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MLB 2K6 Review (Xbox 360)
Widespread freeze issue aside, 2K Sports and Kush put together a solid, albeit extremely buggy, MLB baseball game which will more than likely be the only MLB game in the next few years on the Xbox 360 unless Microsoft steps up to the plate.
Presentation
The Skinny
== Pro’s: Real Feel, Menus, Stat Tracking
== Con’s: Not Much Help
Let’s start with the presentation, which is one of the game’s strengths. Everything is smooth sailing out of the gate with menus that are easy to navigate in order to get where you’re going. There are quite a few options at your disposal right away:
-- Play Ball (exhibition)
-- Season
-- Franchise
-- GM Career (Franchise mode with goals: add a player with a rating over 85, etc.)
-- Home Run Derby
-- Manager Showdown
-- World Baseball Classic
-- Tournament
-- Situation
Aside from all of the game modes, the ability to manage rosters, create a player, and the like is obviously there, so if a player doesn’t like the way their team or player is rated, they can edit that to their liking before diving in.
In the game, the presentation is very well done with well-timed replays, at-bat-recaps, and recollections of players’ previous at-bats help a lot with the series’ reputation for realism. It’s fairly easy to find how to pinch hit, sub pitchers/warm up, and the like, so in-game menus are not really a problem either. Also, from time to time, the game will bring up the option for a managerial arguing session with the umpire on a questionable call. I haven’t seen this reverse a call, but it can boost the team’s morale, in turn increasing all of their ratings.
The stat tracking, as could be expected, is very accurate and has a reasonable number of statistics to view. There is absolutely nothing to complain about here, seeing as this is a major reason for this series' touting.
The difficulty of the game can be baffling at first with the new swinging and pitching mechanics, but it’s not hard to adjust with all the sliders. Find your appropriate settings, and play away. Nothing to complain about.
The final complaint with the presentation is that there is no real tutorial for the pitching, batting, baserunning, or anything. While some tips are displayed in the loading screens before a game, it takes quite a few games before one can collect them all. However, I haven’t touched the manual, so I suppose one could give that a shot.
Presentation: 8.3/10
Graphics
The Skinny
== Pro’s: Lighting, Crowd
== Con’s: Jaggies, Jerseys, Player Design/Animation
First of all, this game can NOT be considered next-gen in terms of graphics and sounds. While the game looks pretty good in 720p (what game doesn’t?), there are way too many flaws and it is hardly above its Xbox counterpart in HD.
The lighting, as in most 360 games to this point, is the main appeal of the graphics in this game. Without dynamic lighting, a game just looks bad in this video game era. 2K6 is no exception, with well-done shadows and reflections off jerseys. This, by no means, makes MLB 2K6 pretty, however.
While the player is behind the batter’s box with the batting interface, it is impossible not to note the horrendous jaggies that line the field. How is this possible in an Xbox 360 game? Unbelievable. The players and stadium seating/beyond look pretty good in that sense, but the field is inexcusable. Additionally, the grass and dirt are nothing to be proud of; there are no individual blades in the grass, only boring traditional textures; there are no footprints or slide marks left in the dirt, only boring traditional textures (although the game does have players kick up dirt clouds, there is more to be desired). This may be asking a lot, but I don’t think it’s at all out of the question considering the little that sports games need to do in terms of graphics when compared to massive games like Ghost Recon and Oblivion.
The jersey cloth physics look like they were taken straight from the 2K basketball games and not modified at all to fit baseball’s specifications. Often times, the jerseys will clump up on a player’s front side, appearing to give the player massive man boobs or a second stomach. Other than that, the cloth physics are nice to look at. Physics aside, many uniforms are designed with wrong colors or wrong text on the uniform, which for an exclusively MLB-licensed video game is unacceptable.
The crowd is fun. They are 3D and they reach for foul balls. (excuse my shortness here, but they probably put so much time into this that could have been spent refining more important issues, which can make a customer somewhat bitter) While this is something that makes the game next-gen, I feel they should have improved more things on the field rather than in the crowd.
Finally, the player designs and animations just aren’t up to snuff. Some faces just don’t look anything like their real-life superstar counterparts, some players have the wrong skin color, no fat players (Dmitri!), no long hair, the swinging animation is hardly realistic at all, and the throwing animations are poorly done in many situations. For example, with the throwing, a shortstop with a lot of time to get the ball to first will hurry and chuck it over, and a shortstop with not much time will take time to load up instead of quickly gunning the runner down.
