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After spending a ton of time with this game, and a short time messing with the Show over my friends house, here are my thoughts. I'd rather give a review after I've really delved into the game quite a bit and I really have at this point. It's still 2k. It's clunky, not balanced correctly and robotic at times and has AI scripting issues, but in the end there is a good game of baseball here.
GRAPHICS-Overall the graphics are a big leap from previous years. I like the overall look of the game. It's not perfect and not on par with the show as far as polish and scale, but the signature styles are there and the overall look is good. There are a ton of new animations that are very good, but some things need to be smoothed out. The animations can look dated at times. Fielding can look ridiculous and needs to be smoothed out, some of the stadium and player models need more detail and upgrading. Certain things look washed out and not as sharp as I'd like. But the lighting is a nice touch and the major things are there and overall it looks very good. Even the show has collision issues and problems with the ball disapearing. This game looks good in comparison although it's not on quite the same scale.
It could use some work but graphically I say it's about a 7.8 and not that far off from being an 8 by todays standards which equals a pretty good to excellent looking game.
COMMENTARY-The tandem of Gary Thorne and Steve Phillips is excellent. The sound of these guys and their presentation really gives this game a good feel. There are still miscues though and they say things that aren't accurate to what is happening on the field, more often then you would expect considering how much praise these guys have gotten. There is also quite a bit of repetition still.
I give it an 8 or a high 7 again. They fix the miscues, add more content, and this has the potential to be one of the better tandems in sports games.
SOUND-The overall sound and ambience of the game is excellent. There are still certain things that are dated however like the bat sounds and organ music but this game has good ambience and crowd noise. The crowd's have been upgraded and react realistically plus this game has a catchy soundtrack.
Sound is on par with everything else so far. High 7 to an 8.. They clean up some of the dated stuff and add more detail it could be better.
PRESENTATION OVERALL-This has kind of been detailed above, but I think the overall presentation of this game also deserves it's own category because this is one area where 2k9 shines somewhat. The overall presentation of the game is very good. The camera angles are a strong point and quite possibly the best I've ever seen. They nailed the camera angles. The realtime atmosphere gives the game a good flow. Batter walk ups and pitching warm ups look cool. The menu system is also very good and overall the game is just presented well. The only major thing I've noticed that I wish they would improve is the baserunning could use a slightly closer zoom. I also really like the side view the show has when a batter is approaching the plate. The framerates also still chug a bit when the ball first leaves the bat.
It's still an upgrade away like everything in this game but overall it's an 8.
GAMEPLAY-Out of the box this is an arcade game. A fun arcade game but an arcade game. One of 2k's main selling points is it's control system which I find very fun. It's intuitive and has a lot of depth to it, from fielding to gauging your throws to overthrows and everything in between. Pitch gestures are tuned better this year compared to past years and it's a nice feel. This game needs sliders out fo the box but what I'm seeing is a pretty good game that gives a decent game at both ends of the spectrum depending on how much time you want to spend with it. Is it perfect? No. This is where 2k really has to get with the program because their quality control is lacking in areas. This game has great potential but there are baserunning miscues. Fielding is extremely clunky at times and jsut doesnt flow right, from the slow jog to the way players speed up... The AI is extremely scripted at times and will attempt to tag runners when they shouldn't.. Baserunning can be aggressive or not aggressive at all. The game is just not tuned correctly and design flaws abound.
The batter and pitcher duels are there if you really delve into this game, but the AI aggressiveness and amount of contact is not balanced correctly. It's clunky. It's like every other 2k game I have played in this regard and is just lacking that authentic feel and tightness of play. Inside edge is a great concept and the depth of gameplay is definately here, but it doesn't mean a whole lot to the average gamer if it's not designed and implemented correctly, or as some would say downright broken. It just depends on how much time you want to fuss with it.
In the end it has a lot of depth in what is here and feature wise, but it's still missing something as far as authenticity and flow and just realistic play. It's still 2k and still too scripted and robotic and is missing something. I can adjust sliders but you can pretty much predict what they will do. I turn something down and teh cpu wont make as much contact, but they wont hit. It's just missing that variety and unexpected at times. This game has all these great features and ideas but it lacks if it isn't integrated correctly to make things easier on the user, or the design itself is flawed. It's still a jump forward though and is it fun? Yes it is. Don't get me wrong here because this game has quite a bit of depth to it and fun factor which is one of it's strong points. This is hte first year with VC running the show and I like what I see but they still have a ways to go as far as integrating all these things seamlessly. They may never, because this has always been 2k's downfall imo in every game they make.
I give gameplay a 7 to a 7.5 with the ability to be an 8 if they fix a lot of the issues and tighten things up. Gameplay could jump up to 9 levels if they really do work here in integrating all these things, as well as smoothness of play graphically into one cohesive game. I kind of doubt that will happen this year though. That's wishful thinking because there are too many core design issues that need to be overhauled here. It could be done imo, fairly easily, but thinking 2k would do something like that is a pipedream. What I expect from the patch is they will fix some of the more glaring issues like pickoffs and the 1st baseman issue and just locking the fielders vs actually fixing the game. Hence a patch. A bandaid. But even if they do that and tone the aggressiveness gameplay could be closer to an 8.
EXTRAS-2k9 has a solid franchise mode with a good amount of depth. It's integrated a lot of nice features from living rosters, as well as mlb.com into their franchise. It also has signature styles and player movements that are not matched imo.. It also has smooth full featured online mode.
It's missing a major mode like Road to the Show to draw people in, but the major things are here minus the glitches. 8-8.5
OVERALL- this game is probably 7.8 across hte board after spending a lot of time with it with the potential to be closer to an 8 if a patch addresses certain issues. This game is not nearly as bad as it's been introduced, and is actually one of the better baseball games I've played. I can understand where people who pick up and just play this game wouldn't like it and would be disapointed, but if you spend time with it you might see what I'm talking about. The Show is a 9-9.5 across the board and plays great out of the box and has all the bells and whistles and is one of the best baseball games ever along with MVP. IT's on the mark and even ahead of the curve and just plays the way it should and is a much more balanced and fluid game. It also looks cleaner. It also has road to the show which 2k9 does not have a mode like this. It also doesn't require so much of the gamer as far as tinkering with this game to get it to play the way you like. But where the show is 9's plus across the board this game is 7's and 8's. VC is kind of caught in between overhauling a dated game, and implementing some great things but certain dated things remain. Where the Show is polished this game seems unfinished and behind the curve. But I can see the strong points that VC has implemented this year to make a much more enjoyable and comparable game at it's core. Some of 2k's design choices are questionable, and some of the bugs are not acceptable, but where 2k9 shines is it's flexibility and depth of gameplay, signature style and ability to give an arcade game or sim depending on how much time you want to spend with it. Yes there are glitches but overall this is a very decent to good baseball game, and that's what I've based my review on.
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