World Series Baseball 2K2

"I had high expectations for this game, but was let down by limited GM options and unrealistic gameplay."

World Series Baseball 2K2 was a game I was looking forward to ever since the terrible World Series Baseball 2K1 last year. I knew that Visual Concepts was going to work on WSB2K2, and with their track record, I was expecting a great baseball sim full of options and features. When I loaded up WSB2K2, my excitement lead to shock, then frustration. I was extremely disappointed with the way WSB2K2 turned out.

Graphics:
World Series Baseball 2K1 had excellent player models and the best looking stadiums around. So it was only necessary that WSB2K2 should be a step above, right? Wrong. The player models are a little on the blocky side. Most of the black players don't look the part either. Most of them look like George Hamilton. And the stadiums have lost a lot of detail from last year. There are more advertisements in the outfield, which makes the game more real looking. The one big beef I have with the stadiums is that they look a little to bright and colorful. The bridge in the background of PNC looks teal. Some stadiums look very good, and overall I would say the stadium models are the best part of WSB2K2's visuals.

The player animations are fluid and smooth, but there isn't a wide variety of them. Fielders make backhanded stops and diving catches, but you will see those animations over and over and over again. A huge flaw with the animation is baserunning. First, players look like they are running in place for a second after they hit the ball. Then while you are running the bases, the runners don't round the bases. Going from first to third mean going from first to second, then stop for 1/4 a second, then go in a straight line to third. It looks fake, and takes away from the realism of the game.

A lot of the batting stances in this game are way off, and some players who don't wear high socks do. I wasn't expecting to have every players exact stance and every players sock type re-created, but I have never seen Vlad Guerrero and Bartolo Colon wear high socks.

Graphics:8

Controls:
The fielding controls in this game are hard to explain. There is a dive and jump button, but you almost never get to use them. The balls come off the bat way too fast, eliminating infielders diving for balls. By the time you see where the ball is going, and hit the dive button, the ball is in the outfield, and THE OUTFIELDER DIVES FOR THE BALL! This is just plain stupid. There is NO cutoff man button, which could cost you two runs a game sometimes. the shoulder buttons are not used in the outfield, why couldn't they have a cutoff man throw on one of them? It doesn't make any sense. Throwing to bases is easy, as is chasing down fly balls. Don't expect to make any home run robbing catches though, for two reasons: You can't move your outfield back before the pitch, and the balls leave the yard too fast anyway.

The pitching and batting interface is pretty good. I liked the pitching system, because you have to use strategy instead of pure power. If you keep throwing a fastball to the same hitter in the same spot, the batter is gonna crank it. It is difficult to strike out computer hitters, but I don't mind that. Hitting is easy and hard at the same time. Easy as in it is easy to make contact. Hard as in that some pitches that look like balls are called strikes. The pitches do come in slow, even fastballs. Pitches like sliders and changeups are effective and look real, but the curveball is lame. Every pitcher has a Zito-esque hook. It starts at the head, ends at the ankles. That makes it tough for players to hit a curveball when they have been seeing nothing but heaters. One thing I really liked about the pitching aspect is that players don't have pinpoint control. You really have to watch the pitchers stamina, because as they tire, they lose their control. I love that!

Control:8

Sound:
Ted Robinson did an admirable job in WSB2K2. His commentary isn't very colorful, and it doesn't give insight on players or pitchers. It does keep up with the action though, and his voice doesn't sound muffled like in other sports games. The sound effects in the game are average at best. The ball off bat sound is realistic, and the other sound effects are decent. This is one of those few baseball games that you wouldn't mind actually listening too, instead of putting on music.

Sound: 8

Gameplay:
I thought that WSB2K2 would be updated with the very latest MLB rosters, since the game was released 14 games after the trade deadline. I was wrong again. Jermaine Dye is still a Royal. Todd Jones is still a Tiger, and that trade was made in late July! And it is almost impossible to update the rosters yourself, because there is only 1 for 1 trades. You can’t trade pitchers for position players! Another reason why trading is very difficult is that the computer rejects almost every trade. The computer will only trade with you if the two players involved are the same exact rating or if your player is better than theirs! It is very hard to distinguish ratings because they don’t rate the players with numbers, rather with a rating bar. So you don’t really know how good any of the players are. There isn’t any way you can find out players rankings for things like arm strength, speed and power.

