Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

[kGinGreen]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

I'm sick of this...




so I wrote a blog entry

Wow Tomba, strong words. I agree with you in certain regards, but it all comes down to gameplay ultimately. That remains to be seen. I definately dont think the show is the end all be all, and its presentation and cutscenes in particular leave a lot to be desired. Plus its controls are simplistic, boring and old hat. But 2k9 hasnt even really standed the test of time yet and been really battle tested. The same goes for the show for that matter. Flaws crop up and glaring ones. NBA 2k9 i thought it was great at first. Played it for a month and couldnt stand it because there were so many AI flaws. Bought Live and love it. Still love it. I think mlb 2k9 looks better and like a very solid product but we will see. I do think you can say those things without sounding nuts because this game does rival it imo. If you said that in 2k8 you'd be nuts. Anyone who thinks the show clearly wins this year is nuts imo. But we will see. I have said if people herald nba 2k9 as clearly the best basketball game, why is this game being so unfairly criticized? Because this is just as good a representation of baseball as nba 2k9 is to basketball. IMO its better. I personally think people just get things stuck i their head and just have to then bash the other game.

[Ronoko]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

why no PS3 Demo... this is pathetic... ive searched every avenue on psn and havent found crap... what a waste!!

PS3 stuff generally only comes out on thursdays.

[Glenn33]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

why no PS3 Demo... this is pathetic... ive searched every avenue on psn and havent found crap... what a waste!!

PS3 downloads always come on Thursday afternoon. That's a PS3 thing.

[JoshCA916]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

PS3 downloads always come on Thursday afternoon. That's a PS3 thing.

not always Resident Evil 5 came out on a monday a couple weeks ago, but we all know this game isn't near as big as RE 5

[ckarlic]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

why no PS3 Demo... this is pathetic... ive searched every avenue on psn and havent found crap... what a waste!!

that is the reason why im going to "borrow" my son's 360. I bought a PS3 for myself and my son has a 360.

[BrianFifaFan]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Long story short, I like. Not perfect, but really, really improved. And I like the pitching and hitting. Framerate was just fine for me, at least in the demo!

[PVarck31]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Long story short, I like. Not perfect, but really, really improved. And I like the pitching and hitting. Framerate was just fine for me, at least in the demo!

Pretty much sums up exactly how I feel about it.

[Shakedowncapo]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Tomba, Im sorry but that Blog post was terrible. Nothing there was valid, period. If I have another response, I'll be sure to PM you.

[bodhiball]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Pros:

• Pitching is working like it should. Very fun to pitch

-CB

Hey bro...can you let me know how you are pitching? I am really wanting to get a feel for the game, but so far I dont see any challenge in the pitching....you can put the ball exactly where you want every time and dont even need to do the full motion. Are you missing your spots at all? throwing balls? Have you figured out what the yellow fill is?
thanks!

[Glenn33]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Tomba, Im sorry but that Blog post was terrible. Nothing there was valid, period. If I have another response, I'll be sure to PM you.

Co - sign.

[redsox0717]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

anyone notice that the CPU sucks at hitting curve balls?

[myghty]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

why no PS3 Demo... this is pathetic... ive searched every avenue on psn and havent found crap... what a waste!!

So PSN is pathetic cause you can't wait 2 days? If that?

[LAKE4742]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Noooooooooooo!!!!! WTF happened between 2K7 and now?! Okay, well, 2K7 is STILL better looking than 2K8 AND 2K9. The art direction (in 2K9) seems weird. Detail seems to be getting less and less. The runner icons are too big, and there's sooooo much clipping. And the framerate does seem a bit off. The ball just doesn't seem to flow as fast as it should.

The next thing I noticed right away was all of the new mechanics and gameplay adds. I welcome some of them, but, it's taking away a feeling of baseball, and I feel like I'm in math class, because every action has a it's own mini-game, or puzzle. Just doesn't feel too natural. The game played sort of lazy, and almost too easy-like. Perhaps it's on the Rookie difficulty.

Looking beyond the clipping, 2K9 actually feels solid. I didn't notice any big gameplay issues on my first playthrough. But, it also feels (and looks) like a 1997 PSone game, not a 2009 360 game.

[CarryTheWeight]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

I am very, very impressed. I just came off playing some 2K7 last night and compared to that title, I've found that the 2K9 gameplay is much more responsive and polished. And compared to 2K8, I'd say this is a major improvement. Things still need to be ironed out though.

-Mound Visits are a big question mark. Since when do mound visits involve the manager staying in the dugout? I received a cutscene of a pretty peeved-off Charlie M. simply waiting in the dugout with his arm around a Gatorade jug. This should be fixed in the version we play next week...if not, what's the point of including it in the first place?

-Hit variety exists. I've seen every type of hit (grounders, line drives, foul tips, fly balls, one-hops in the infield) in the few games I've played. Although I'd say line drives dominate that list...hopefully sliders or simply increasing the difficulty (or even some last-minute fine-tuning in the final build) will help it out.

-Commentary is some of the best I've ever heard. Pat Burrell went up to bat in the first inning of my first go-around with the demo, and Thorne announced, "...listen to the reception for the former hometown player." If this happens after a traded player faces his former team during franchise, wow. Simply awesome. The "conversations" Thorne and Phillips have GREATLY enhance the presentation of the game. Tons of variety here.

-Anyone else notice that auto replays don't exist in the demo?

-Animations during the "real-time cut scenes" aren't that impressive, especially after a homerun. It seems the homerun hitter has a limp while running the bases for some reason.

-Like other posters have said, animations range from excellent to horrid. After scoring a run to tie the game, Shane Victorino pumped his fist as he crossed home plate. Not sure if this plays in with the "clutch factor" of the moment but it was very well done. HOWEVER, the transition animations between the walkup and the batting stance still look awkward. Here's hoping they get fixed before the final game.

All in all, I'm really impressed. It's an IMMENSE improvement. That doesn't mean it's perfect. But the big issues in this demo should be ironed out either by patches or by fine-tuning. I'm proud to say VC is definitely on the right track.

[wickedbadman]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Demo is pretty good, but am I the only one who has trouble pulling the ball? I can hit the outside pitches, but even when I preemptively have the left stick pushed left with a right handed hitter on an inside pitch it seems to always be a grounder to the SS.