MLB 2K12 Impressions (Kotaku)

[Dazraz]

Nice thoughtful review.

It seems MLB 2K12 will once again be a game with some stand out features countered by some glaring moments of awfulness.

[peigone]

Quote: Originally Posted by NINJAK2

You can throw 100% fastballs if you want, just don't expect to be successful with that strategy as in real life.

I think you misunderstood me. I realize throwing 100% fastballs is going to get you in trouble. I'm simply against game programming that adds predetermined modifiers which cause your players to take ratings hits that affect their onfield performance. My fastball shouldn't suddenly turn red (?!) after 30 pitches and start losing its effectiveness, just because I'm supposedly throwing it too much.

Whether these devs call it "momentum" or "confidence" or "effectiveness," they just never get this stuff right. As long as I can turn it off, fine. But a lot of games don't even give you that option, and I'm saying there had better be a way to just shut it off.

[rudyjuly2]

This was the best preview I've read on the game so far. 2K's strength has been the fun of its analog pitching and it got some nice upgrades here.

First, the breakpoint changes on the pitches are nice. It's very true that the amount of break on the ball should be different depending on where you throw it. This will make each pitch more interesting as well as more realistic than last year.

I love the fact that you can't spam the same pitch or the same location. I always try to mix it up even if I know the game wouldn't necessarily punish me for it. Now they do. How they penalize you for doing this is something we'll have to see for ourselves but I do like the intent.

Individual pitch confidence is something I like. It will now be in both baseball games and it helps to create a different game every time you go out there. Often times in real life a pitcher will find a pitch not working well so he has to adjust. Each outing will now be more dynamic. Again, how this is accomplished has always bothered me a little. Giving up bloop singles is something that can be argued. Same goes for intentionally throwing a ball on an 0-2 pitch. If I hit my target why am I penalized? This will always be an issue for both baseball games but I accept it because it's probably very hard to do different.

The one area I didn't understand was the author's claim that the throwing system last year resulted in all of these over throws. What game was he playing? I'd crank throwing errors to 100 and unless you hit the red you never made an error. My complaint was the exact opposite. I made one throwing error every 50 games once you got used to the system. Throws in the green resulted in 0% errors which was very wrong. There should always be a small chance for error.

[peigone]

Quote: Originally Posted by rudyjuly2

I love the fact that you can't spam the same pitch or the same location. I always try to mix it up even if I know the game wouldn't necessarily punish me for it. Now they do. How they penalize you for doing this is something we'll have to see for ourselves but I do like the intent. Individual pitch confidence is something I like. It will now be in both baseball games and it helps to create a different game every time you go out there. Often times in real life a pitcher will find a pitch not working well so he has to adjust. Each outing will now be more dynamic.

These are great points. The question remains how well it's implemented, and if the system can be shut off if it feels overdone and scripted, as it does in most other sports games.

[tril]

I like the way the pitching mechanics sound except for the colored stripes tthat pop up in certain areas, indicating that youve pitched to a certain location too much.
hopefully you can turn the indicators off but keep the same pitching mechanic. that would present even more of a challenge.
I alos like the real world pitch ratings update.

2k has done a good job with baseball, and I look forwardto tis game, as well as the other baseball title.
thats the only sports game that Ill by both titles cause they both have very unique disinctive takes on baseball.

[RogueHominid]

This sounds really exciting. Granted, when confidence and momentum are involved there are always differences between the ideal and the real product we purchase, but I love the sound of the overhauls to pitching, hitting, and fielding. I'm really excited to see the demo; I might finally have a reason to play something other than Madden.

[Rules]

Those impressions sounded like a death sentence to the franchise. Competition is important just look at what happened to Madden and NCAA Football when complacency settles in.

[BigBlue]

I'm probably in the minority when I say this. But all 2k has to do for me to buy the game in March is bring back check swings, add cancel throw feature, and make player movement more fluid. My buds and enjoy mlb2k11 so much we still play it online, unranked w custom sliders. Don't ruin this game, 2k!

BigBlue