MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

[BloodRed174]

Re: MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

Just finished my first game also. Got shut down hard by Kazmir on Legend. Lost 4-0.
TB 4/6/1
PHI 0/1/0
I couldn't hit anything. Hit 2 pitches solidly, my one hit by Victorino, and another shot down the right field line by Howard that went foul, everything else was just a little dinker. (Legend is definitely Legend lol)
But anyway, some things I liked that I noticed:
- Saw Kazmir chewing gum and Matt Joyce looked like he had sunflower seeds or something in his mouth. His cheeks looked all puffed out lol (prolly just me seeing things)
- Progressive lightings is AMAZING!!!!! I had a really long top of the 3rd and I could see the lighting changing throughout the inning which was definitely cool.
- CPU actually stole a base on me! Definitely liked to see that.
- Seemed like the CPU is much smarter this year. Seemed as if Kazmir was setting me up with pitches alot, especially if I was swinging early at pitches. Like he knew I was doing bad and was trying to keep me off balance.
I'll post more as I play more games.

[kehlis]

Re: MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

How is everyone liking the routes the cpu fielders take to get the ball?

gameplay wise, it is the best upgrade in my opinion.

[nemesis04]

Re: MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

gameplay wise, it is the best upgrade in my opinion.

It really opens up the game for the extra base hits. Do some replays to check out the entire routes. Pretty impressive!

[BloodRed174]

Re: MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

gameplay wise, it is the best upgrade in my opinion.

Yeah i saw one where Upton hit a liner to left center field and Victorino took a wrong route and misplayed the ball and it rolled to the wall. It wasn't a glitch or anything, he actually looked like he misplayed it, stopped and turned around and gave chase. I love it!!!

[Blzer]

Re: MLB 09 The Show Demo Up - Impressions

Okay, I've played this demo at least 10 times now. Here are just some things that I jotted down. Note that these are demo impressions only, so anything that sounds "negative" is just me jotting down notes from a demo, that's all that it is. I don't want people harking on me if they feel their game is being mistreated.

Here we go:


- Wow at the game intro, lighting, and Citizens Bank Park!
- The crowd is freakin' amazing! Seeing them move across the walk in the outfield is truly amazing.
- Whatever it is that they did with the graphics, the player models don't hurt the game's look as much anymore! Still can't wait until next year, though...
- Framerate looks to be around 30, though I will expect 60 from the final game.
- Seams on the ball!
- Everything feels much more responsive in this game, especially swinging. Now I actually feel like I don't need to swing while the ball hasn't even reached the dirt yet.
- The broadcast fielding cam shown on the replay is what I'm hoping they can find to put in as an option for a gameplay cam next year. I remember the first time I saw that Teixeira home run in the Yankee vid and went numb, falling out of my chair. If only I could do that on every play, I would probably never get out of the first inning.
- Footprints? Effing footprints? Detail galore.
- A few stances are rather laughable. I understand capturing the player, but some simply don't do it for me. That's probably just me. Bad boy, BSG!
- Pitcher cam is beyond excellent. I absolutely love the delay for camera transition off contact.
- After gloving the ball with Howard, I noticed that I could hold onto Circle and he'll run to first base on his own. If the pitcher gets there before he'll then flip it over. Nice touch.
- The strike zone is only relative to the player's height and not the batting stance itself. I can't recall the player(s), but some of the taller guys with low stances almost have the same strike zone height as Jayson Werth.
- Yes, there's a repeat crowd. No, nobody cares after seeing them get out of their seats and move about! There are even people with earmuffs!
- I have only hit a couple of home runs, so the runs that I have been scoring on singles and doubles and such is a welcoming surprise.
- I stole with Victorino and the pitch was low and in the dirt, going past the catcher. On the replay, Campbell said that it would go down as a passed ball. I tried to look for the stats that showed the stolen base numbers though couldn't find them, but I wonder how this stat was actually tracked? Passed ball or stolen base? (it should be stolen base)
- I love the fact that we can turn off almost every visual aid. I like my games to look as real as possible.
- Day progression is epic, though I noticed that once it wants to actually get darker, it does so very quickly... meaning it goes from its twilight phase to pitch black in four or five batters. I wonder if this is just a demo only thing?
- Crowd audio is phenomenal, especially when they're backing up the Phils. This game captures the stadiums very well in so many ways.
- There was a liner to the left of Utley (I was controlling him) and I went over, but the game didn't seem to want to go into a catch animation for me and it seemed to just go through him.
- Kazmir sucks at the plate.
- In manual replay, it's very awesome that there isn't really a height limit, meaning on a fly ball I can lock on the ball and still go above it and overlook the glorious stadium(s).
- It felt great getting deep into counts, having the controller vibrate, and with the crowd behind me. Foul balls are a godsend!
- I know the IGN article said something about no check swings, but I did numerous times, if not as much as in the '08 demo.
- The AI plays very human-like. I love that they've hit a couple batters of mine, they've made errors, and that they chase out of the zone.
- On one of the CPU's errors, Rollins overthrew Howard and the ball sailed into the dugout. There was then a cut scene to the Phillies dugout (because the inning was dragging) and sure enough Howard was there talking to four other Phillies guys.
- I've seen almost every kind of hit that you can get (foul balls included), and I still haven't seen every kind of hit that you can get! Absolutely epic hit variety.
- Took me a couple of minutes to find out how to quit out of the demo.
- Campbell seems to take less lines than Hudler this year.
- This game has a very rewarding feel when making that diving stop or driving in that runner from second with two outs. Not like baseball games in the past where it just feels "ho-hum."
- No broken-bats yet, even though there have been quite a few fisters from both teams. Could just be because it's in demo form.
- No injuries yet, either.
- The electronic scoreboards on the outfield walls are very sweet looking, really adds to the stadium's immersion.
- I saw a mound visit in my first game only. How do I go about doing a mound visit?
- Sometimes a pitch gets selected for me even though I didn't yet select a pitch (it seems to normally be fastball). What's weird is the game acts like I haven't yet selected it because the pitching options aren't greyed out. Don't know what that is all about.
- Say what you want, but Hamels can hit and run.
- Playing with my resident was very fun. I can't remember the last time I've played a baseball game against somebody else and had fun, that wasn't SlugFest.
- It feels great to leg out triples, or just the fact that I can is great on its own.
- I like the new look of the pitching meter. I miss getting that blue "blink" when I time my release perfectly though.
- WELCOME TO THE ****ING SHOW!!!




