terpfan1980

Join Date 08/2004

+13

MLB 2K6 [XBOX 360] review

Prior articles might have given me away as a baseball fan, but in case it's not obvious, yes, I am a baseball fan -- including baseball on the video game consoles.

I could spend a few seconds with the right google keywords and dig up some ancient (in terms of computers/video games) reviews that I did on baseball games for various systems, dating all the way back to the very first baseball game released for the old Playstation (original Playstation, not PS2) system. Boy, that dates me a bit, and just thinking of the crudeness of that original baseball game there makes me laugh. Still, it was baseball, and I was happy to have it available.

Thankfully, over time, the baseball games have gotten much better than they used to be. The graphics have improved as the generations of video game consoles have improved. I still miss some of the realism of the old World Series baseball game on the Sega systems. That game almost made the old Sega Saturn system, and later the Dreamcast system, worth owning.

As I said though, over time the systems have changed, the graphics have improved, and the gameplay has changed in various ways. Some good, some bad.

(Screenshot from 2kSports - John Smoltz bringing the heat)

The graphics shown above are a sample of the imagery seen on the current MLB game by Kush gaming and 2KSports. It's hard to pick up the level of detail that can be seen on the 360 thanks to the HDTV support on that system, but the image above gives a small sample. Hopefully the images below will also help.

Before going too far in this review, it should be noted that because of a 'exclusive rights' battle between EA (Electronic Arts) and 2KSports, 2KSports will be the only official MLB licensee this year, and for several years to come. EA started that war with an exclusive license deal with the NFL and NFLPA, and 2KSports countered with the MLB and MLBPA. What does that mean? As noted, 2KSports is the only third party provider of official MLB video games this season. 2KSports/MLB's agreement does allow first party development, which is what allows Sony to continue to put out their MLB 06 game on their hardware. On the other hand, fans of the old Triple Play and later MVP series by EA will be disappointed because the MVP series is restricted to NCAA (college) baseball. EA was able to tout that they have included the ping of aluminum bats in their game, but if you are like most fans of video game baseball, you'd much rather be playing an MLB game, rather than one with college teams and players you've never heard of (especially since none of the player names are real due to NCAA restrictions).

With that information in hand, it's time to continue with a review of MLB 2K6 for the Xbox 360.

(Screenshot from 2KSports - What Wrigley field was made for)

Game graphics:
The graphics in the MLB 2K6 game, at least on the Xbox 360 are a mixed bag to me. The players themselves, and the animations of their various activities seem quite good and actually pretty impressive. On the other hand, the game seems to have a cartoonish feel that I just can't seem to shake. The field seems somewhat unnatural, no matter what park is seen. The crowd also seems flat, at least until you get a closeup image of the crowd cheering for a play, or perhaps a bit of a closer image when a ball goes foul. That doesn't bother me that much, as the flat crowd/audience in these games is par for the game on console systems. Things have improved a little in that area, but given the limits of the hardware involved, the programmers have to restrict themselves somewhat and have to live with artist renderings of crowds at times when they may want to try for a bit more detail.

Something that I found horribly irritating though (and unfortunately don't have an image available of) was a close-up image of the crowd cheering 'for the good guys' when I finished playing a game. The crowd looked horribly stereotypical, as if someone had decided that the only people that would attend baseball games are rednecks, college kids, and the like. Perhaps I missed seeing the clapping and cheering family man with his kids, or the business man taking a client out to the ball park, but the image that was shown was far from natural. It may have included digitized and scanned faces put together as composites to make up the crowd, but it just didn't seem 'right' or normal.

