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

[SuperDave21]

I absolutely loved the demo. I am a huge The Show fan and haven't looked back since The Show 06 (PS2 I think?), but 2K11 has made me take another look at the 2K series. I love sports games that are realistic, but at times I just want to sit down for 30 minutes and play a baseball game for the fun of it. I don't care about stats or anything at that point. I just want something I can enjoy and relax with. MLB 2K5 was the last 2K baseball game that allowed me to do that. It was unrealistic in a ton of ways, but at the same time, provided me with a quick baseball fix. 2K11 has brought me back to those memories.

-The pitching is really solid this year. There's nothing sweeter than throwing a pitch right by a guy as he swings and misses. It's satisfying.

-Batting has definitely improved. I feel like I can see the pitch coming out of the pitcher's hand and can react to it effectively. The games I played were mixed score-wise. Some games I would blow out the opposing team, sometimes they would beat me by one run. It all just depended on what I could do at the plate.

-Fielding feels way better. There are times when I think, "There's no way he gets to that ball," but then I realize it doesn't matter because I'm enjoying myself. Fun in a game? What a concept! Throwing feels better too. I like the fact that if I really screw up then I pay for it.

-Overall, I enjoyed it. There were a few bugs I ran into (it's a demo so I'm not surprised) but I think I may end up buying both games this year on day 1. The Show 11 didn't feel right to me for some reason. It felt overly complicated to anything. 2K11 seems to have simplified the game a bit and I can respect that.

[phillyfan23]

does the game have zone hitting ??

[ssryry29]

I noticed that the 360 demo ran smoother than the ps3 demo. Anybody else noticing this?

[goh]

Where are all the jaggies and awful graphics at there? It didn't look as good as the 360 vid I saw but I'm not seeing the big mess?

[ryan36]

Quote: Originally Posted by CMH

I played a three inning game last night and I'm just not feeling it this year. I thought last year's game just needed these improvements. I supported it, bought it and basically only complained about pitching being too easy and the lack of extra base hits. Sure there were some things that didn't work out great like fielding and those ugly soft line drives to infielders, but I could stomach it for the most part. I can't stomach it any longer. The soft line drives are still there and while it's a nice option in terms of hit variety, it's too frequent to be realistic. You just don't see that kind of contact in a real baseball game. It's nearly impossible for a ball to remain afloat that long low to the ground for that distance. The pitching mechanic is still the best in the business, but I now find myself not caring for it as much. I just want to throw the darn pitch. And that's a problem for 2K with me because the best thing it has going for it is something I just don't want to do anymore. It's not because it's not amazing or anything. I just don't want to use it anymore. I don't necessarily have a problem with the graphics on the PS3. I think they are fine enough for me. I can live with them. The jaggies on shadows are downright ugly, but it's not killing the game. However, despite all that, I just can't look at these batting stances anymore. They remind me of that guy that thinks he knows how to do everyone's batting stance and ESPN threw into our faces because he became an internet sensation. The guy is a joke. His batting stances are awful. Cartoonish. That's what I get from MLB 2K. The stances look like they should be right, but they are done so over the top. If a guy's bat wiggles, then he wiggles too much. If he crouches, then he crouches too much. It's excessive and looks like a kid attempted them. The strength behind pitches, the hammer drop from arm up to follow through is still beautiful. I love the follow through on pitches. I wish more of the animations fit that same motion. But everything in the game seems too big. Everything is larger than life. The graphics are over done. The flashes are too rapid, too frequent. The stances are extreme. The ball marker looks too big. The arrows displaying the ball's movement are too big. Everything is just too much in your face for me. I wish the game would just let me breathe a bit from the sensory overload. I guess the thing that I didn't let bother me before are bothering me now. I'm happy the development team has made such huge strides because they really have. I can tell from contact that the gameplay is improved. There are still from random things like a 1B not tagging the baserunner on an errant throw despite being a foot away and instead attempting to step on the bag first - that just shouldn't happen. Guys have to know what's going on - but overall the game is much much improved. The little things, however, are getting to me now. They are like that person you meet for the first time that everyone tells you is annoying. At first, you're like: "It's cool. They are a bit obnoxious but I can deal with it. That's just their personality." And then you hang out with them and little by little you start seeing more of these annoying habits. You start peeling away at the core and the things that are in your face become that thing which the person stands for in your opinion. And Finally, it's no longer about how nice the person talks to you, or what cool things they can do, but instead about the little annoying things that just crawl in your skin and begin to annoy you so much you can't deal with it anymore. That's how I feel with MLB 2K now. I just can't do it anymore.

Quote: Originally Posted by DickDalewood

Man, you just summed things up much better than I've been able to. I was the same as you last year, and now that same as you this year. Oh well I guess.

I agree with both of you guys. Last year , it seemed like if they'd just fix what was wrong they'd have a replayable game.

This year, to me, I think they've tried, but the product isn't compelling. I've said this before, but with all the line drives and popups, and fast fielders it still feels like it plays like softball, or at least very very arcade.

[ryan36]

Quote: Originally Posted by goh

Where are all the jaggies and awful graphics at there? It didn't look as good as the 360 vid I saw but I'm not seeing the big mess?

I played it on SD, it looks fine...playing it on HD really stood out last year...on the ps3. I'm not seeing the graphics hit from this year to last, but I'm on SD. I can only say last year I was amazed at how poor the ps3 version looked HD, when I was at a relative's house. I thought people were exaggerating, but they werent

[jeffy777]

Quote: Originally Posted by ryan36

I agree with both of you guys. Last year , it seemed like if they'd just fix what was wrong they'd have a replayable game. This year, to me, I think they've tried, but the product isn't compelling. I've said this before, but with all the line drives and popups, and fast fielders it still feels like it plays like softball, or at least very very arcade.

Very very arcade? I have to disagree. It's not like this is The Bigs 2 or something like that. I don't see the softball comparison either. Maybe with the pitch speed, but that can be turned up. As for line drives and popups, the majority of base hits in real baseball come from line drives and soft bloopers, so I don't see the problem. I see plenty of power hitting and gappers in the demo too, as well as grounders and choppers.......Yeah the infielders are kind of fast, but that can be adjusted with sliders too. You have to keep in mind that the difficulty is on an easy setting, and some folks have already said that when they change the default game profile difficulty to hard, the fielders don't react nearly as quickly. Personally I think some of the outfielders seem a bit too slow even on the default setting.

[DickDalewood]

Quote: Originally Posted by goh

Where are all the jaggies and awful graphics at there? It didn't look as good as the 360 vid I saw but I'm not seeing the big mess?

You're really going to compare what is being seen on 40+ inch TVs to a YOUTUBE video??? You make a lot of stretches Goh, but this takes the cake. We have no reason to make these things up. The jaggies and muddy textures are there, plain and simple.

I was excited about this game for twoknths, thought I'd finally have two good titles to play... the demo has shown me otherwise, and yes, it's because it looks much worse than last years on PS3.

Lol... A YouTube video... Classic.