Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

[Marino]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

personally for me i can take a graphics hit bc i base it on gameplay...and plus this game looks better than mlb 07 the show on ps2 from last year...mlb 2k7 was hard for me to play bc although it looked nice it didnt seem realistic...hopefully 2k9 will b the total package and get rid of the crappy announcers as well...or at least new material

[HK-47]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

I've had the demo since yesterday and here are my impressions:

The BAD:

The first two games I played were low scoring, with the final scores being 3-0 & 2-1.The Red Sox won the first game and I won the second.But in the third game, the A.I CRUSHED every pitch I threw at them!I don't know why they suddenly could hit every pitch.
I've only been blown out twice in about 8-10, 3 inning demo games, but when these blow outs did happen, the A.I hit everything!Is it like this in the full game?I don't think my pitching is to blame, cause I was good at the new pitching controlls my first game.The main reason I lost my first game was because of fielding mistakes I made(the new controlls felt weird at first).



The graphics are not as good as 2k7's, but they are not horrible.They just look a bit more cartoony.The look of the grass is a major eye sore though.(It reminds me of a SNES baseball games grass.)


The A.I pitchers throw way too many strikes!(some say tweaking the A.I piching sliders fix this, others say it don't)


Hitters shoes turn white as soon as they get on base(is this in the final game too?).


Fans hardly make any noise!Not even for walk off wins!WTF!


Framerate stutters while fielding!(Heard about the patch, so this shouldn't be an issue soon)




The GOOD:

Great new pitching and fielding controlls!I love them!


The swing stick seems greatly improved.Love the amount of hit variety and the increase in foul balls(you were lucky if you saw ten a game in 2k7).


The fielding feels so smooth, but it doesn't look as smooth as it feels.At times it looks too fast paced(sliders can probably fix this).
Saw some nice animations...
I robbed Manny of a hit with Matt Holiday.It would of bounced off the Green Monster if Holiday hadn't jumped to grab it! I had to watch the replay of that one!It looked so nice!


A.I pitchers seem to keep their pitches lower in the zone than in 2k7.In 2k7 you would often see the A.I throw sinkers at the top corners.


Take out slides and outfield collisions look great...Except for one collision I saw that involved Manny and Ellsbury.They collided and fell, but as soon as Manny hit the ground, he zipped back up at the speed of light. *EDIT* Just saw a nice collison at home plate!Tulowitzki(me) slammed into Varitek, but Tek held on and Tulowitzki was called out. : (




I will definitely buy this game if some of the bad stuff can be fixed via patch or sliders!

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

We posted our review at WhoNeedsRules.com

It got a 6/10.

http://www.whoneedsrules.com/2008/03/turning-two-with-mlb-2k8.html

[MizzouRah]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

I still can't believe that the names of two Cubs starting players are mispronounced by the home PA announcer.

Aramis Ramirez- should be R-Rah-miss, not Air-a-miss

Felix Pie- should be Pee-ay, not PIE!!!! He is not set on a windowsill to cool, he is an underachieving Cubs phenom!!

It's funny that Miller will say it right and then the announcer chimes in right behind him and says it wrong.

[Jistic]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

Picked this game up yesterday for 8 bucks, thanks to some gift cards my wife got from work!

I played two games and don't really see what all this outrage is about. In fact it's pretty comical looking back at this thread now. It may just be a lot of PS3 versions, I dunno.

Anyway, getting right to the frame rate issue. I played my first game w/out signing out of my VIP just to see how bad the frame rate was. And it was noticable....but slightly. Second game I did sign out to see the difference, and there was one for sure. The game was VERY smooth with that workaround. I will look forward to a patch for that.

Gameplay was very fun. I love the pitching mechanics. I also used the swing stick, which I suck at. The thing that was funny is both games I played were 1-0. This was just on default pro. I did hit a 3B with Derrick Lee, but hitting was a challenge for both I and the CPU. The other thing that sliders need to change is the amount of web gems by the fielders, especially the 2nd baseman. This was also an issue last year that was very fixable.

What I did love was the hit variety and the amount of foul balls. I had one moment when I fouled off like 4 in a row and the crowd actually started to get loud, was pretty cool. Otherwise though, the crowd is pretty "meh".

All in all I need to get much better at the swing stick, not gonna abandon it yet, and need to try out some sliders. I think the game is very fun, and plays a very good game of baseball. Haven't touched franchise yet though.

On the 360, at least, I think the chicken littleing was uncalled for. I can see the alarm over frame rates before the work around was found, but really it isn't that bad. But around here we loves us some hype!

[Jistic]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

It's funny that Miller will say it right and then the announcer chimes in right behind him and says it wrong.

