MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

[Mercury112491]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

ok just some update thoughts

-I think the stealing has finally been perfected in this game. Stole 3 bases over several games with Torres. On one steal the catcher launched the ball into CF and I picked up third as well. The tag animations plus the slow down at second base are all phenomenal.

-Some people have said they're not digging it but I'm absolutely in love with the hitting in this game. I'm not sure what it is about it but it's so much fun. Haven't had this much fun hitting since MVP

-Pitching is just as fun. Love how I have max and nail a gesture and the ball location is still off(sometimes a lot). Feels great and it's a blast to play.

-The outfield play is great. Love the new circle within a circle. Wish I could figure out how to line up for a throw home though.

-This is my only complaint so far. The infield fielding while much better is still off. I still see really wacky throws and odd animations. After playing a bunch I feel like the reason is because things move too fast in the infield. The ball is on you too quickly. I may be wrong but that's what it feels like. Haven't looked but maybe slowing down the meter might help in the final build.

Overall, this game is the most FUN i've had in awhile. Still looking to see an injury though

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

If a you have two men on, you will be performing a double steal. The bumpers are used to control all runners together.

True. but with 1 runner on, I find it better to use the bumber. It just feels natural. Should have clarified that.

[Jetsfan44]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

Is Auto Baserunning available?

[Blzer]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

Is Auto Baserunning available?

There aren't really any options in the demo.

[Spanky]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

Overall, I'm liking it a lot, from what I see. Couple of observations from watching a couple of videos of the demo:

Does the Rangers uniform look too dark, like it's cast entirely in a shadow, when Rangers are batting and viewing from pitchers' angle, even when Rangers are pitching.

The player models and uniforms look much better, however, in the demo than in the other videos they released (Phillies-Rockies, that Halladay video). They seem to have definition, a 3-D look to them in the demo, whereas in the other videos, they seem to look flatter, more 2-D. Or maybe I'm just hallucinating.

[drjones56]

Played both the 2k11 and The Show 11 demos. The Show will certainly be the one I pick up next Tuesday but it feels for the first time in a while that the 360 only owners can finally have a decent baseball game to play. I did experience the same frame rate issues many are describing but compared to where this franchise was 2-3 years ago it feels playable for a whole season. I am curious to see where 2k takes their My Player mode vs the Show's Road to the Show. Looks like The Show had some major revamps to the mode this year(thankfully) and I'm assuming 2k did the same.

[ggazoo]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

I did notice some frame rate issues. Cruz hit a flyball into deep center, and right after the ball hit his back, the game stop for about a second - almost felt like it was deciding how far the ball should go. Hopefully it won't be as bad in the retail version.

[SynShadowzz]

Played one game so far - really enjoyed it. Will definitely be picking up one day 1.

[sroz39]

Can't get over the feeling you get when you know you get a hold of a pitch. Not since MVP 2003-2005 have I felt that through a controller, when the timing is just right. Great job 2K.

Haven't experienced the homerun-out bug yet (knock on wood) but I don't doubt its existence since so many have seen it. What I will challenge people on is the apparent over-agressiveness of the A.I. batters. Not sure where this is coming from as I've had no issues with that. In 9 games I've struck out quite a few batters looking.

I will say this, playing the demo, its pretty evident there will still be a need for some heavy slider tweaks. However, it feels like there is enough of a foundation in place that with the right sliders, you won't have to overlook anything glaring (like lack of errors last year) and that once we figure things out, this will play a great game of baseball. Already having a blast just on default Pro, despite kicking the computer's butt game after game.

[Redemption]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

What I will challenge people on is the apparent over-agressiveness of the A.I. batters. Not sure where this is coming from as I've had no issues with that. In 9 games I've struck out quite a few batters looking.

I wouldn't call this being over aggressive, but one thing I have noticed in the last few iterations of the game is that if you are throwing 1st pitch strikes to every batter, it seems like the hitters will collectively start to swing at that first pitch. Once in a while I get in the groove of not throwing enough balls and being "too accurate" and I notice thats when the AI starts to stop taking strikes and starts swinging early.

Some people may call that (swinging at every first pitch strike) over aggressive, but imo it is actually a good thing. If I become too predictable, I expect the AI to try and take advantage of it.

Otherwise, I agree sroz, the AI batters seem to have a good mix of chasing pitches and being patient (and I also get my fair share of looking 3rd strikes)

[jeffy777]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

OK. So I have put in a number of solid hours on the demo up to this point. Here are my impressions.

Graphics:
First stand out feature is the quality of the lighting and shadows. Colours are realistically rich and the balance of shadow and light is just about spot on.
Stadiums and general staging are great as usual(2K are always good at this).
The players are better than 2K10 but still have a plastic look. Having said that I have seen some great mo caps and facial expressions. Texture of uniforms still leave a bit to be desired.
General animation and movement is improved but what is a bit anoying is the intro presentation. I like a seemless game intro I can watch to ease myself into the atmosphere. But part way through this intro it unexpectedly cuts important stat screens after a few seconds. Grrr.

