mxpxboy
February 27th, 2007, 07:43 PM
First of all, let me just start off by saying that no one was more hyped to get this game than me. Now with that said, I have a few gripes.
I have played around ten games so far and it's just too easy to hit home runs. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that 80% of runs come via home run. Even if you do manage to string together a few back-to-back hits, the next one will just be a home run so don't expect to play "small ball" and manufacture runs in a close game too often. Speaking of home runs, the player almost always looks in the wrong direction of where the ball actually goes. Also, be prepared for about 3 or 4 home run robbing leaping grabs at the wall per game. This is probably just a side effect of having too many home runs though.
Another thing that irks me is the choppiness. I don't know if it is just because it was ported or what, but there is a lot of slowdown. To be fair, most of this only takes place in cut scenes, but it's there and it's very annoying.
Actual game play feels like it's "on rails". There is no controlling your player in the batters box. Basically, you have about a half a second of user control while batting. And that's just when pulling the hit stick back and releasing it or hitting the X button, if you prefer. You can't even take warm up swings.
Going back to the graphics side of things, it is very pretty. The best looking baseball game ever made! Everything in the fore ground is super sharp and detailed. The background....not so much. As most of you have already seen and heard, the grass looks flat. Hardly any depth to it at all compared to the 360 version. The crowd is also very skinny and made up of few polygons. Not a big deal, but it does take away from the realism when every other person is wearing the same shirt and they all raise their arms at exactly the same time in unison. Also, when you hit a home run, sometimes the crowd reacts by standing and going for the ball, but most of the time they don't. And when they do, the camera cuts away so quickly that you can't even appreciate it. I imagine they do this because the crowd is just so ugly.
I guess the last gripe I have with this game is that after a regular season win it sometimes cuts to a scene showing players leap into each others arms as if they have just won the division. Not cool. Those types of celebrations should be reserved for playoffs and big accomplishments only. I can only assume this was an oversight by the developers.
Well, That's about all I can think of right now. I know this seems like a very negative review, but if you're as passionate about baseball video games as I am, be fore warned. You should definitely wait for the demo or rent before buying.
I have played around ten games so far and it's just too easy to hit home runs. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that 80% of runs come via home run. Even if you do manage to string together a few back-to-back hits, the next one will just be a home run so don't expect to play "small ball" and manufacture runs in a close game too often. Speaking of home runs, the player almost always looks in the wrong direction of where the ball actually goes. Also, be prepared for about 3 or 4 home run robbing leaping grabs at the wall per game. This is probably just a side effect of having too many home runs though.
Another thing that irks me is the choppiness. I don't know if it is just because it was ported or what, but there is a lot of slowdown. To be fair, most of this only takes place in cut scenes, but it's there and it's very annoying.
Actual game play feels like it's "on rails". There is no controlling your player in the batters box. Basically, you have about a half a second of user control while batting. And that's just when pulling the hit stick back and releasing it or hitting the X button, if you prefer. You can't even take warm up swings.
Going back to the graphics side of things, it is very pretty. The best looking baseball game ever made! Everything in the fore ground is super sharp and detailed. The background....not so much. As most of you have already seen and heard, the grass looks flat. Hardly any depth to it at all compared to the 360 version. The crowd is also very skinny and made up of few polygons. Not a big deal, but it does take away from the realism when every other person is wearing the same shirt and they all raise their arms at exactly the same time in unison. Also, when you hit a home run, sometimes the crowd reacts by standing and going for the ball, but most of the time they don't. And when they do, the camera cuts away so quickly that you can't even appreciate it. I imagine they do this because the crowd is just so ugly.
I guess the last gripe I have with this game is that after a regular season win it sometimes cuts to a scene showing players leap into each others arms as if they have just won the division. Not cool. Those types of celebrations should be reserved for playoffs and big accomplishments only. I can only assume this was an oversight by the developers.
Well, That's about all I can think of right now. I know this seems like a very negative review, but if you're as passionate about baseball video games as I am, be fore warned. You should definitely wait for the demo or rent before buying.