(Screenshot from 2KSports - Renteria hustling for the infield base hit)

Another area that seems inadequate for the graphics is in the presentation leading up to starting a game. The same problem exists in the NBA 2K6 game on the Xbox 360. While the graphics within the game are nice, the presentation as you select teams, manage game modes, select options and such seem less jazzy and more plain than most gamers might expect on current generation hardware. Perhaps this is because EA has made deals with some of the broadcast partners, preventing those partners from providing images to the 2KSports folks, or, perhaps it is just because the 2KSports folks just don't want to take the time/effort to work on graphics that are deemed less important than game play. I'm not sure, but I do mark down the graphics because of the lack of glitz in that area.

Audio:
The audio features in MLB 2K6 are very nice. As you get ready to start a game, Jeanne Zelasko's voice will start talking about the coming game. Her intro is smooth and timely as she passes on to her partner. From there, you roll right into the game with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan will call the play-by-play and offer color commentary as you play. They seem to have a deep vocabulary and offer timely comments, trivia and insight as you play. As with most sports video games, over time that commentary will get repetitive, but it seems that it will be a while before it does.

Artificial Intelligence/CPU play:
Something that 2KSports does incredibly well is their VIP (Virtual Identity Profile) mode implementation. It's discussed a bit more in the feature list below, but basically thanks to the VIP system, you can trade off a virtual representation of your game style with other players. In doing so, you can play against a virtual representation of your friend, or any other player across the network. The VIP system makes the replay value of the 2KSports games soar to almost immeasurable levels. Even as you master playing against the CPU, or against a friend, you can download other VIP files and compete against those to give yourself an ever changing challenge.
The game play against the CPU is challenging as well. Pitch or hit too predictably and you will pay for it. Not impossible to beat, but not weak by any stretch of the imagination.

The standard list of features in MLB 2K6 is impressive. It includes:

World Baseball Classic™ Mode - The epic new international baseball tournament is exclusively captured – all sixteen teams, logos, and uniforms, as well as the authentic all-world tourney structure
“Inside Edge™ - Three years of actual scouting reports and analysis literally built into every player, every pitch, and every swing of the bat.
Pitcher - Batter Showdown - A revolutionary breakthrough in batting control coupled with a new and intuitive pitching interface and truly accurate and individual player behavior brings the pitcher batter experience to a new level.
Swing Stick™ - Analog stick batting brings baseball video games to a new level. Control power swings, check swing and bunts all through simple and intuitive analog controls.
Pure Motion Physics - An all-new physics engine brings running, throwing, fielding, tag outs, and player-to-player collision animations to life with more detail and variation than ever before.
Umpire Challenges - Stand up for your team and challenge close calls when they count the most. Feel the heat of the moment with new, interactive umpire challenges that have a direct affect team morale and performance.
V.I.P. (Virtual Identity Profile) - The popular 2K Sports exclusive feature is now available in our MLB franchise! Save your friends’ profiles to compete when they’re not available! Learn their tendencies, moves, & logic for more heated battles. Get the upper hand in online tournaments by downloading other players’ VIP profiles.
Player Morale System - Successful team decisions and well-balanced team brings optimal performance to the field and the plate. Your team’s morale now hinges on every franchise move you make at any time in the year.
The Online Experience - 2K Sports continues to lead the online gaming revolution as Major League Baseball® 2K6 brings you seamless online play and the most comprehensive online feature set anywhere including online stat tracking, buddy lists management, and online leagues.

(list of features from 2KSports site)

As the first MLB game on the Xbox 360 platform, MLB 2K6 scores well, but not great. Something between a solid double and a sliding into third triple. Most definitely not a homerun, but not a strikeout either.

Graphics: 6.5
broken down as Player graphics: 7.5, Stadium graphics: 7, and Presentation/intro graphics: 5

Sounds and Audio: 8

Replay value: 9

Overall score: 7.5

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By the way, something else I could mark Major League Baseball 2K6 on the Xbox 360 down a bit more for is that there's a glitch that can cause the game to freeze for some Xbox 360 owners (myself included

)

More info can be found here: http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/10702/MLB-2K6-Xbox-360-Freeze-Issue/

Hopefully that issue, and any others along the way that happen to pop up, will be addressed and corrected before too much time passes.