The season mode is what you would expect in a baseball game, with one very unique feature. You get to choose weather you want to play a rigid schedule, where you have to play every game in order, or a flexible schedule, where you can play the games out of order. So if you are playing a 4 game series against the Mariners, and have lost the first three, you can just skip ahead to another series, and play the last Mariners game another time. Very cool. The season mode has all of the usual GM options too.

The new franchise mode for WSB2K2 is a mixed bag. You get to utilize a 10 man minor league roster, which is full of year minor leaguers. That way, if you have a player injured, or a struggling hitter, you can send him down to the sticks, and call up a wide eyed rookie for a cup of coffee in the bigs(that’s baseball lingo for demoting a guy and bringing up a minor leaguer). As with most franchise modes, you can play multiple seasons, but I don’t know why anyone would want to. You can’t resign players during the season, which means that they will file for free agency after year. And signing free agents is done in one of the stupidest ways I have ever seen. You participate in a free agent draft, where you pick players and automatically sign them. You don’t get to negotiate contracts, you don’t get to draft rookies in a separate rookie draft, and by the 3rd or 4th franchise year, almost every big name player will be on a different team. I wouldn’t even bother playing the franchise mode, because the options that make it a franchise mode are all done horribly.

As in most baseball games, you can create players. But this feature is extremely limited. You cannot decide which kind of pitcher your player is, as in a starter, reliever or closer. You can’t customize a batting stance or pitching delivery, and you can’t even customize your socks! Yeah, no high socks! This mode isn’t a complete waste, because you can customize stuff like eye black, sunglasses, bat color and batting glove styles, among others. Don’t get too attached to this mode thought, because you can only create 3 players. So if you want to create a team full of you and your friends, look elsewhere.

World Series Baseball 2K2 does have an online mode. It doesn’t have much lag, which is great, since baseball is very much a game of split second timing. There is a nice lobby where you can chat, or trash talk with anyone you want. Another thing I like about the online game is the fact that the game keeps track of wins, losses, and disconnects. That way, if you are looking to build your confidence up, you can look for someone with a bunch of losses to wail on . Sweet!

The home run derby in this game is about as fun as rug burn. The pitches are all in the same spot, so all you need to do is move the hitting cursor to the right spot, and swing the bat. The mode does support 8 players, which is good if you want to have a slugfest with 7 friends. And in the home run derby, you won’t see little guys hitting home runs. You have to bring out the big bats to get some homers. Home run derby is a nice feature for long ball fanatics, but I didn’t find it all that useful.

World Series Baseball 2K2 has a huge bug that can make a close game a possible blowout. I had a runner on first base, and tried to steal second with him. I broke too early, so the pitcher threw it to second to keep me away. The ball went over the second basemen’s head, and into center field. All of the computer fielders just stood their, and didn’t bother to retrieve the ball. I strolled around the bases and scored. How something like this could get past the game testers is beyond me. because stealing bases is an integral part of baseball. Stealing bases in WSB2K2 is a breeze, most of the time the catcher won’t even throw down to the base!

Most baseball games don’t have great A.I. WSB2K2 isn’t any different. The computer players will throw to a base to get a runner when they have no chance at all. Bunting with two players on base seems to make the computer fielders confused. They will always throw to a base that the runner has just gotten too, and is safe by a mile. The computer pitchers are smart, and the hitters have a great eye at the plate. The A.I in the field might win you some games, but the smart hitting and pitching A.I could beat you.

I talked earlier about the balls leaving the bat too fast, which is one of the biggest downfalls of this game. You will almost never make a diving stop by a middle infielder, because the balls get past you too fast, and the dive animations take too long to execute. I also hate it when you can hit a smoker to center field, and the ball hits the wall so fast that you get thrown out going to second.
Options:5

I really wanted WSB2K2 to be a great game. But after I spent some quality time with it, I realized that maybe my expectations were too high. I just wanted a realistic game that was fun, and had easy to use GM options. Well, WSB2K2 doesn’t have either of those things, and what it does have is average control, sound, and graphics. I would very much recommend renting this game before you buy it. World Series Baseball 2K2 is full of flaws that some people could overlook, but I certainly couldn’t.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 08/15/01, Updated 08/15/01