations interesting. Time will tell if these injuries present just an obstacle or distraction, or whether they turn into frustration and anger.

# 32 rudyjuly2 @ 03/16/11 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vermin


	Interesting. I started my Cubs franchise, and in the first inning of the first game of Spring Training, Carlos Zambrano went out for 4-6 months. I brought in a starter from Iowa to replace him next start, and he went out for 36 days in the second inning. Enjoying the game still, but found the similarity to our injury situations interesting. Time will tell if these injuries present just an obstacle or distraction, or whether they turn into frustration and anger.

The OS review and another poster here talked about how many injuries are in franchise mode and I've seen plenty in two games. I simmed spring training where a few guys were hurt including Austin Jackson and I put him on the DL to start the year. Then Zumuya blows out his arm in game one. I just played game two this morning and Scherzer broke a finger throwing a pitch and is out 4-6 weeks and this is all with injuries at 40 on the slider! I'm going to drop it down some more and see if I can avoid another player breaking something in game three.

# 33 mikemj23 @ 03/16/11 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudyjuly2


	The OS review and another poster here talked about how many injuries are in franchise mode and I've seen plenty in two games. I simmed spring training where a few guys were hurt including Austin Jackson and I put him on the DL to start the year. Then Zumuya blows out his arm in game one. I just played game two this morning and Scherzer broke a finger throwing a pitch and is out 4-6 weeks and this is all with injuries at 40 on the slider! I'm going to drop it down some more and see if I can avoid another player breaking something in game three.

Same thing happened with Sabathia AND Phil Hughes in the first two games of my franchise. Left them in for 6+ innings each and they both got injured for extended periods of time. Hate to do it but I turned injuries off. Otherwise, I'm enjoying the game greatly. The Show has much better graphics but 2k plays a good game of baseball.

# 34 dolemint @ 03/17/11 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChaseB


	Yeah, that's the plan for sure. It obviously won't change the review score or anything, but will be worth a new article.

Hmm. I think a noteworthy patch should be able to alter a review score significantly? Maybe that's just me. But if a game's score is docked due to glitches and the glitches get fixed, then the game becomes a more enjoyable experience, right?

That said, 2K11 would be a tough game to give a fair score to. 7.0 might be generous, as some of these glitches are total dealbreakers for me. Yet one can't deny the potential a fixed version of the game has. Hmm.

# 35 rudyjuly2 @ 03/18/11 06:57 AM

I have to apologize to Christian. I initially disagreed with him about the routine fly balls but I've missed three routine fly balls in the last 2-3 games. I can live with the hard liners being misplayed but not easy pop flies where the cpu OF actually has time to come over and practically stand next to me. It just takes too long to reveal the landing spot and after seeing this too much lately I'm just going to switch defenders and let the cpu make the catch if I can't see the yellow marker. I do have a zoomed out 2K9 camera but it shouldn't be that much of an adventure on completely routine plays.

I'll also agree that injuries when actually playing are out of control to the point I'm about to shut them off. You get a significant injury almost every game you play. With the fact the franchise has no fatigue when you actually play I get the feeling 2K spent all of their time testing the sim engine and didn't play many games in the franchise. Surely they would have seen this.

# 36 roadman @ 03/18/11 07:05 AM

Rudy;

I've heard 25 is the magic # for the injury slider.

# 37 rudyjuly2 @ 03/18/11 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	Rudy; I've heard 25 is the magic # for the injury slider.

I'm going to 10 until I see this nonsense toned down for awhile.

# 38 Boilerbuzz @ 03/18/11 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celtic34


	I completely disagree with this review. This game and NBA 2k11 if you look at the graphics are identical. NBA 2k11 gets a great review and is heralded as the best basketball game ever because there is no competition. They are using the same graphics engine. 2k is designing a multiplat game and is relegated to what both the xbox 360 and ps3 can do. The 360 hardware is simply not capable of doing what the show is doing on the ps3 which is specifically designed for it.

I'm not going to respond to the rest your post. But THIS statement, I'm sure, many people think is valid. And it's not. Sure, I would bet the underlying engine is the same. But MLB is a game played primarily outdoors while NBA is exclusively indoor. That's a SIGNIFICANT difference. Hell, just start with HDR and shadowing that has to be different. And it's not just about the engine - the ART is huge and these games could not have shared the same art direction.

What I DO agree with though is that being a multiplatform title, you're going to pay a price in overall graphical polish across all skus.

So with that said, I certainly appreciated the big strides in cleaner gameplay in MLB 2K11. But I can't look at the game for too long if it's not on a PC with the settings cranked up. I have no problem with this review.

# 39 sportyguyfl31 @ 03/21/11 09:52 AM

give the game around a 8.

I love the presentation...and letting the entire game just play out..

It's really fun, I like watching the cutscenes.

It's good for my franchise mode fix.

# 40 Kernel Pie @ 03/21/11 12:26 PM

I love this game and will play it all summer, but even I can admit that the graphics, cut-scenes, and animations deserve a solid minus 2 demerit in my opinion. Baserunning is horrid, swings on replays are cringe-worthy, cut-scenes of pitchers are moronic, and the list goes on and on. Some animations are good, but on the whole, they are a failure. That puts the highest possible score for this game, at an 8.

The gameplay imo, deserves no demerits at all. Pitching is great, hitting is great, and the fielding is vastly improved. Game outcomes are varied, sliders work well, and the AI is more than acceptable. You can easlily obtain accurate MLB averages with some tweaks here and there--sign of a great gameplay engine.

The sound deserves a .5 demerit imo. Yes, the commentary is the standard for all other sports games and the crowd noise is great. But the one aspect of the sound that is really lacking, is the PA system. The songs are not baseball specific, the announcer screws up names, and there is not enough organ or baseball vibe. They also play "Rearview Mirror" over and over. Maybe this is a petty demerit, but a baseball game without 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame?" or all the other great baseball songs? Gotta do it.

That leaves intangibles, for which I see no demerits at all. MLB today is really fun, the franchise is deep once injuries are patched, and the rosters are updated really well with real-life performance affecting a players performance in game. So no demerits here.

So that leaves my score at 7.5. Could have been an easy 9 if not for the animations and graphics, which are seriously dragging this game behind. Great game though, for people who appreciate gameplay--like me.

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