Two steps forward, one step back
This game is best better than last year's game. It runs smoother, it looks better, and in the beginning at least it is simply better during the actual game. However, some issues still carry over, and some new things exist:
1) Hitting the ball against the wall can result in the fielder merging into the wall and getting stuck. This is only resolved by jogging all the way home and scoring. I mean, maybe you could have gotten a triple...and this happened twice in two consecutive innings.
2) Sometimes you throw the easy out to first, and the dude is simply stupid and isn't on the bag. There's no way to easily rectify this if this is a bang-bang play, but if you beat out the runner by a lot, you can wheel the fielder around to tag him out. Maybe.
3) Pitching is a bit too easy now. There have been times I've just gotten lazy and just jerk the stick ever which way, and a perfect pitch comes out.
4) And...while we're at it, the AI in this game is not so good. Stealing bases is harder in this game; you have to time it just right, but the button to steal is apparently on a delay. You can't just punch the button once you see the pitcher start the windup. That makes it a lot harder. However, if you screw up and start charging for second while the pitcher still has the ball, you can still return to your base easily, even if you go 3/4ths of the way to 2nd. Also, the CPU will not take balls that much. 3, 4, and 5 pitch innings are common for you. Therefore, stamina is not really an issue.
5) As noted before, stats for the opposing team is not available unless you buy the stuff during the game, and even then you don't get to see the batting order, which is ridiculous. That should be a no brainer. It sometimes feels like a hockey player designed the baseball stat mechanism.
Even after all of that, though, this isn't that bad of a game to play. If you're really serious about baseball and stats, you probably won't like the game. For the casual fan of baseball or of baseball games, this isn't the worst. Basic improvements to this game result in a much better game than last year, but they clearly have room for improvement. ADVICE: If you are getting this game because you have an XBOX, ok. If you have a PS3, get the other baseball game; I think it's a lot better.Read full review
