Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

[Wheele8]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

So I finally delved into the franchise mode, and I gotta say, it's horribly broken. The roster restrictions (having to have 25 players on each squad at all times) was a very bad design choice. That kind of inflexibility makes the whole process incredibly tedious. Coupled with the fact that if you have a couple injuries, you can not actually demote your lowest ranked player, and the overall unwieldiness of the interface. It's also difficult to make promotion and demotion decisions due to the difficulty in finding the minor league stats. And the minor league stats are incredibly incomplete. It's a major step backwards despite having the ability to play minor league games. The whole thing is just an absolute mess.

[baa7]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

You actually have to sweat for every single pitch like you would in a real game. It's an outstanding addition to this years game. The total control fielding is also a great touch as it's no longer just pressing a button

I agree with the pitching - adds a lot of excitement. But what's the difference between pressing a pressure-sensitive button for fielding, and moving a stick in one direction? It's the same principle, just mapped to different controls.

[baa7]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

You actually have to sweat for every single pitch like you would in a real game. It's an outstanding addition to this years game. The total control fielding is also a great touch as it's no longer just pressing a button

I agree with the pitching - adds a lot of excitement. But what's the difference between pressing a pressure-sensitive button for fielding, and moving a stick in one direction? It's the same principle, just mapped to different controls.

[brendanrfoley]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

I've only had time to play two full games.

Again, best pitching interface I've ever used. It is what MVP's meter was back in 2003; it's new, intuitive, exciting, and engrossing. The analog throwing in the field is good, but not the revelation some treated it as. I'm still getting a feel for the hitting interface, so I can't comment on that yet.

I know 2K8 doesn't look as good as The Show, or even 2K7. But it's my first next-gen game. Which means it still looks better than anything I've ever owned!

I'll post more when I get a chance to squeeze another game or two in. But my first impression is this... it has problems, but I still like it. And I found myself having a lot of fun in my first two games (both losses).

[DannyMac910]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

Are they ever going to fix the Padres call-up glitch? And like Wheele said the minor league roster are a pain in the butt. The only other thing I can ask for is the option to swat positions in the line-up screen. And to set the same line-up for lefties and righties.

[NumberOneRB]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

I agree with the pitching - adds a lot of excitement. But what's the difference between pressing a pressure-sensitive button for fielding, and moving a stick in one direction? It's the same principle, just mapped to different controls.

The stick method gives you much better control of the amount of effort behind your throw. Depending on how long you hold the stick in the given base direction, you can completely control just how much effort you want to put on the throw. With pressure-sensitive button input, the amount of pressure you put on the button can be very difficult to gauge when it comes to the degree of effort you want behind the throw. There are basically only three types of pressures that would coencide with the effort of the throw (light, medium, and hard), while there are numerous degrees of variation you can apply to meter throwing to determing throwing effort.

[Pared]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

I believe he's asking what's the difference between holding the stick in a specific direction and holding the button down while a meter fills...

None, IMO.

[Eddie1967]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

I agree with the pitching - adds a lot of excitement. But what's the difference between pressing a pressure-sensitive button for fielding, and moving a stick in one direction? It's the same principle, just mapped to different controls.

I guess it just feels like you have to work harder using the sticks for the control and all but I can see your point.

[brendanrfoley]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

Here are my impressions after several games (about 8 or so)...

PITCHING
Total Control Pitching is the best pitching mechanic I've ever used. Pitching is fun and challenging. I believe there's something immensely satisfying about a perfectly executed pitch -- especially when it fools the CPU. It just feels right.

CPU hitters do have a tendency to swing too much early in the count. But I've fixed that with sliders. I'm seeing the CPU hit a great variety of liners, choppers, dribblers, pop-ups, etc.

HITTING
The hitting model is very MVP-ish. Some don't like it, and I understand why. But I do. I'm seeing lots of variety. Doubles, triples, homeruns, etc.

The biggest problem with the hitting model is two-fold. On default (All Star) settings, the CPU does not throw enough balls. That problem is intensified by VERY forgiving umpires. Through my first 6 games, I drew 1 intentional walk. And I'm very patient.

But there's an easy fix. I went into sliders, and lowered CPU Throw Strikes Overall, Throw Strikes Ahead, and Throw Strikes Behind. Zeroed all three out (and only those three). During my next game, I drew 5 walks and saw several hitters counts (2-0, 3-0, 3-1).

That picked up the rest of my offense as well. I wasn't hacking to "protect" when down in the count... and there were men on base when I did rope a double. I actually earned back-to-back walks. Millwood (the starter) allowed 5 runs in 6 innings. 90 pitches, 36 balls. The next reliever to come in threw 36 pitches over an inning and a third, 20 of which were balls. VERY pleased.

FIELDING
Fielding to me is "okay." I like the analog throw meter, but I don't think it's the be all, end all some people do. I've also found diving stops VERY hard to time. It's serviceable, but it doesn't feel 'exciting' to me.

SOUND/PRESENTATION
John Miller's commentary actually isn't bad. But Joe Morgan's is awful. He says nothing specific, EVER. It's 9 innings of... "The shortstop made a great play there." Or... "He tried throwing a strike, but it was a ball." Gee, thanks Joe. But again, I like Miller. He gets excited at the right times, etc.

The crowd noise isn't awful. But it isn't good either. It's just 'there'. They need to work on this.

GRAPHICS
Just as a disclaimer, 2K8 is my first 'next-gen' experience. I know it doesn't look as nice as The Show (or even 2K7), but I still think it looks pretty damn good.

There are times it's awkward looking... but there are times it's beautiful. And the game looks better while actually playing it. The crowd behind home is a little blocky, but I spend 90% of my time looking at the pitching meter. 2K8 could look better -- but I don't think the visuals detract from the game.

As for the framerate, there are serious hiccups with VIP on. And the postgame highlights rarely run smoothly. It's the games biggest drawback, honestly. But if I log out of my profile, the game runs as smoothly as The Show did last year on my PS2. And that's not bad.

All in all, I'm very happy.

[Lisa_Bonami]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

As much as I like this years innovative controls, it would have also been nice if the game also incorporated a basic simple one button, one step pitch system option as well that the player could use whenever they wanted a break from the whole analog pitch system.

One thing I loved about The Show was whenever I got bored from dealing with all the gimmicky meters, I could just use a simple aim and throw system that basically just relied on the pitcher's attributes to determine the results of the control and velocity. And I could just enjoy a scaled down simpleness of gameplay and various attributes to determine results...and it was also fun when I needed a break.