MLB 2K6 [XBOX 360] review
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JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
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:
(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
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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