A Tale of Two Demos, MLB 09 and MLB2K9 - paysworld's Blog

paysworld's Blog

A Tale of Two Demos, MLB 09 and MLB2K9

Posted on February 25, 2009 at 04:43 PM.

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After spending a good deal of time with both demos these past couple of days. I believe we baseball fans will have two good choices of baseball games to choose from. An event that I believe has not happened since baseball's video games golden age 2004. If my memory serves me right there was, 5 baseball games available that year, ASB2005, MLB2005, High Heat Baseball, MVP2005, MLB2K5. MVP2005, being the best of the bunch.
Make no mistake about it, MLB09 is clearly going to be, the best baseball game this year, however, MLB2K9 could be a nice change of pace, thanks to the improvements that first year developer Visual Concept have made. The train wreck that was 2K8 is no longer, but there are still a lot of the bad remnants of the game that both Blue Castle and Kush helped to create. My biggest pet peeve, are those horrible walking animations. With that being said, let�s take a closer at the demos and what they bring to the table. First up, the commentary:
Let�s begin with MLB09, I am constantly amazed of how much commentary the team at SCEA is able to cram in to the game every year. Matt V should be in the video game commentary hall of fame. He definitely brings it, in every iteration. The rest of the crew does an admirable job as well. My hat�s off to the team, there is very little repetition to the commentary but with that being said, since Matt�s being do this for a few years now, a lot of the commentary have been recycled from previous years, however, the team adds just enough newness to the commentary based on last year�s season, to still keep it fresh.
As far as 2K9 is concerned, what a difference a year makes. Gary Thorne and Steve Phillips are so much better to listen to than last year�s duo of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. Make no mistake about it, I think it was a combination of letting the guys adlib as well as a brand new script, because just changing commentator doesn�t necessarily translate into fresh and new commentary just look NBA 2K9 for evidence to support my comments. I think Gary Thorne is just as good as Matt V and Steve Phillips is a breath of fresh air compared to Joe Morgan.

Graphically both games have their pluses and minuses; we�ll begin with 2K9 in this category. The player models are one of 2K�s strongest suit, however things like player faces, stadiums feel very generic. A far cry from the realistic player faces from MLB 09, while the player models could use some tweaking add to that the beautifully rendered stadiums with authentic scoreboard and lighting as well and MLB09 surpasses 2K9 by a decent margin.

Game play and animations is truly where MLB09 continues to shine. The game is so smooth, almost too smooth in some instances. Whereas the gameplay and animations are so slick, the opposite can be said for 2K9, there is still some awkward looking animations peppered throughout the game. One minute you will be amazed by the fluidity of a play, only to be disappointed seconds later by the awkward transitions that follow. Here�s hoping that with another year VC can eliminate most of those awful animations that have been lingering for years, things like the aforementioned walking animations. At its core, the pitching and fielding are fundamentally sounds and a welcome change to MLB09 tried and true mechanics. The difference is that MLB09 is so much more polished in that regards, but you cannot deny the fun factor and challenge that MLB2K9 pitching and fielding mechanics brings to the table. Hitting is also just a matter of preference, I like the swing stick a lot, but I love the hit variety that MLB09 provides. I have however definitely seen a tremendous improvement in the hit variety that MLB2K9 has shown in the demo.

Undeniably, one of 2K9�s brightest spot is definitely the real time environment that it provided gamers this year. It is undoubtedly a leap forward in presentation settings, choosing real time cut scenes as opposed to prerendered ones that MLB09 employs. I actually love both presentation styles, I think both can coexist. Imagine the hundreds of cut scenes that MLB09 has in their game all n real time in 2K9, now that we would be something to behold. Just imagine kicking back a beach ball to the fans all in real time in 2K9 and you will see what I�m trying to get at.

As the real baseball season is fast approaching, I can help to think that 2009 will finally be the year that baseball fans have been waiting for since 2004, when baseball variety was the spice of life. Here is to the end of baseball recession as we know it. ASB, MVP and High Heat Baseball may be gone but not forgotten.