I noticed that too. And I also laughed cuz my wife calls him PIE. Then again we call Theriot, Ryan-the-riot.

[MizzouRah]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

I noticed that too. And I also laughed cuz my wife calls him PIE. Then again we call Theriot, Ryan-the-riot.

lol

[sportyguyfl31]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

I like the game..the framerate issue is overblown. I dont understand the pitching at all. I'm missing and have no clue why. the tutorial is useless..and is it me? or can you not reposition the catcher or move the mitt?

[BobbyColtrane]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

I really am enjoying the game but I have a few questions/comments -

How do you turn off the ticker at the bottom of the screen?

Is there any way to turn on hot zones like MVP?

Is there any way to quickly see the pitch count besides going into the stats?

I wish there was a feature like MVP that showed all the pitches during thrown to a guy and there location.

[michaeldu]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

I played 2k7 last night, right after playing 2k8. With the exception of how unis fit on players this year, 2k7 is superior looking to 2k8. What is up with the flashing around home plate when you bat? The cut scenes and batter walk ups are so much better in 2k7, why did they change so much that was good last year? in 2k8 the batters seem to be a bit robotic at the plate, especially after swinging and missing or fouling off a ball. In 2k7 the batters reactions at the plate are much smoother and realistic. In 2k8 the player covering a base and than sprinting back to his position when the play is over just looks bad. Not much fluidity in between outs. Players skating to the bag to cover it, herky jerky running, herky jerky positioning themselves under flyballs. It just seems unfinished. Not sure what happened this year. I can't wait for Brinkmans first post release interview, should be interesting.

[Heelfan71]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

2k7 looks better, 2k8 plays better. Still need lots of slider tweaking for 2k8 though. Wish they would let you do a practice swing before the pitch is thrown too.

[Sully]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

Is the final version similar to the demo?

I played the demo this morning, and it was absolutely terrible. Granted, I didn't give the game much of a chance since I quit after 2 innings, but the framerate was pretty bad. It dipped on every ball hit in play. Not only that, but the animations were awkward, and the transitional animations were a little choppy.

It didn't help that I was thrown out at 2b on a gapper to the wall by Manny. The 2B caught the ball, never turned to face Manny, and never applied the tag. I was still out. Also, I have no idea how the ump knew I was out because his back was to the play. He was still staring at 1B. Yikes.

The new pitching model is pretty creative. I like it.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

Is the final version similar to the demo?

I played the demo this morning, and it was absolutely terrible. Granted, I didn't give the game much of a chance since I quit after 2 innings, but the framerate was pretty bad. It dipped on every ball hit in play. Not only that, but the animations were awkward, and the transitional animations were a little choppy.

It didn't help that I was thrown out at 2b on a gapper to the wall by Manny. The 2B caught the ball, never turned to face Manny, and never applied the tag. I was still out. Also, I have no idea how the ump knew I was out because his back was to the play. He was still staring at 1B. Yikes.

The new pitching model is pretty creative. I like it.

Wow, thats a whole lot of badness there Sully. I run into a few quirks like that here and there, but there is nothing that makes me feel like it plays sketchier then last year's version. IMO, they really tightened things up a lot this year, and once they patch the vip issue, this game should be a pretty solid sim and blast to play.

That's just me, there seems to be a lot of people who hate it, and I just don't get. I was really hard on last year's game and I by no means am a 2k fanboy, but I am impressed with the game this year ( minus the stutter )

[BezO]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to turn off all the meters, circles, flashing lights, ect and still use the new pitching system? If not, can the meters be turned off at all while using any other pitching methods still in the game?

I don't see why they continue to use all of these meters for pitching, throwing, ect. Why not allow us to rely on the animations of player models for timing? Assuming they fix the frame rate, this will be the main thing that stops me from buying the game.

MLB 2K team, take notes from the NBA 2K team.

[Jistic]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

Is the final version similar to the demo?

I played the demo this morning, and it was absolutely terrible. Granted, I didn't give the game much of a chance since I quit after 2 innings, but the framerate was pretty bad. It dipped on every ball hit in play. Not only that, but the animations were awkward, and the transitional animations were a little choppy.

It didn't help that I was thrown out at 2b on a gapper to the wall by Manny. The 2B caught the ball, never turned to face Manny, and never applied the tag. I was still out. Also, I have no idea how the ump knew I was out because his back was to the play. He was still staring at 1B. Yikes.

The new pitching model is pretty creative. I like it.

Most people that love the Show seem to hate this game, so you'd probably be better off passing, or renting. But if you do try it, it sound like you should get the 360 version.

That said, the retail version WITH the workaround is way smooth. I think it plays much much better than last years. If you liked last years, then you'll like this years. If not, I'd pass or rent at the very least.