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Baseball is retarded. This isn't a Console gaming site. Get this crap off of the boards.

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seriously, im not gonna go and say baseball is retarded, but the guy has a point this isnt a console gaming site, it isnt a baseball site, it isnt a review site for other games, there is a reason it is called the galciv2 forums, its supposed to be about galciv, and experiences, ideas, problems and other things game related. im not gonna attack anybody here just have a little respect and go to the proper places for things like this if you want to review something

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I agree this isnt a console site, but I looked and sure enough this is posted in the console section of the forums (I didnt even know we had one of those)... But what I will say is that this guy is probably some duper getting paid by an advertising agency. The formatting and lack of any spelling/gramatical errors give it away. So in light of its fakeness I still opt for this post to be done away with!

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While I would not say that baseball is retarded, I will say that it is boring. The post, OTOH, is borderline "learning impaired". It's sort of like the post wandered into the wrong bathroom because it couldn't understand the pictogram on the door. I'll leave it up to the OP to figure out what this says about him (or her).

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Folks, you idiots are on the ones that are learning impaired.

Everyone one of you folks above need to slow down a bit and check to see what areas you are reading these posts in.

That goes for folks named MOIISKA, Josh_88, eancum, and RichVR

As to comments saying it's in the wrong place, check at the top of the article/post and see what area you are reading the messages in. You apparently don't know when you've found an article that was cross posted through JoeUser into other sites -- but which is clearly indicated as being GAMING / XBOX.

So, take your now Xbox attitudes and move them elsewhere, as you are cluttering up my space

--

Above comments meant as sarcastic replies to folks that are -- for the second week in a row -- not paying attention to the nature of the site they are using.

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In case you missed it, check right at the top -- Gaming > Console Games > XBOX

Apparently just because it shows "Recent Forum Post" gives some people a hair up their rectums and apparently allows them to be prejudiced against games on other platforms, even as they fail to read what areas they've wandered into.

Take time and read people. If you don't care about Baseball, Baseball games, or console games, more power to you, just ignore the post and move on.

Meanwhile, do learn to understand the nature of the cross-posted messages that are spread throughout JoeUser, GalCiv2's forums, and other Stardock forums. If you don't, you'll just embarass yourselves much more.

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Who was learning impaired again there RichVR, and who didn't pay attention to the symbols on the doors?

Oooops, you spoke too soon, no?

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Thanks for the compliments on my spelling and grammer. (Or is that darned word: grammar?) I'm not a paid shill. I do however take pride in trying not to post articles that show I didn't take the time to respect potential readers enough to proof-read them.

If you checked around a little, you might find my comments, suggestions, praise, and frustration with GalCiv2 and even some other previous Stardock games. I'm an end user like everyone else. I happen to be an end user of multiple systems, and multiple games on those systems. Like most gamers, I don't like to waste my time or money on games that suck, and because of that, if I can take a few seconds, or even several minutes, to tap out a few words to give praise to a good game, or slam a bad one, I will.

I hope someone else that might have been thinking of the same game gets to benefit by me having wasted my $$ first, or gets encouraged into spending a few $$ for a good game (such as GalCiv2, The Political Machine and more) that they may otherwise have missed.

We now return you to your normal levels of griping about the latest beta of GalCiv2 and the features that still aren't there but are hoped for in future versions

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The formatting and lack of any spelling/gramatical errors give it away.

Oh, I would also say about the formatting and presentation used above - if you are gonna take the time to write something, do it right -- presentation included. The formatting is done because I would like people to be more easily able to read what I wrote.

Forgive me for having worked in the printing business for too many years, and having been through multiple years of art classes before that.

Presentation is important though. If it wasn't then why would people be paying money to get GalCiv2 when GalCiv still worked fine? Why pay to get new video cards that can enable smoke, and other features not found in the old CGA video cards of the first pcs? Point being that, like the skaters in the Winter Olympics, presentation counts, and readers can be quickly turned off by reading something wasn't presented to them in a way that they perceive effort in.

