Originally Published: February 23, 2010, on Lundberg.me and SportsRev.TV
This week I reviewed Bioshock 2 and Spider-Man 1602 #5 (of 5). I also featured actress/model Estella Warren as my hot chick pick of the week.
Tag Archive: 2k
Originally Published: March 4, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Lundberg.me
For many the wait is torturous. The gap between the Super Bowl and the beginning of baseball season is like a walk through the Sahara of the sports world in which basketball and hockey simply serve as a reminder of a once full canteen now vapid of nourishment.
Don’t fret, though, the gaming world has attempted to provide an oasis to fill our needs for the next month. Just released this week was MLB2K9 for all systems and MLB: The Show ’09 as a PS3 exclusive.
Normally, MLB2K sets up 2K sports for the rest of the year since they have coverage of all three systems and their competition has only the PS3. You would figure that 2K would attempt to provide the best gaming experience out there as they need these sales to get through the fall when they typically get punished in sales by EA Sports in hockey and basketball. You would figure.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. MLB2K9 is as sad an attempt at a video game as Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li was as a movie. 2K is blatantly taking advantage of the fact that they control the market during this time of the year as they are the only MLB title that reaches all three systems, a combined total of 97.29 million hardware units, which gives them a far more reaching audience than MLB: The Show, which only reaches the roughly 7.98 million American PS3 owners, which also happens to be the worst selling of the three main systems. (Numbers provided by http://www.vgchartz.com/ and accurate as of February 28, 2009)
Knowing they have the baseball game market cornered, 2K’s oasis is simply an illusion. This game has more glitches in it than New York City has potholes. While playing the game, I would position my outfielder directly in the circle censor to mark where the ball will fall only to have the ball literally fall through my glove. No error animation, no misjudging the ball, it falls through my glove and this happened several times a game.
And this is only the icing on the cake. The player animations are unrealistic and many stances and motions are recycled from player to player. The graphics are poor to the point that players look blocky and unrealistic, a problem that was corrected in the last generation of video game systems.
Even the menus on the pause and start-up screens are difficult to navigate. You have to go through multiple sub-menus before you find the game doesn’t even have the options you were looking for to begin with. Then again, that might have just been the difficulty in navigating the menu. After trying three different sub-menus looking for controls, I just gave up and played with the game’s defaults.
This game is an abomination and will sell well only because for about 75% of gamers out there, it is their only MLB option.
On the other side, MLB: The Show ’09. This game teleports you out of the Sahara to the French Riviera. And there are no French people around. That’s how good this game is.
First off, the basics are all covered. Smooth mechanics and animations, solid graphics, easy to navigate menus, and good gameplay. From there, The Show ’09 takes you above and beyond your typical baseball video game.
The greatest aspect of this game is the overall accuracy to real life. Every player’s stance, motions, and mannerisms have been emulated in this game to at least some degree. The batter’s hot and cold zones have been mapped out accurately and strongly enforced. If you connect with a fastball in one of your cold zones, it is a lot less likely to travel out of the ballpark than if one floated into your wheelhouse.
Add in a batting reticule that you have to maneuver to aim your swing and then watch it contract depending on your skill as a hitter makes offense a lot more challenging than in previous games.
Amidst a plethora of new features and innovations for The Show ’09, the most impressive easily has to be the one called “Sounds of the Game”. This is one of the most exciting features in any sports game to date.
The “Sounds of the Game” feature allows you to download 30 second music clips for everyone in the game. In other words, the music accompanying every at-bat as each individual player approaches the plate, every reliever entering from the bullpen, even hecklers in the crowd can be customized to your liking. You want an authentic Mariano Rivera entrance? Metallica’s Enter Sandman is there. You want Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline after every Red Sox game? Not a problem. And yes, Yankees fans, the Bleacher Creatures are available as well.
Of course, you don’t have to have it be authentic either. You can have Mariano come out to AC/DC’s Highway to Hell if you prefer. The possibilities are near endless and allow you to truly customize the game to your liking and give it an authentic feel you just don’t see in other sports games.
Even though MLB: The Show is far and away the best baseball game out there, it’s a stretch to warrant going out to buy a PS3 for this alone and that forces most people to end up having to settle for MLB2K9. This is really a shame because the only thing that MLB2K9 has better than The Show is their cover athlete. Tim Lincecum over Dustin Pedroia. I’m a Yankees fan, what can I say? I despise the Red Sox.
Whether you have a PS3 or not, both these games are out now and will hopefully provide you with enough sports nourishment to last you another month before baseball season finally gets underway.
-Ray Carsillo
Originally Published: October 14, 2008, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com)
With basketball season right around the corner as the pre-season has gotten underway, we take a look at EA and 2K’s continued slugfest for sports gaming dominance. Unfortunately, this would be similar to a highly anticipated Pay-Per-View bout you regret days later that you actually paid to watch because the most recent entry into these franchise’s respective libraries has finished off the bloodbath.
Traditionally the 2K games are very strong when it comes to basketball, and compared to their effort in the hockey realm, this is worlds better. The graphics are sharper, there are no glitches I can think of, and the pre-game movies of real game footage are a great touch. After that, this game takes a nose dive. Think of Wile E. Coyote when he keeps running off the edge of the cliff, but doesn’t fall until he recognizes there is no solid ground underneath him. That is what this game is. The game starts up and all the bells and whistles disguise it as a solid game, then you actually begin to play the game and you just plummet.
