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MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K8 XBOX 360 REVIEW |
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2K Sports
comes to the Xbox 360 scene with their unique
translation of this summer’s baseball and not
surprisingly it’s MLB 2K8! While that label has
been undoubtedly predetermined, the core
performance of the game is not yet written in
stone, up until the moment we received a copy a
few weeks ago. After days of fielding, pitching,
base running, and hitting both line drives and
homeruns, we can say to you that MLB 2K8 is an
entertaining commodity, but will need further
improvements to become a top notch sports title
in its class. Like a new vehicle, MLB 2K8 starts
off well and astounds us with a flurry of
dynamic ESPN-style presentations and
true-to-life offensive and defensive mechanics.
Not only the game is preloaded with standard
licensing of MLB players and ball clubs but also
comes with a fairly updated roster.
The most attractive feature in this year’s MLB
version is the pitching system. The developer
has found an innovative way to utilize the right
stick for throwing a type of pitch using a
particular thumb motion. For example, you hold
the right stick down then up to execute a
fastball. For a curve ball, your range of motion
start by going down first and then slide the
stick to the left in half circle going up. It’s
easy to learn the mechanics; but if you'd to
study some more, just go to the game’s tutorial
section. Graphically, MLB 2K8 has its shares of
visual brilliance and rough edges. First, the
batting and pitching animation are very smooth,
and the same can be said about the game’s
fielding aspect. It’s nice to see those
incredible catches like diving to stop a
sacrifice fly or jumping off the wall to rob
somebody an automatic homerun! Thanks to the
picture-in-picture feature, both throwing and
stealing bases are relatively simple to execute.
In addition, MLB 2K8 has implemented some
wonderful weather effects that include a
showcase of transitional time for days and
nights games. It’s easy to tell that the
developer spent a great deal in adding
tremendous details in animation as we have
discovered plenty of visual niceties along the
way. You’ll see athletes dust off their cleats
as they adjust their stance on the plate. You’ll
also see relief pitchers warm up as they are
called into the bullpen to get ready to close up
gaps in the score board. After some heavy base
running, dirt stays on player’s shirt for the
duration of the game. In windy condition, you’ll
see the batter’s uniform flapping a lot. At any
given time, you’re treated to fan cam and
statistical overlays. These overlays are at the
forefront of crowd attraction that makes MLB 2K8
more pleasing to play.
There is no doubt that MLB 2K8’s TV-style
presentation captures many of baseball’s
thrilling spectacles. We love looking at different
camera angles that emit various emotional aspects
of one of America's favorite pastimes, as well as real-time sports
updates, such as the distance the ball traveled
after belting it out of the park, or the total
homeruns earned so far in 2008 season as you
make rounds to touch all four bases. Upon
stepping onto the plate, you also receive
various individual statistical ranks that
measure where you are in the league such as your
slugging percentages against left and right
pitchers, your last record at bat, hitting
streaks, etc. While MLB 2K8’s TV-style
presentation draws in some form of baseball
pleasures, it is by no means seamless. Many of
the in-game cutscenes undergo technical
glitches. This happens when the game switches
between highlights in the current inning where
the frame rates tend to be jerky at times. It’s
also worth noting that the camera does not
perform a good job of following the homerun
ball. |
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PRODUCT
OVERALL RATING: 8.0 OUT OF 10 |
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The rest of
MLB 2K8’s graphics are respectable to say the
least. The crowd reaction is okay for the most
part; they clap to cheer their home team and
stand up when you hit a homerun. Player models
look excellent in terms of physical appearance;
muscles are nicely defined but the faces are
somewhat unrecognizable when up close. Players
do express some emotions particularly with
pitchers when a hitter gets away with multiple
RBI’s. Sometime a coach will come out of the
dugout to have word with the pitcher. In the
batter’s side, a player will react in
frustration after getting called for strikeout.
Sometimes he’ll give the umpire the “What in the
hell” look! Other dynamic content includes bats
being broken after a hard pitch and players
sprain ankles from bad collision. In the
managerial department, you take control
practically everything that is best for your
team, from pitching rotations to manipulating
ticket prices.
Gameplay-wise, you get great vision of the field
and a dynamic cursor helps pinpoint where the
ball is going to land. The game has an
incredible pitching system, but bad batting
scheme. It’s nice that the developer has
installed a much realistic pitching mechanic
other than just pressing a designated button.
However, the so called 2.0 stick feels somewhat
broken with the batting situation. The timing to
make a simple ball contact is quite frustrating
but fortunately you can always go back to using
the original batting control. In terms of AI,
the computer players react to your plays
accordingly. If you're the kind of player who
likes to steal bases, you can count on being
picked on a lot by pitchers off the mound. We
have also learned that batters contact areas are
reduced whenever you don’t make a base hit. To
improve your offense, you should really invest
in "Inside Edge"; it's a tool that allows you to
scout abilities of the opposing team.
Needless to say, the replays on after-touch
pitches are a nice visual feat, exhibiting
different plate angles of how you’ve skillfully
captured a perfect strike. What’s interesting is
that between pitches, you have the ability to
improve your attributes on your pitching arsenal
in real time by nailing those payout
performances marked by a red box. It’s
disappointing that there is no turbo in this
year’s version of MLB but the developer has
offered virtual baseball cards collectibles in
place of that. Different baseball cards are
unlocked depending on how you performed on the
field. So you might have to navigate through the
game’s menus to find out how to unlock certain
sport cards as it contains some list of
requirements. As far as commentaries are
concerned, they are right on cue but they use
the same dialogues way too often! Fortunately,
the sound effects fare better than anything else
in the audio department.
What’s the bottom line for MLB 2K8? Well, it
definitely has a strong set of creative visuals
and incredible gameplay mechanics, but certainly
a bit off in delivering smooth transitional
in-game highlights. The best part of the game is
the pitching system and the robust player and
team customization features. It has good
fielding controls and realistic animation. We
love the TV-style presentations although they
were jerky at times. Still the game had plenty
of visual details to show off like a pitcher
showing some discontent after a scored run. This
is certainly a game that maximizes its marketing
potential as we see a number of advertisements
for Chevy and State Farm tag along the homerun
walls. Needles to say, we had some fun times
with MLB 2K8 despite the difficult new batting
scheme. We are hopeful that next year, the next
2K label will have smoother cutscenes and much
friendlier batting system. |
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