My Personal Thanks to the MLB 2K9 Team - pigpen81's Blog

pigpen81's Blog

My Personal Thanks to the MLB 2K9 Team

Posted on March 28, 2009 at 02:05 AM.

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Baseball games have been my fondest love in gaming since Microleague Baseball on the Commodore 64. I remember when I first saw the add for it. I was heading home from a Dodger game when I was around 13...and there was this add in the back of the Dodger game day program...Microleague Baseball...complete with screenshots...I was in heaven.

I then moved on to Hardball a couple of years later...then the classic Nintendo machine with the Bases Loaded and Baseball Stars series......pure heaven at the time.

I have played every series on every system since then, including the venerable High Heat on the PC...and my personal fav as most underrated baseball game of all time, the VR baseball series on the PS1.

Anyway, with the advent of the next gen consoles, I finally feel I have a baseball game worthy of next gen...(please, don't tell me about MLB 09...I don't own a PS3 and I have played that game for around 5 years on the PS2...terrific game...but stale IMO..and I don't have the money to purchase a PS3 for it.)

MLB2K9 on my 360 is almost everything I have been looking for in a baseball game.

My demo:

37 years old, married, 2 children
All-Star default
Zone Hitting
No Inside Edge

I spent 20 games playing 2K8...and the hitting model left me frustrated...the swing stick wasn't rewarding.

2K9 has added the zone hitting...and I feel an instant connect with hitting again. I know why I fail...and why I succeed when batting. I know when I deserved that weak grounder to the 2B...because I chased a pitch off the edge of the plate. I know why I hit a weak grounder to 3rd...because I jammed myself on an inside FB...or cutter. I know why I deserved that monster home run I hit to left center...because I recognized the hanging slider, and put the barrel of the bat where I needed to.

2K9 has made hitting insanely fun and challenging again...with zone hitting and the swing stick.

Pitching and fielding is not the chore I have experienced in the past few years....it is also challenging and rewarding. I usually have fast forwarded to hitting with the MLB series...not with 2K9.

The presentation is terrific. I feel like I am playing in a big league ballpark...and watching balls bounce around everywhere...especially on HR's.....it makes me giddy. the ball physics are outstanding.

Now....there are areas that need tweaking/adding for the future:

Fielding:

There are to many diving stabs....it would be much better if balls bounced of the gloves much more...although it does happen...just not often enough.

OF'rs jump around a little to much...especially near the wall.

I have only seen the 1B glitch twice in 20 games...one for me and one for the CPU...both called errors both times....so I just make believe the throw pulled the 1B off the bag...much like my Microleague Baseball days.

Running: I love the stealing mechanic...but the slides into the bag are to slow...a few times I had the bag stolen...but the slide took to long for the hands to touch the bag...and I was out each time.

Batting: I would make the bat a little more transparent in the zone hitting...it sticks out to much. Also...it would be nice to have a replay to show where the ball connected with my transparent bat.

Pitching: Please give me the option to turn of my ball cursor...it would make pitching much more challenging. Also, the CPU needs to throw more balls...and the strikezone is a tad to big.

Presentation: Give us an option for a behind the back fielders view..ala ASB 2005. That would be nirvana!

Fix the stat overlays on the batter walk-ups...many are off.

Settings: Please please please let us save our camera settings. Changing them every time I start up my 360 is a drag.

Thanks again 2K for making a fun, immersive game that I look forward to playing every evening!

I feel like I am 13 again