To relate this to GalCiv2 a bit more, if someone gives you a simple readme.txt that says something like:

1. install game
2. start game
3. choose tutorial

Instead of something like:

1. Begin by installing the game. The install process is started through Stardock Central, or by inserting the game CD...

2. Start Galactic Civilzations 2 by double clicking on the Galactic Civilizations 2 icon....

You get the idea.

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Nice article terpfan, too bad people slam you without bothering to see that you did indeed post in the right discussion forum.

You did an excellent job of covering all of the features, but you left me wondering one thing: is it fun?

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Yawn.

Okay, baseball isn't retarded. Baseball is one step removed from counting holes in the ceiling when trying to stay awake in a class during some boring lecture.

Though I do see that this is a forum mix up, and I can't complain about the post being out of place.

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I'd just like to thank terpfan for submitting such a well written, and informative review.

I'm expecting delivery of a 360 any day now. So, for me at least, ANY feedback from a 360 owner is greatly appreciated.

Nice work terpfan.

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Thanks for the positive comments camomilk and Sgt Grimes.

You did an excellent job of covering all of the features, but you left me wondering one thing: is it fun?

Good question camomilk, and for the most part the answer is yes. I'm having fun playing the game, but there is a very frustrating problem where the game may completely freeze for players -- which it has done for me a few times already -- and that is really hurting the fun factor currently.

2KSports acknowledges the problem, and is apparently working on a patch or fix for the game, but in the meantime, the apparent random nature of the lock-ups is hurting what should be an more enjoyable game.

One last comment here, found in other reviews around the net and in the game sites (IGN, Gamespot, etc.) about the game - if you have the older Xbox system, or the PS2, then you aren't missing much by getting the game for those systems instead of paying the premium price for the 360 version. The 360 version is nice, but it's really not that big a leap from the versions on the older platforms. If you want to save $10 (or more, depending on the place you buy the game), get the version for the older systems if you have them.

However, do remember that you can't get the version for the Xbox and run it on the 360. Microsoft's backwards compatibility mode is limited as to which games will work and you need an update that will only come from Microsoft, and only for selected titles, in order to play games for the older system on the 360. That means you have to buy the 360 version if you want to play on the 360.

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Thanks for that Terpfan - being in the UK we don't get to hear about games relating to baseball, so that is a very useful and informative post.

It's a shame the place is full of ignorant trolls who are too stupid to even navigate a forum successfully. No surprise that they all find baseball boring - it probably requires a brain cell count into double figures to understand the game.

Despite being English, I am a huge baseball fan - is there a PC version available, do you know? I might just have to investigate further.

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Despite being English, I am a huge baseball fan - is there a PC version available, do you know? I might just have to investigate further.

/wave to our friends across the pond

Good question on PC version, but I'm not sure of the answer. You can always hit the 2KSports web site to check: http://www.2ksports.com/games/mlb2k6/#platforms Sadly it seems that currently they're skipping over the PC for now.

You raise an interesting point about the folks on either side of the pond not getting games that don't seem to fit the market there. I got to visit the U.K. a few years back for work and got to see shelves full of Cricket games, Soccer games and other titles that weren't prevalent at all in the U.S.A. I knew Cricket was a popular sport, but as an ignorant 'American', I had no clue or thought about it being a video game. It also didn't occur to me that the game stores wouldn't carry many, if any, copies of sports games for sports that are not noted as being native to a region.

For some reason, like many Americans, I expected that MLB would be popular in the U.K., but the fans over there are few and far between, where over here in the U.S.A. most people wouldn't have a clue what is so important about Man-U.

It does amuse me when I'm blog clicking a little and hit the "English Tony Stewart" fan's site. Nice to see that some sports do find fans in either country

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