Gameplay:
I hope we can change the batting camera view cause it is an ugly, ugly sight on the demo.
Getting a base hit is a challenge, and one I welcome with open arms. Maybe I'm just crap but I have not got a Homer yet. Contact in the sweet spots seems to be of a much higher importance.
Base stealing is hard! It takes some pretty sweet timing with a close eye on the pitchers action to have a chance. Thank god for the sliders in the full game.
Pitching is a hard thing to master in 2K11...GOOD! I dont want to paint the corners every pitch and the variable strike zone is an exciting, and highly welcome frustration.
I tend to think the pitcher gets rattled too easily, even with a high composure rating. Sliders will save this as I tend to feel too many runs will be scored in the full game or worse, managers will take starters out too early.
The fielding mechanics are definately the highlight this year. Great modifications in the catching sphere and the throw metre seems to make perfect sense, flowing nicely with the rythm of the game overall.

Now for a few gripes...

...Firstly, I have to mentioned the poor batting camera and I cant remember if we have been told about alternate views? Its no big deal but just gets under my skin how ugly it looks. Secondly, I have experienced a number of buggy, odd instances. At one point I was pitching and a ball began floating behind my back like a damn ghost was copying my every move! I also experienced my catcher pushed 3 -4 yards towards the dugout by a struck out batter as if the catcher was on an imaginary skateboard, ughh! Finally, I had two of my outfielders run THROUGH each other before taking a catch deep. What the hell? No collision? Thats not cool, simply not cool at all.

Overall:

Love it! I am sure the technical glitches can be easily fixed and as long as the commentary is varied enough I might just play through an entire 162 game 'chise this time round. Well done 2K on a very decent demo.:wink:

There are other hitting cameras, plus you can customize each preset (zoom, height, angle, etc.) to make your own custom view. You can even hit from behind the pitcher if you want. It definitely would've been nice if these options had been in the demo, but don't worry because they'll be in the full version.

[jeffy777]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

I was thnking about the framerate hitch on some of the popups (mostly on fouls), and I'm thnking it's probably not going to be in the full game because 1.) it wasn't in the gameplay video that Ronnie made 2.) Chase didn't notice it when he previewed the game 3.) No one else who previewed the game noticed it (Destructoid, Kotaku, etc.)........so the demo must just be an early, less optimized build (no surprise there considering that's what demos usually are).

[DirtyJerz32]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

I was thnking about the framerate hitch on some of the popups (mostly on fouls), and I'm thnking it's probably not going to be in the full game because 1.) it wasn't in the gameplay video that Ronnie made 2.) Chase didn't notice it when he previewed the game 3.) No one else who previewed the game noticed it (Destructoid, Kotaku, etc.)........so the demo must just be an early, less optimized build (no surprise there considering that's what demos usually are).

I hope that's true. I also hope they fix those jaggy shadows on the players. I'm really looking forward to Tuesday. It's gonna be a good year for baseball this year. Hopefully there aren't any bugs or glitches that keep this game down.

[tmac55]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

Not sure if this has been mentioned but some of the framerate issues could be blamed on the swing and pitch analyzer cut scenes. I notice lots of framerate issues whenever those pop up. I think this was the case last year and i turned it off in the full version. Hopefully this will be ironed out in the full version.

[elfdutch]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

Played about 10 more games on the ps3 demo and have to come back on my initial opinion a bit.
For comparison sake i played 2 games on mlb2k10 as well, both of course Rangers @ Giants, daytime.

Must say some things are better, for example the graphics.
At first i did not notice this, but the graphics on the ps3 are much smoother this year. Yes there are still jaggies on the shadow.
However, the uniforms and other stuff look much much smoother this year.
Gloves also look better, though still not current gen.
All in all much better. I do hope this is also the case with night games, which were very very ugly on the ps3 last year.

There's more animations to be seen. Catcher is looking much better this year. I noticed some nice dives as well. I have the feeling that the game auto dives for you as that happened to me a few times.

Pitching and batting have for me always been the strong points of this game. I loved both on 2k10. Pitching is much improved this year.
Fastballs are going more straight.
Borderline pitches are no longer 100% strike anymore which is very good.
Batting is still good. More hit variety. Playing the game right now and i just hit a groundrule double. Something i almost never noticed on 2k10.

With regard to the cameras, i don't like the default batting cam but i know it cvan be adjusted in the final game.
The cam after hitting....a mixed bag. It's ok i guess for balls hit low. I don't like it on fly balls. Some may say its realistic. I prefer to see the ball float, giving me more info on whether to advance my runners or not.
Hope this can be adjusted. High flyballs in the infield...it's nice to see they are finally there. Too bad you can't see a damn thing because of the new camera. Same with home runs, i like seeing the ball go out of the parc.

Replays/atmosphere.
They really missed the boat on that.
On a positive note, there's more views of players/pitchers after an out, which is good. But why o why, on every important hit do i have to watch the runner round the bases. Well, not rounding exactly, my 80 year old grandmother can round the bases better than this.
Really 2k, this could and should have been so much better. MVP05 had better replays than this.
Not that difficult to achieve i would think.
I know gameplay is more important, but some better presentation elements would have really added to the overall experience.
For example, home run celebrations, crowd noise.

Then there's a bug every once in a while. Experience the homerun bug 1 time.(ball being caught outside the park).
Today the cpu laid down a bunt. Catcher picked it up and kinda pushed it to first base. With push i mean it looked like he was playing basketball.
Look really crazy.
Something else that just happened...i was pitching and the count was 2-2, i threw another ball and heard the ref say 3-2 and then ball four, and the runner could take his base. Anybody else notice this?

I found that mlb2k10 was issued a little too hurried. I don't have that feeling anymore with 2k11, but i do feel they missed some things.
All in all i now feel better about the game.
Still think that the changes do not warrant a purchase.