Major League Baseball 2K6 Review (360)

[Shaver]

I don't understand why people are choosing to call this a 'BUG'. The Madden game where the draft classes wouldn't load... that was a 'BUG'. You could still play a full game in any mode, you just couldn't use one function. A 'BUG'. This game, until it is patched (which at the time of the review -- it wasn't), is BROKEN for some owners. Not being able to play a game out of the box is BROKEN. Not being able to do a 'Double Swith' or use the 'Trading Block' is a 'BUG'.

And for those who are stepping in here to "defend 2K" from OS... shame on you. OS exists because YOU... the Sports Gamers... want a site that doesn't change their rating scale based on Advertising dollars... 2K wants that too... Don't try to defend people who aren't asking for your defense... You don't think 2K is horrified and embarassed by this?

[Gary Armida]

Quote: Originally Posted by Spills22

I never post but feel that I have to here. Come on man, you come off as an amateur giving this game a 1 out of 10. If they put out a patch, which I'm sure they will, it would get a higher score from any reviewer. I understand your frustrations and I've been debating whether to purchase the game due to the "freezing" issue. I am using this negative criticism to hopefully land the game for a lower price point or at least buy it and if it freezes return it to these stores buying into the "freeze" hype. It's a damn shame that 2K Sports did not fix the bugs first, but giving it a 1 out of 10 is uncalled for. Is this game the 25 to Life version of baseball? It can't be that bad. This site is obviously not trying to become more respectable with reviews like this. Boo!

So if the number was higher, the review would have been more professional? Did you even read the review or did you jump on the score and felt it was your duty to sound off and refer to this site as not respectable? He pointed out all of the good points of the game and stated that is was totally unacceptable to have a game that he couldn't complete 9 innings. Did you want him to make up an experience so it justifies your liking of the game and company? Read the text, not the number. I am sorry that you disagree so strongly with the review. Actually, that's not really the important thing b/c a forum is a discussion. However, to say the review was ameteur-ish and that the site is not respectable is outright wrong and a blatant lie.

I love how people are attacking the review, but still can't give a logical reason why the review is false. Numbers bother people that much I guess.

[sdrotar]

Quote: Originally Posted by favre4vr

So if the number was higher, the review would have been more professional? Did you even read the review or did you jump on the score and felt it was your duty to sound off and refer to this site as not respectable? He pointed out all of the good points of the game and stated that is was totally unacceptable to have a game that he couldn't complete 9 innings. Did you want him to make up an experience so it justifies your liking of the game and company? Read the text, not the number. I am sorry that you disagree so strongly with the review. Actually, that's not really the important thing b/c a forum is a discussion. However, to say the review was ameteur-ish and that the site is not respectable is outright wrong and a blatant lie. I love how people are attacking the review, but still can't give a logical reason why the review is false. Numbers bother people that much I guess.

Exactly. I'm willing to bet that the majority of "readers" skim the text - at best - and simply look for a number.

Unfortunately - and to the detriment of game design as a whole - this industry has made a number grade essentially mandatory for reviews. Personally, I find them limiting and overly simplistic.
I firmly believe they do the reviewer, the site, and the game being reviewed a vast disservice.

However, game developers need to take something high-level to directors' meetings as feedback - meetings that apparently can't be bogged down with the actual details of the situation (and I'd bet anyone over 30 has sat in far too many of those) - ergo, the wildly subjective and only marginally-useful-in-reality number score.

Ever since I took the reins as Managing Editor a couple of years ago, my directive to OS' writing staff has been to basically ignore the "score".
Cover the game, first and foremost, without any regard to a number. When you're finished, look back and then decide as best as possible what arbitrary number you'll eventually assign it.

What's important to me - and I believe to sophisticated gamers, as well - is the text; the actual review. This is comprised of the coverage of the nuts and bolts of any game; including mechanics, functionality, and most of all, "enjoyability". These are games, after all - a burgeoning entertainment/art form on which success is judged, much like art itself, primarily on how much enjoyment one derives from the sum total of its experience.

This methodology - which I am adamant about continuing to utilize at OS - is ill-served by attempting to distill the results to a single digit.

If I had my druthers, we wouldn't use them at all.

[totalownership]

Quote: Originally Posted by sdrotar

This methodology - which I am adamant about continuing to utilize at OS - is ill-served by attempting to distill the results to a single digit. If I had my druthers, we wouldn't use them at all.

I whole-heartedly agree with this. If one fails to implement a number system with responsibility then don't use it at all. The only way a "1" could be given to a game based on it freezing is if it freezes for EVERYONE. That isn't the case here. The reason why I'm posting is because this seems to be more than just some bad code. Everyone should be getting affected but this is not the case.

[Shaver]

Quote: Originally Posted by totalownership

I whole-heartedly agree with this. If one fails to implement a number system with responsibility then don't use it at all. The only way a "1" could be given to a game based on it freezing is if it freezes for EVERYONE. That isn't the case here. The reason why I'm posting is because this seems to be more than just some bad code. Everyone should be getting affected but this is not the case.

How can a review be based on EVERYONE'S experience?

Within that statement, lies your answer.

[mgoblue]

Quote: Originally Posted by totalownership

I whole-heartedly agree with this. If one fails to implement a number system with responsibility then don't use it at all. The only way a "1" could be given to a game based on it freezing is if it freezes for EVERYONE. That isn't the case here. The reason why I'm posting is because this seems to be more than just some bad code. Everyone should be getting affected but this is not the case.

so if a certain type of car has a issue with the gas tank that might (but not always) result in the car exploding, then a recall isn't necessary because EVERYONE isn't getting killed in violent exploding cars?

I know gaming and people dying are totally different situations, but to require that 100% exactly of the people be having the same issue seems unrealistic.

[forensicd]

I have disagreed with some of the reviews on OS before, but this one seems just about right. I dont have the game, nor do i want it after all of the problems that have surfaced. Those calling out Fossen for giving it a 1/10 must not realize the defintion of a review. If you were called on to review a product, lets say a new car, and everytime you drove it, after 10 miles it would just stop. Then you would have to push it back to the house, get in again, drive it for 10 miles, have it stop again. After doing this about 15 times, you realize this thing just aint right, then you go out and see hundreds of others pushing this same car back to the garage after they drove it for 10 miles. The car may drive nice for those 10 miles, could be the best ride of your life, but its useless if it cant get you where your going. This is the same with 2k6. Whats the point of playing if you cant even go a whole game? How could you possibly recommend something to thousands of people that just plain doesnt work?

[sdrotar]

Quote: Originally Posted by mgoblue

so if a certain type of car has a issue with the gas tank that might (but not always) result in the car exploding, then a recall isn't necessary because EVERYONE isn't getting killed in violent exploding cars? I know gaming and people dying are totally different situations, but to require that 100% exactly of the people be having the same issue seems unrealistic.

Bingo.

When I used to work in IT consulting, we had a saying: "works as designed".
That was our tech-speak for saying "The higher-ups made us code this software, even though we told them it wouldn't do what they wanted."

Even Wreckless, as Mark mentioned in his review, "worked as designed".
It doesn't make it a great game - far, far, far, far from it - but it played as it was supposed to.

MLB 2K6, at this point, is a crap shoot - you'll drop your $60 and hope it functions.
Would you do this with anything else as a consumer? I know I wouldn't.

We cannot, in good conscience, recommend in any way a game that we cannot guarantee will even work. We respect our readers much more than that.