I hope this isn't overkill, but I'd like to publicly protest my disdain for the direction my once beloved series has taken. I fell in love with 2k baseball in 2002, and have bought a copy every year until this one. The following are things that have been removed from years past versions, even though I considered them "the little things." You know, a detail orientated franchise that dazzled you.
-No doubter home run cam. This was in 2k3. What explanation if any could there be for removing something that looked and worked so beautifully?
-Foul ball cam. Another 2k3 and probably 2k4 deal. I remember the ball being hit high into the sky in front of some stadium lights as the camera followed it. Wait? Is this a baseball game on TV or is this a video game? It's 2k baseball of course! This was replaced in 2k5 with an awkward side view of the batter, and you could see the oversized Miracle-Grow fed grapefruit of a ball being rifled through the fans above either dugout.
-Cursor hitting, gone. Zone hitting, gone. Why should you utilize precision, strategy, and hand-eye coordination when you can use the stick. Sure it's got less control, but it's new. If you want to force the gimmick down our throats to add another bullet point on your new and improved list, fine, but don't discard the controls I've been using on your franchise since 2002.
-Fun. Back in 2001 all my friends and I would complain that there wasn't a "fun" baseball game to play. Well I bought Sega's Home Run King in 2002, and WSB2k3 in 2003 and we were off. Finally we had beautiful baseball games that were a blast to play, and easy enough for newcomers to learn and join the sessions we had. We probably played more hours of 2k3 that year then we put in at our jobs. Everyone would come over to my place and we'd ball - forever. Now, no one could care less. They see the hitting system has been stripped off it's functionality, have to get used to the new time your swing step, and they're just like "what can we just pop in and immediately start playing instead?" The fun factor is gone. The most fun games are simple ones with subtle things you learn along the way, loaded with detail, and high on presentation.
Another complaint on swing stick, against the "it's realistic" argument. How about after a ball is hit into play, we make you press the left thumb stick up to move the left foot, and vice versa for the right foot. So your thumbs have to do a little up-down, up-down times 30 to run to first base every time. That'd be more realistic wouldn't it? It'd be ridiculous. But it's all for innovation right? All players step before they swing, but why incorporate this into the game? All players run to first base after making contact with the ball, but it'd be a little redundant to twiddle your thumbs using the L and R sticks really fast to run.
I know this seems crazy to complain over a video game, but hear me out if you're still with me. I am a sports gamer. You hijack my baseball series and what do I got left? A game system and 2k baseball has been the cornerstone of relaxing with friends for years and years. But now that's all done. When you lower the quality of 2k baseball, you're also removing the hours upon hours of truly fun time I had getting to relax with friends. It's getting harder and harder to even justify spending hundreds of dollars on a system and games with the constant down slope in rewards that it's giving back. I basically got a $400 Grand Theft Auto machine at this point. That's pathetic. The entire reason I even invested in this new generations console was because I took it for granted that the fun and exciting gameplay we experienced between 2001-2005 would appear in this generations console, only with more possibilities (graphics, physics, etc). Well this generation so far has taken a dump on me. If I liked first person shooters I could cope, but I don't. I've always enjoyed the simplistic rules of sports games matched with the strategy per each sport, the gameplay, and what I used to be able to depend on, strides in graphics from one year to the next. All this is gone.
You scored a 9.1 rating in 2003, and a 10 in my mind. Every year your score has little by little gone down and down. Who the hell is controlling this ship? When McDonald's finds a formula that makes you hooked on their fries, they don't change it do they? Sure they might make other things taste better or add new things, but they don't take the fries off the menu or start over. When your best friend is also your pot hook up, you don't suddenly decide to go to the ghetto in the middle of the night and try buying from a stranger just to see how that might work out differently. Go with what you know, what works. Or turn a working thing upside down just for the hell of it.
-No doubter home run cam. This was in 2k3. What explanation if any could there be for removing something that looked and worked so beautifully?
-Foul ball cam. Another 2k3 and probably 2k4 deal. I remember the ball being hit high into the sky in front of some stadium lights as the camera followed it. Wait? Is this a baseball game on TV or is this a video game? It's 2k baseball of course! This was replaced in 2k5 with an awkward side view of the batter, and you could see the oversized Miracle-Grow fed grapefruit of a ball being rifled through the fans above either dugout.
-Cursor hitting, gone. Zone hitting, gone. Why should you utilize precision, strategy, and hand-eye coordination when you can use the stick. Sure it's got less control, but it's new. If you want to force the gimmick down our throats to add another bullet point on your new and improved list, fine, but don't discard the controls I've been using on your franchise since 2002.
-Fun. Back in 2001 all my friends and I would complain that there wasn't a "fun" baseball game to play. Well I bought Sega's Home Run King in 2002, and WSB2k3 in 2003 and we were off. Finally we had beautiful baseball games that were a blast to play, and easy enough for newcomers to learn and join the sessions we had. We probably played more hours of 2k3 that year then we put in at our jobs. Everyone would come over to my place and we'd ball - forever. Now, no one could care less. They see the hitting system has been stripped off it's functionality, have to get used to the new time your swing step, and they're just like "what can we just pop in and immediately start playing instead?" The fun factor is gone. The most fun games are simple ones with subtle things you learn along the way, loaded with detail, and high on presentation.
Another complaint on swing stick, against the "it's realistic" argument. How about after a ball is hit into play, we make you press the left thumb stick up to move the left foot, and vice versa for the right foot. So your thumbs have to do a little up-down, up-down times 30 to run to first base every time. That'd be more realistic wouldn't it? It'd be ridiculous. But it's all for innovation right? All players step before they swing, but why incorporate this into the game? All players run to first base after making contact with the ball, but it'd be a little redundant to twiddle your thumbs using the L and R sticks really fast to run.
I know this seems crazy to complain over a video game, but hear me out if you're still with me. I am a sports gamer. You hijack my baseball series and what do I got left? A game system and 2k baseball has been the cornerstone of relaxing with friends for years and years. But now that's all done. When you lower the quality of 2k baseball, you're also removing the hours upon hours of truly fun time I had getting to relax with friends. It's getting harder and harder to even justify spending hundreds of dollars on a system and games with the constant down slope in rewards that it's giving back. I basically got a $400 Grand Theft Auto machine at this point. That's pathetic. The entire reason I even invested in this new generations console was because I took it for granted that the fun and exciting gameplay we experienced between 2001-2005 would appear in this generations console, only with more possibilities (graphics, physics, etc). Well this generation so far has taken a dump on me. If I liked first person shooters I could cope, but I don't. I've always enjoyed the simplistic rules of sports games matched with the strategy per each sport, the gameplay, and what I used to be able to depend on, strides in graphics from one year to the next. All this is gone.
You scored a 9.1 rating in 2003, and a 10 in my mind. Every year your score has little by little gone down and down. Who the hell is controlling this ship? When McDonald's finds a formula that makes you hooked on their fries, they don't change it do they? Sure they might make other things taste better or add new things, but they don't take the fries off the menu or start over. When your best friend is also your pot hook up, you don't suddenly decide to go to the ghetto in the middle of the night and try buying from a stranger just to see how that might work out differently. Go with what you know, what works. Or turn a working thing upside down just for the hell of it.
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