Ladies and Gentleman welcome to another season of baseball as Spring is here. There are many out there that are wondering if MLB2K6 is worth a purchase since they are the only game in town that could go cross-platform due to the licensing agreement with MLB. MLB2K6 on the XBOX 360 is like that girl that looks so beautiful from afar, but when up close she looks decent as she has those ugly features that makes you want to either run for the hills or stick around and see what the package has to offer.
Underneath the hood, there are some good things here and there are some bad.
Graphics
Graphically, MLB2K6 hits many things right on the next generation console taking advantage of the extra horse power but then falls flat on its face in the areas that really count. For years we have complained that sports games do a really bad job at replicating the crowds, ballparks, and authenticity of the surroundings of the players. KUSH finally nailed this aspect down fairly well to a degree as the crowds are actual separate polygons for each person + they are very interactive with what’s going on with the game. It’s cool when a foul ball is hit into the stands and you have fans moving around trying to get the ball. I have also seen vendors selling items to the fans which is bringing that interactivity to a new level. Inside the ballparks are authentic, but I have seen a few omissions on some parks which is very minor.
Now that we have the good out of the way about the graphics, there are some bad to go along with all that. There is a problem with the way that some of the buildings and structures look in the background of the ballparks. Some are inaccurate structures, while others have this problem where the background looks like if it was just copy and pasted without any high resolution on the actual graphics making them appear out of place. I also have a problem with player faces and bodies. There are players in the game that have faces which look like their real life counterparts, ie. Derrick Lee and Aramis Ramirez, but then stars like Randy Johnson and Manny Ramirez look nothing like themselves. I wonder what happened here. I also feel like the bodies of players aren’t proportioned properly, or even look like their real life counterpart. It almost feels like everyone has the same shape during replays, and again I’ll use guys like Randy Johnson and Bartolo Colon. Johnson is not tall and lanky like in real life, except he’s 5’ 10 and chubby and Colon should be nice and plumpy but he’s not either.
When I first saw the videos with these 2 guys I thought that even though their not accurate I’ll just edit them with the in-game editor and make them proportionate. I guess KUSH decided that they weren’t going to even allow us to do that. Don’t even get me started about the managers, they look bad and I haven’t seen one yet that looks good. Dusty Baker looks like he lost 75 lbs during the off-season.
I hate having to do this, but when comparing this game to MLB’06, 989 actually has faces, bodies, and even the ballparks down pat for the most part even though the game is not running in HD like this one should.
Sound
Our favorites, Joe Morgan and Jon Miller return to the booth for their last and final year as there was a clause in the contract that allowed them to appear in this year’s version even though ESPN licensing is part of EA for the next 10 years. I enjoy their commentating until I hear, “he had no homeruns last season and no RBI’s” at the start of every inning when a batter comes up to bat. How on god’s green earth did this bug get by? Looking at the players stats this is so untrue. This makes me want to throw a punch at my TV after a few innings that it just gets so plain annoying. ARRRGGHHH!
The rest of the games sounds are fairly good. The crack of the ball with the bat was fixed as it sounded a canon was being fired in the trailers, fans will heckle the opposing team, they will shout out for your team to do well, the organ music, the 7th inning stretch, and hearing the vendors selling hotdogs has always been cool. Did I mention that this game does offer custom soundtracks for batter walkups as in previous years. I haven’t tested it out as I worry it may cause freezing in the game.
Gameplay
I really like what was added this year to the pitching interface by KUSH as an overhaul was much needed. I even prefer the new pitching style over the years past. With the addition of Inside Edge, I think that KUSH really added a nice element to a much needed stagnant pitching interface. I like being able to have a budget when purchasing points for the players that you are going to scout. What good does IE do when the rest of the game is just flawed in certain areas.
I was really upset with the fielding at first but the more you play the more it makes sense. Fielding is based on actual physics, so if you think that the ball is going to fall in one direction and you start running towards it but it lands elsewhere. It will take your body an extra second or two to turn the other direction which is very lifelike. I have lost a few games do to this.
Overall Grade
Since this is not a full review and just my impressions, I like some of the ideas that KUSH has incorporated here but there are other things I don’t like what they did. I was very fortunate not to experience any freezing while playing this game, but I ran into two problems that others may have experienced. Firstly, my NBA2K6 stopped showing replays during ½ time and end of game. Second, I lost all replays in MLB2K6. For some reason I was getting no replays at all which is really messed up.
The patch is on the way in a few weeks, but I think that KUSH has really hurt themselves in the public eye with what they did. IMO, it’s time that 2KSports fires KUSH and either brings back WOW! Or Blue Shift. I gave up on this game for right now, I decided to take it back for full credit at Gamestop. Maybe if the patch clears up some issues and I start seeing edits/sliders posted here at OS I may pick it up used down the road for a cheaper price.
