MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

[Ollienyy]

Everything that is being released so far is getting me more and more excited. I enjoyed MLB 2K10 and am still playing the My Player mode in this off season (and I never play those kind of modes) and the improvements to fielding mentioned, the pitching etc. Seems like they have a few small things to work on in the current model which will hopefully be ironed out before release.

[Solid-Hock]

Well it looks like both my Xbox and PS3 will have a good baseball game this year.

[SamitSarkar]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigfnjoe96

I'm pretty sure the writer meant to say Stadium Specific

Yep, sorry about that -- I wrote this at 4 AM last night, haha. Fixed!

Quote: Originally Posted by Blzer

I hope I'm reading it right and they are erring toward the side of "variable strike zones" over "variable umpires." They might mean the same thing, but what I would like is that gray area on the edges of the zone which aren't always a ball or strike. I'm just hoping they didn't mean different umpire strike zones that are still black and white, despite the fact the zones themselves are actually set differently.

The first is correct -- sorry if I was unclear. Pitches on the edge of the strike zone might be called either way in MLB 2K11.

Quote: Originally Posted by ElGuapo

Idea: the meter should very depending on how though the play was to make for the infielder, so if the infielder is throwing on the move the green bar should become smaller, therefore making it harder to get the out. just an idea.

That's definitely a factor. If your 2B snags a grounder while running toward second base and you try to throw across his body to first without setting your feet, it's going to be a more difficult throw because the green zone will be small.

[Ollienyy]

Samit, did the Demo have any of the broadcast presentation elements? (score box, lineups etc) and if so did they look the same as 2k10s or had they improved them? Many thanks for the great preview!

[SamitSarkar]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ollienyy

Samit, did the Demo have any of the broadcast presentation elements? (score box, lineups etc) and if so did they look the same as 2k10s or had they improved them? Many thanks for the great preview!

First off, mad props on your avatar, haha.

Yeah, I saw/played more than six innings, with everything in place (visual overlays, commentary, etc.). I haven't played 2K10 in a while, though, so I can't really compare, unfortunately. Nothing stuck out to me as being wildly different from 2K10.

[Saberq]

Quote: Originally Posted by SamitSarkar

First off, mad props on your avatar, haha. Yeah, I saw/played more than six innings, with everything in place (visual overlays, commentary, etc.). I haven't played 2K10 in a while, though, so I can't really compare, unfortunately. Nothing stuck out to me as being wildly different from 2K10.

So in your objective opinion was the game enjoyable and good?

[econoodle]

Quote: Originally Posted by SamitSarkar

First off, mad props on your avatar, haha. Yeah, I saw/played more than six innings, with everything in place (visual overlays, commentary, etc.). I haven't played 2K10 in a while, though, so I can't really compare, unfortunately. Nothing stuck out to me as being wildly different from 2K10.

i loved the overlays in 10, so less change the better!

[SamitSarkar]

Quote: Originally Posted by Saberq

So in your objective opinion was the game enjoyable and good?

[Let me emphasize at the outset that the following two paragraphs do not constitute anything close to my final opinion on MLB 2K11. They're just initial thoughts based on a relatively short gameplay demo.]

First off, any opinion is inherently subjective; I can only tell you what I believe, and I'm not trying to present my thoughts as facts. There's simply no such thing as an "objective opinion." Okay, now that I'm done being pedantic...

From what I saw/played (spent about 45 minutes with it), 2K11 is definitely better than 2K10 -- and 2K10 was a good game, IMO. Not great, but good (I never actually was able to review 2K10 for Destructoid, but I played a bunch of it, and I would probably have given it a 7/10). I haven't yet been able to check out MLB 11 in person, so I can't compare it to 2K11 directly, but it still doesn't seem like I would want to play 2K11 over MLB 10, for example.

I mean, 2K says they're focusing on polish this year. That's great, because 2K10 was a solid foundation. I think 2K11 could be very good (again, all I saw was gameplay; they weren't yet talking about stuff like online play, Franchise, or My Player). But the way I see it, making incremental improvements to 2K10 simply isn't going to produce a game that's as good as The Show. Let me be clear: I don't want to dismiss 2K11 altogether after only a 45-minute demo. But I didn't see anything that blew my mind, and The Show pretty much manages to do that every year. I don't expect I'll be able to recommend 2K11 over MLB 11 to PS3 owners, but who knows? Maybe MLB 11 isn't all that much better than MLB 10. We'll see. (I'm supposed to be checking out The Show next week, so I'll post a preview on Destructoid when I do.) If you only have a 360, though, I think you'll be happy with 2K11.