Graphics: 5.9/10
This brings us to the fun but exceptionally flawed gameplay.
Gameplay
The Skinny
== Pro’s: Hitting, Pitching
== Con’s: Fielding, Baserunning, AI
Good news or bad news? We’ll go with the good.
The new batting interface, which takes a few games to get used to, is fairly addicting once the learning curve is rounded. In the interface, the player must pull back on the right analog stick to begin their step when the pitcher’s step is nearly finished, and then either release the stick to swing a level swing for line drives or ground balls, or they push up on the stick after pulling back in order to enact an uppercut swing to try for homeruns, sac flies, etc.
The pitching is also very well done, with a meter unlike MVP’s, yet very similar. First, the player selects a breaking point from which the pitch breaks from (if it breaks) as a substitute for the traditional “pick a spot where the pitch crosses the plate” monkey-method. And, instead of an actual meter like MVP, the player holds in the pitch button to enlarge a ring for pitch effectiveness, and then when the button is released, the ring contracts, and the player must hit the button again when the ring is completely shrunken. Sound confusing? Maybe, but if you see it, that’d be an accurate explanation. This works well and it’s not much unlike the MVP meter if you’re a fan. Also, the pitcher can get hot or cold depending on payoff pitches. In a payoff pitch situation, the catcher is positioned with the right analog stick. If the target is hit on the pitch, the pitch used gains an increase in rating. It’s very well done.
And now, the bad. The fielding and baserunning are terrible. For fielding, the outfielders’ arms are way too juiced, making it almost impossible to achieve a sac fly or a run scored from second on a single. The player physics, while more realistic, need tuning as a simple turn to go for a ball is often turned into a 90-degree cut, which takes an awful long time for slower players. The AI also often selects the wrong player for you to control off contact, making for some frustrating moments in clutch situations. I could probably make a list of things wrong here, but for the sake of your time and mine, I’ll continue.
The baserunning needs to be better. They have a button-mashing interface currently where, in order for your player to sprint, you need to bash A, Y, B, or X depending on where your player is (going to first, second, third, or home). This is of unparalleled difficulty when more than one runner is on the basepath. Also, commands to advance bases need to be done manually, which is also terribly hard to manage. There is an option for automatic advancing, but the AI again almost never makes the right decision whether or not to advance to the next base. This needs a major, if not complete, overhaul for next year.
AI complaints continue as, during franchise mode, the opposition puts plain silly rosters out everyday. For example, Victor Martinez led off for the Indians while Ichiro hit clean-up for the Mariners. To put it vaguely, the AI is flat-out stupid when it comes to filling in lineups. Enough on gameplay.
Gameplay: 6.6/10
Sound
The Skinny
== Pro’s: Announcing, Crowd
== Con’s: Bat Sounds, Bugs
Another of the game’s strengths is sound. The announcing crew works well together and they don’t repeat themselves too often, and they even throw in the occasional joke (common in real baseball commentary, or any commentary for that matter). There are some nice transitions from out-of-game menus to the games, as a commentator from “Hardball Central” speaks of the upcoming game to give the player something to listen to while the game loads. But, the commentary does have bugs, as well: During the franchise mode, no matter the player’s previous season accomplishments, the announcer will say the player had “zero home runs and zero RBI’s” last season. Not anything major, but it does get reasonably annoying.
Furthermore, the crowd is well done; people laugh at errors, heckle the opposing team’s players (some of the heckles are actually really funny), and chant. The crowd never gets too loud, though, even in really tight situations, which is a bit disappointing.
Another minor complaint with sound is that on every well hit ball, it sounds like a broken bat. Just another annoying nuance.
Sound: 7.9/10
Overall (independent rating)
The Verdict: The game is very flawed, but will do for those in need of a baseball fix in 2006 for the 360.
Description!
Fun: Most of the time
Amazing: By no means
Unreal: Sometimes, caused by AI; Mostly realistic, though.
Learning Curve: Massive (hitting)
Time Spender: Indeed, if you like baseball, prepare to lose 100+ hours
Yes or No: Yes, for baseball fans only. They will be able to see past the flaws and play.
Faulty, indeed--also stuck in-between current and next-gen. Still pretty fun for fans of the game.
Overall: 6.7/10
for more information on the game's freezing issue, please visit the official MLB 2k6 boards at: http://www.2ksports.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=70
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Originally Posted by bangpow
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