MLB 2K12 Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

[bbking26]

Autofield threw to first instead of home when winning run scored. Other than that I liked it. I did miss commentary

[m1ke_nyc]

I gotta be honest, it was a smooth game of baseball. Graphics were slightly improved but the gameplay is much smoother. I loved the new catcher animations. So I think im gonna get this, still want the other game as well. And the hit variety was great.

[tinpanalley]

Just played the demo on 360. Very smooth, but very similar to last year. Then again, you're talking to someone who loved 2K11. The experience of baseball is so much better represented by the 2K series. If they add more amazing commentary and thorough stats to this as they did last year, it's gonna be hard for me to pick anything else unless those Move controls are reeeeeeeally sweet.

[Hajmyis]

There words. Cleaner smoother and polished..

I like it

[DaveDQ]

There are some nice animations in fielding. Especially with the outfield, I like how they try and get there for a mid field blooper. In one instance I sac bunted and the catcher did a nice look to second to check before deciding to throw to first. Another time I noticed from the outfield I hit the third base gesture and then quickly hit RB to go to the cutoff. The outfielder stopped his animation and adjusted to make the throw. I liked that.

I had a ball bounce off the pitcher and end up in the second baseman's mitt for the out..lol.

The ball off the bat seems nice. There are some nice views when the ball is in motion. Everything plays out smoothly with an occasional hiccup on foul balls.

Animations are hit and miss with the 2K signature "run back in place" type animation after a play., but that's no big deal. I think what impressed me most is the outfield play. I really liked the animations there.

[swaldo]

Just an FYI the stellar commentary is stripped out of the demo so the retail game feels so much better. Other than that here are my thoughts...

- Still some stutter & frame slow downs after balls are hit. I thought this was fixed? Maybe it's because the demo is an older version I don't know. Not as bad as last year, but is especially noticeable on foul balls.

+ New pitching additions are really nice. Took me some time to get back into gesture pitching so I stunk in my first game. Two of my "best pitches" quickly dropped in ratings and in addition I was rattled so the ball cursor was bouncing wildly. It was really tough to get out of the jam I was in which felt good.

In the second game I was rolling on the mound and two of my pitches increased in ratings. However, I was using my fastball too much so the gesture icon turned red. I had to use my other pitches to get it back to green - again a nice addition.

I do want to see the CPU pitch ratings though. I mean if I pound his sinker into the ground I want to know what his updated rating is for that pitch. And how can I tell when I have an advantage because the CPU or human opponent is using a pitch too much - or to a certain location too much?

+/- Fielding is improved in some ways, but also looks awkward at times. I do like the additions to the throwing system. On one play the CPU was going for the double play and the 2B had to fly in the air to avoid the takeout slide. While in the air with his legs split wide open he somehow managed to drill a laser shot to 1B, it just looked off.

Also, I'm sorry but even if I hit the green in the meter throws from the outfield to home plate should not always be right on line. My catcher just stood stationary waiting for the ball to land in his glove. Yikes, I'd like to see him work a little bit because that's a long throw! Overall, I think fielding is better but could use some animation and physics work.

Hit variety: Most balls were hit with a medium trajectory. Didn't see any choppers but there was a bloop hit. There were a few grounders, a couple fly balls, a home run and a couple shots down the line. Not bad overall I guess.

- Player models still terrible.

+ Baserunning did seem improved

- Still too much stuff flashing on screen. HDTV's are bright, I want this toned down! If you wanna make the most hardcore batter/pitcher duel ever then leave the arcadey stuff out.

Based on the demo, I think if you liked the game last year then you'll like it a little better this year. If you didn't like it last year you still wont like it this year. I wasn't blown away with anything, it just feels similar to last year with some tweaks.

[Benz87]

I think among the confusion of actually putting it out on the day that was promised 2K accidentally put the 2k11 demo out with updated roster and a different cover.

I see very little change except an altered throwing meter. Base running still looks awkward with odd animations and gallops, while players still don't round first unless you manually send then to 2nd and then back to first.

There is no strategy to batting, pretty much swing at every pitch in the strike zone and hope you get a hit with no rhyme or reason to it.

Pitching is still boring and feels like a chore more than a battle of wits with the batter.

Fielding still has awkward animations and the dive is unresponsive, another year of not making exciting plays on grounders.

[tvman]

Everything looks pretty much the same to me but game does run smoother which is a plus.

A negative i saw in my 2 innings of play was a single to right field by Hamilton (cpu) i threw back in to the cutoff man then tossed the ball to 1st and was able to tag him out as he had rounded the bag to far.