It will be hard to pass up this game, even if 2K9 is every bit as epic. I just want to know about the framerate and day progression. Aside from that, we're looking at, hands down, the best sports game ever!

[Bodizzy]

Re: MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

The progressive lighting is beautiful. I also dig the new pitching meter, especially on an aesthetic level. Fielding is great; feels tighter. I can't wait 'til the first week of March. Order a pizza, make a few cocktails, and immerse myself in rebuilding the Giants.

[JerseySuave4]

blzer, one thing about what you wrote, in 08 if the 1st baseman got a ground ball you could hit O and he'd run to 1st base, thats not new.

Upton hit a triple on me in the game i played but what was cool was i got the red/orange/yellow disappearing circle by the wall that tells you when to time your jump and last year that meant you'd either rob it or it was a home run, well i was running back with my LF to the left center gap where it was and i jumped and hit the wall but the ball bounced off the wall slightly to the right of me, Victorino then hit the 2nd cut off man (both guys were right behind each other) and was just late getting Upton at 3rd. Then i struck out Crawford and walked Longoria and had a inning ending strick out of Pena.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

Wow, what a game. Kazmir was holding me to a no-hitter, while his team had 4 hits. I gunned a guy down trying to stretch 3 with the cut-off in the second. And then Howard, who struck out the previous at back, ended the game with a Walk-Off Home Run.

The Lighting, FANTASTIC. The crowd, AMAZING, especially how you can see the guys scooting by other fans sitting when trying to get out, nice touch. The game looks more polished, and seems to have better textures, etc than '08. The players just "pop" more.

The controls are GREAT, they feel much tighter, reminds me of MVP. They dont feel as "floaty" as '08, or rather, '08 now feels a bit floatier than this after playing this.

The frame-rate is suspect, as in, it feels to dip when the pitcher goes into his windup, but that can all be due to the early build this is, and easily cleaned up. And the replay cuts are smooth as glass, and dont have that slight hitch '08 had.

You can check swings, but I also think that all plays into player's plate discipline, etc in certain counts. More realistic this way.

And the meter, while it is much improved, I will still use classic (and did in the demo), since it does not take my eyes away from the action. Love the catcher dropping signs, and batters/players chewing gum. And the behind the pitcher camera angles seem better tweaked, as well as the pitcher when you are at bat is more imposing, than before.

Did I mention the progressive lighting was AMAZING? Best I seen in a sports game yet.

UPDATE:

I turned off my PS3 for a bit, turned it back on and played it again.

NO FRAME-RATE STUTTER at all when the pitcher goes into the wind-up. Seemed to do the trick for me.

Playing in my Dell 2407 in my office. Mint!

[Blzer]

Re: MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

blzer, one thing about what you wrote, in 08 if the 1st baseman got a ground ball you could hit O and he'd run to 1st base, thats not new.

Interesting, I played the '08 demo like night and day until this one, and I don't ever recall it being in there. Maybe I just never tried.

[kehlis]

Re: MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

It really opens up the game for the extra base hits. Do some replays to check out the entire routes. Pretty impressive!

To me the biggest difference now is that there is a difference between hitting a fly ball to the outfield and a line drive...I think the reaction time is perfect, and on any liner, if it is caught, it was hit pretty close to the fielder...And their range on fly balls is perfect.

I have seen some bloop singles, and there were some liners that got through for extra bases that wouldn't have been last year.

Well Done!

[Mark IV]

Re: MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

One thing I hated to see was the homerun cam thing. It ONCE AGAIN shows the players reaction and then all of a sudden you're rounding second base. One time I never did see where the ball went or what it looked like on the homerun.

Luckily I play RTTS where they show it from behind your player, but I can't believe they left that thing in. Most everyone I've seen hates it, but it's still in there.

[Knight165]

Re: MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

The hits are awesome this year.

I've hit bloopers...and screamers. You can really tell the difference.
Some of my foul balls down the line...SCORCHERS and I was like..."damn, why couldn't that have split the OF'ers?!

M.K.
Knight165

[JerseySuave4]

Interesting, I played the '08 demo like night and day until this one, and I don't ever recall it being in there. Maybe I just never tried.

well i dont know about the 08 demo, i'm talking about the Final product of MLB the Show 08 you could do that.

also, how do you quit the demo and start a new game once you finish a game, i couldnt figure it out so i quit the game all together with the ps button.

[Infinite202]

Re: MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

I just finished playing the demo, and it was very good. Question: Is it just me or do you actually have to aim where you're swinging at now? (I played in HoF mode)

My only disappointment is that I mistakenly thought that I could go back to playing MLB '08 after playing this demo and I was wrong. I feel like I'm stuck in limbo until '09's release.!

[Yanks22]

Re: MLB 09 The Show Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

loving this i cannot stop playing. the new fielding routes. still don't get a full home run trot around the bases but do get a lot of awesome angles of the homerun and reactions and different views of certain bases. Framerate not concerned about for the retail version from what knight jim and nem are saying along with all the SCEA guys should be no problem. now i just need to play as my yanks. cannot wait for march 3rd