|
|
Alright, Alright... Seems like we all have the game... Some love it some HATE it, some are in between or on the fence. After playing 9 full games last night, learning the pitching scheme, and messing around... I feel comfortable giving my impressions... here goes.
XBOX360 - SD TV
GRAPHICS/PRESENTATION: I am on a SD TV and I'm sorry but the menu's are god awful. I have to stand literally 3 inches from my screen to make out the menu text. I love the design of menu's but I can't read anything. This would make Franchise and absolute chore.
As far as the player models go... I think they look better than last year, yes, better. The players IMO look more like people and less like plastic dolls. The one thing that most certainly took a hit in this game are the uniform and stadium textures. Uniform patches/logos no longer have that 'stitched on' look to them, it looks to me as if they lowered the texture detail about 30% on the uniforms and about 20% in the stadiums. To be honest, this doesn't really bother me much. IMO the animations in pitching/batting look soooo much better than last year that I'll accept the downgrade.
Commentary: I stopped paying attention or even noticing it after the second game I played. This really is non-issue for me, sorry I can't elaborate more.
Cutscenes/batter walk-ups: I admit the cutscenes are a little weak, and they kill the framerate, so I just shut them off. I WOULD leave them in, but then the framerate goes to poop. Though I do like the end of inning scenes, as well as SOME of the batter walk-ups. Others just look strange or incomplete at times, can't really put my finger on it.
I LOVE how you can customize music, there has been a lot written
about this, so I'll just leave it at that. Great feature!
GAMEPLAY: This where this game absolutely shines. The pitching interface is just genius. There I said it, it's genius. It's literally one of the only things keeping me from playing The Show (Yes I bought both). I mean this feature single handedly sold me on this game. I understand some love it and some hate it, but IMO it's just ace...
It almost feels (for me at least) that you can never really MASTER it, you can just get good at it. I mean the feeling you get after perfectly executing a slider on a 2-2 count and striking a guy out is just amazing. It really puts you in the game where every pitch counts and you cant just time your way out of tough situations. I think with some small refinements, this could really be the future of pitching in baseball games. I was playing as the Angels vs. the D'backs and I had Jared Weaver up to 110 pitches in the 7th inning. I think I had a 5 or 6 pitch at-bat with every batter. It just felt so satisfying. Oh and the box score of that game...
ARI 5 8 1
ANA 2 7 0
Even though I lost... A thing of beauty.
Swingstick 2.0: I have always been a classic button hitting kinda guy. Last year I never really got into the swing stick, although I tried, it never felt natural to me. 2.0 is just heaps better and has sold me. I really like it. I admit it does feel a little arcadey as once you get the timing down you can just mash everything, but I AM playing on 'Pro' or 'easy'.
The hit variety is unreal. In 9 games I have it 4 home-runs. I have it TONS of singles, doubles down the line, line shots off the wall, dribblers up the middle. It really is incredible. I think the way the hit mechanic uses a players rating is really smart and to my surprise works really really well. IMO this is the second area where the game truly shines. You can add total control fielding to that as well.
On 'pro' difficulty I'm getting all sorts of games. High scoring, low scoring, nail biters. I'm really impressed. Sliders will only make this more awesome...
FINALLY... *clears throat* AHEM... THE FRAMERATE ISSUE:
I left this for last because I think it's the one thing holding this game back from being one of the best and most fun baseball game I have ever played. Is it noticeable? Yes. Is it a game killer? Hmm, thats a harder question to answer. It's not THAT bad, but anyone with eyes can see it. I mean to be honest, the gameplay and fun factor of the game is SO engrossing, that I stop noticing it. It's not OMGOMG they move a frame ever second, and no, it will not interfere with plays or overall outcome of the game...
I will say this though... If you don't give two sh*ts about the new pitching interface, if the swing stick 2.0 still feels lame to you, if you hate total control fielding, and you absolutely CANNOT deal with a slight graphical downgrade in the uniforms and stadium textures, then YES. Yes, the framerate issue will be a game killer. If you are like me and just love the new gameplay features, sig styles (which are really unreal) and feel of the game... Then you can turn you head the other way and overlook the framerate issue and enjoy a really really good baseball game.
Last year, post patch, new sliders, I gave 2k7 (out of 100) a score of 74.
This year, out of the box I give 2k8 a score of 86. If the framerate was not an issue. I would probably rate this game somewhere in the 90's.
P.S. I see this question asked a lot, and I don't know if anyone answered it, but yes, home runs travel at realistic distances. Oh, and the collision detection is also really good. Troy Glaus hit a 456 ft blast down the left field line off me in Bush Stadium... The ball hit the brick stadium column a bunch of rows back and nearly came back on the field. Really cool.
|
|