You end up being afraid to shoot the ball because there is no way of knowing what could or could not go in. Ridiculously impossible shots drop in for the opposition and you can’t even make a simple lay-up. It’s a frustrating experience at best. And don’t even get me started on the miserable defensive controls set up. If you miss a single shot you will lose every time because the computer will make a ridiculous 90% of their shots. Even with an okay franchise feature, all the bells and whistles make this a rental at best. What good is a franchise feature anyway with such horrible gameplay?
After another sorry entry from the folks at 2K, EA had a chance to deliver the knockout blow that would end what was supposed to be this heavyweight masterpiece. EA did not waste their opportunity. EA’s NBA LIVE 09 may not look as pretty as 2K’s offering, but everything else about it is amazing.
First, the newest and most amazing feature is called NBA LIVE 365. As long as your system is connected to the internet, your game will receive a feed every 24 hours updating rosters, player hot/cold streaks, injuries, and player development. This means that the team you play with will be as accurate as if you were playing with the actual team. If Tony Parker is more likely to pass to his left in a particular situation, you can bet it will happen in the game. Every shot you take is given a percentage of if your player is likely to make it or not before you press the shoot button so even if you don’t know anything about basketball, you know you had better not be shooting from three point land with someone like Eddy Curry (or anywhere for that matter).
Additionally, if you want to play a game from back in the season that happened in real life, maybe to give your favorite team a chance at revenge, it will use the rosters and hot/cold streaks back from that point in the season. All part of the new LIVE 365 package.
Even aside from LIVE 365 making this the most accurate sports game ever, the gameplay is solid. The controls come easily and quickly for even the most novice sports gamer. Defense is intuitive and you can call your own plays on offense. Free throws are difficult, but not impossible, and the overall feel of the game is just smooth. Add in a strong dynasty feature and you’ve got a winner on your hands.
The only down points are that the graphics aren’t as polished as you would like for the current generation of consoles and you would like a superstar feature possibly like in Madden or NHL 09, but the LIVE 365 feature is more than enough to satiate any diehard basketball fan.
You hear that sound? That’s the sound of Wile E. Coyote hitting the bottom of the canyon. Or if you’d prefer, 2K hitting the mat as they go down for the count.
*beep beep*
-Ray Carsillo
Originally Published: October 7, 2008, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com)
Every fall, two video game publishing juggernauts wage war with each other to see who will reign supreme in the sports video game world. EA is, of course, the favorite due to their sole rights to the NFL brand, so for the underdog 2K to dethrone the champ, they would have to contend with EA in the other two, basketball and hockey.
Traditionally, 2K takes basketball, but EA dominates hockey and, therefore, have remained the number one sports brand for years. This year, 2K planned on making a solid effort at taking the crown.
2K’s NHL 2K9 is one of the most fun games you will probably play…for about 10 minutes. You can pick it right up and start playing it, but it is not long before you see everything that is wrong with this game. The controls respond poorly, the computer A.I. is ridiculously simple, and it has the most glitches in a sports game that I’ve seen in years. Not to mention the graphics look last generation at best. The effort was there, I think, but clearly not enough because they couldn’t even get the rights to use “Madison Square Garden” in the game and it’s simply referred to as “Rangers Arena”, which as a Rangers fan, infuriated me to say the least. Anyone who gets this is doing a disservice to themselves if they actually paid for it and I’d be doing a disservice by continuing to talk about it.
EA’s NHL 09 is one of the most fun games you will probably play…ever. The new “Be a Pro” mode is amazingly accurate and the old standbys like “Dynasty” mode are just as good as ever. “Be a Pro” mode sticks you in the shoes of an up and coming prospect, much like Madden’s “Superstar” mode. There are many key differences from 2K’s poor attempt that makes this game even better. First, you can choose which franchise you belong to, which is crucial. There isn’t a Rangers fan alive that wants to play for the Devils or Flyers. Next, you can start in the minors and develop your own custom player as you see fit. If you want a stronger slap shot, you can add development points that you earn based on your performance to it then.
The third, and most impressive aspect, is that you don’t control anyone else on the team. When your shift is up, you go and sit on the bench and catch your breath. If you are out of position, the entire offensive rush could collapse or you could allow an opposing player a breakaway. Even if you’re the goalie, when the action is happening on the other side of the ice, you just stand there and wait. If you love the ins and outs of hockey or want to get a more in depth understanding of the game, then this mode is for you because it will make you learn them if you want to succeed.
The other amazing feature of this game is the puck. Whatever mode you’re playing, the puck almost seems alive. The best way to describe the movement of the puck would be organic. The only other place you would see the puck bouncing around like this would be in a real life game. That’s how real it is. My talking about it does not do it justice.
If you are a hockey fan, you must get EA’s NHL 09. No other hockey game gets you closer to the real NHL experience than this. The gameplay is superb, the graphics are great, and even the sounds of players being smashed against the boards are the most accurate you will find outside of a rink. EA has done it once again and dominated in the hockey arena. Sorry, 2K. Maybe you will fare better in the next round with basketball.
-Ray Carsillo
RayCarsilloWrites.com 