rudyjuly2's Blog
Graphics
The player models looks the same although the angles and displays in the game seem either slightly zoomed in or out. Things seem a little different from ’08. The pitcher camera angle is quite a bit different though. I think it’s zoomed in more or something and I don’t like it as much but I just switched to the outfield camera, which was better. The lighting is certainly noticeable and beautiful on the press box home run angles. The lighting does affect your hitting. I found the first inning to be a bit tough to pick up Kazmir’s pitches because of the shadows.
I saw quite a few new fielding animations as well. I saw a jump and throw from the second basement that I don’t think I’ve seen before. I saw the cpu right fielder get to the wall slowly on a ball in the corner and wait patiently for the bounce. Seemed new.
One concern I had though is that the frame rate isn’t smooth on the batter vs. pitcher screen (the fielding screens were fine). The pitching motion of Hamels and the ball being delivered to the plate stutters a bit. I’m hoping this is a demo issue and won’t be in the final version. Kind of reminds me of the ’06 to ’07 PS2 frame rate issues that some saw and others didn’t. I got used to it and it wasn’t horrible but I noticed this immediately. Not a game killer or anything but something worth mentioning.
The new replay angles are good. I’ve already heard quite a bit of new commentary as well. I think the crowd was chanting MVP for Jimmy Rollins so I can’t wait to make some Tiger ones. I’ve ordered a cheap headset for the PS3 just to do it!
Stat glitch concern – I hope it’s the demo but the league leaders for ERA posted was for ’07 and not ’08 when they were talking about Hamels. It’s probably been fixed already but after some overlay issues last year it’s a small concern. It would have been nice if the demo let us look at the box scores as well but it’s just a demo. No subs, bullpens or even a quit option but beggars can’t be choosers!
All of my comments are pretty much from default All-Star. I lost 5-2 in 7 innings with Philly, lost 6-0 with Philly, won 3-0 with Philly, lost 1-0 with the Rays and then was leading 1-0 after one inning with Philly this morning before I had to shut it off. The only changes I made were to drop pitch speed to 0 (all the way to the left) and after one game I dropped user pitch control to 0. Everything else on default for sliders anyway which have some very nice explanations.
Fielding
In 20 innings I don’t think I saw a single fielding error by either side. Small sample size or does this echo Pared’s comments about not seeing enough? I did see two or three throwing errors though. I’d be curious to know how many errors in the infield are due to misplays vs. throwing errors in real life. The outfielders arms seem to be too inaccurate. I had 3 or 4 throws to either third or home from medium depth and some throws were way off (one was off by about 15 feet). Again, such a short time with the game that I don’t know if this is an issue or not. Right now I would say I might start playing with the sliders this weekend – bump up fielder errors for sure and possibly knock down throwing errors.
I saw some back handed tries and reaches for balls in the infield where the infielder just didn’t get there. I like this as last year anything near a fielder was probably scooped up so their range has been toned down to more realistic levels.
Also, on balls up the middle they give you the control of the nearest infielder longer (even though you can’t reach it) so I don’t dive with my CF so stupidly like the last couple of years. I’ve only seen this twice but it seems to be improved.
Pitching
Pitching seemed fairly similar on Classic for me. User control was a little too good initially and I dropped my control to 0 after one game. It feels similar to last year and I think it does a good job. One thing that is better on default is the cpu hitters. They chase more pitches out of the zone (realistic imo) but also hit a little better. I’ve given up 12 runs in 19 innings pitched so it seems good so far (I screwed up in the 6-0 loss).
The ball marker seems to dance around a lot more than in ‘08 when I’m trying to locate it. That probably helps keep the user from pinpointing the pitches too much.
I briefly tried meter pitching for a total of two pitches. I’ve grown to really like the randomness of Classic and the fact it looks more natural than having a meter over the player’s head. However, the meter felt a lot harder than before which is good. I don’t think I’m that rusty but my two pitch attempts were horrible.
One cool thing was the ability to hit select in the pitcher vs. batter duel and you can hit square to see the pitch speed of all of the pitcher’s pitches. That was a nice, new touch.
Hitting
This was my biggest beef with ’08 and is a very personal topic that might not affect others. The pitch speed was too fast resulting in pathetic walk totals, being late on almost every fastball, seeing too many opposite field home runs and just led to me getting really frustrated with ’08 over time. This is MUCH better in the demo! Yes!!
I dropped pitch speed down to 0 and it took some getting used to. I definitely have more time at the plate which helps my pitch selection and I have drawn 2 or 3 walks already. Against a guy like Kazmir in ’08 I probably would have taken only 10% of his pitches and been late on his 95 mph fastball all the time. Now I’m taking about 30% of his pitches and turning on some pitches. The good thing is that the speed difference in the off speed stuff still fools me so I still suck at hitting and getting runs. I have seen a couple opposite field home runs (not unrealistic really) but I really turned on a pitch this morning and drove it over the left field fence. The press box replay camera was sweet!
One of the big reasons it’s easier to turn on pitches is that the bat speed is much quicker through the zone in ’09. I can swing later but still pull pitches because my bat speed is faster. I don’t know if that’s tied into batter attributes or not but it’s clearly noticeable for me.
After getting used to the slower pitch speed and having a quicker bat I thought I would actually score a few more runs but it hasn’t happened yet. They have made a couple things tougher, which I like. Last year I was the king of the check swing. But this year it is tougher. Nemesis has been commenting on this and I completely agree that it’s a realistic and good thing. Good luck checking your swing with the pitcher!
Furthermore, the plate coverage of the bat seems smaller. When the cpu pitcher would hit the corners I would often swing through a pitch (I rely completely on timing on All-Star). Less foul balls too. In my one game with the Rays I only managed two hits but I think I’m adjusting to the changes in the hitting system and I will explode soon! Either way, much less frustrating for me this year!
Umping
I like how they announce the umpires and they will have variable strike zones. We’ll have to see how this plays out in the final version. I think they redid some ump animations as well. There was a punch out at first that looked really good.
Overall
This is the Show. If people expected a radically different game they might be disappointed. The changes made or evolutionary and not revolutionary which is to be expected. It’s largely the same game as ’08 with many subtle changes and fixes that will make ’09 much better for me. The problem with a baseball game is that you have to play many, many games to really see the differences in an engine. There is no way to really know how good or bad a baseball game is after only 20 innings or possibly 200 innings. But I’ll be playing this demo for awhile and ’08 is history! I will be trading that baby in to EB Games next week for my ’09 pre-order. The demo will hold me over until then.
rudyjuly2
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You have me interested.