6.5/10
Underneath the hood, there are some good things here and there are some bad.
Graphics
Graphically, MLB2K6 hits many things right on the next generation console taking advantage of the extra horse power but then falls flat on its face in the areas that really count. For years we have complained that sports games do a really bad job at replicating the crowds, ballparks, and authenticity of the surroundings of the players. KUSH finally nailed this aspect down fairly well to a degree as the crowds are actual separate polygons for each person + they are very interactive with what’s going on with the game. It’s cool when a foul ball is hit into the stands and you have fans moving around trying to get the ball. I have also seen vendors selling items to the fans which is bringing that interactivity to a new level. Inside the ballparks are authentic, but I have seen a few omissions on some parks which is very minor.
Now that we have the good out of the way about the graphics, there are some bad to go along with all that. There is a problem with the way that some of the buildings and structures look in the background of the ballparks. Some are inaccurate structures, while others have this problem where the background looks like if it was just copy and pasted without any high resolution on the actual graphics making them appear out of place. I also have a problem with player faces and bodies. There are players in the game that have faces which look like their real life counterparts, ie. Derrick Lee and Aramis Ramirez, but then stars like Randy Johnson and Manny Ramirez look nothing like themselves. I wonder what happened here. I also feel like the bodies of players aren’t proportioned properly, or even look like their real life counterpart. It almost feels like everyone has the same shape during replays, and again I’ll use guys like Randy Johnson and Bartolo Colon. Johnson is not tall and lanky like in real life, except he’s 5’ 10 and chubby and Colon should be nice and plumpy but he’s not either.
When I first saw the videos with these 2 guys I thought that even though their not accurate I’ll just edit them with the in-game editor and make them proportionate. I guess KUSH decided that they weren’t going to even allow us to do that. Don’t even get me started about the managers, they look bad and I haven’t seen one yet that looks good. Dusty Baker looks like he lost 75 lbs during the off-season.
I hate having to do this, but when comparing this game to MLB’06, 989 actually has faces, bodies, and even the ballparks down pat for the most part even though the game is not running in HD like this one should.
Sound
Our favorites, Joe Morgan and Jon Miller return to the booth for their last and final year as there was a clause in the contract that allowed them to appear in this year’s version even though ESPN licensing is part of EA for the next 10 years. I enjoy their commentating until I hear, “he had no homeruns last season and no RBI’s” at the start of every inning when a batter comes up to bat. How on god’s green earth did this bug get by? Looking at the players stats this is so untrue. This makes me want to throw a punch at my TV after a few innings that it just gets so plain annoying. ARRRGGHHH!
The rest of the games sounds are fairly good. The crack of the ball with the bat was fixed as it sounded a canon was being fired in the trailers, fans will heckle the opposing team, they will shout out for your team to do well, the organ music, the 7th inning stretch, and hearing the vendors selling hotdogs has always been cool. Did I mention that this game does offer custom soundtracks for batter walkups as in previous years. I haven’t tested it out as I worry it may cause freezing in the game.
Gameplay
I really like what was added this year to the pitching interface by KUSH as an overhaul was much needed. I even prefer the new pitching style over the years past. With the addition of Inside Edge, I think that KUSH really added a nice element to a much needed stagnant pitching interface. I like being able to have a budget when purchasing points for the players that you are going to scout. What good does IE do when the rest of the game is just flawed in certain areas.
I was really upset with the fielding at first but the more you play the more it makes sense. Fielding is based on actual physics, so if you think that the ball is going to fall in one direction and you start running towards it but it lands elsewhere. It will take your body an extra second or two to turn the other direction which is very lifelike. I have lost a few games do to this.
Overall Grade
Since this is not a full review and just my impressions, I like some of the ideas that KUSH has incorporated here but there are other things I don’t like what they did. I was very fortunate not to experience any freezing while playing this game, but I ran into two problems that others may have experienced. Firstly, my NBA2K6 stopped showing replays during ½ time and end of game. Second, I lost all replays in MLB2K6. For some reason I was getting no replays at all which is really messed up.
The patch is on the way in a few weeks, but I think that KUSH has really hurt themselves in the public eye with what they did. IMO, it’s time that 2KSports fires KUSH and either brings back WOW! Or Blue Shift. I gave up on this game for right now, I decided to take it back for full credit at Gamestop. Maybe if the patch clears up some issues and I start seeing edits/sliders posted here at OS I may pick it up used down the road for a cheaper price.
6.5/10
Comment