Major League Baseball 2K8

"For those sick of Wii Sports, something you may enjoy..."

Introduction:
When the Wii was first announced, gamers the world over imagined plenty of activities that would get a welcome boost from the little Wiimote that could. There was sword play and archery to be done, shooting games to be experienced, and above all the often stat and button-mashing heavy sports genre. With the inclusion of Wii Sports, gamers saw just how realistic games like Tennis, Boxing and Baseball could be by actually performing the actions of hitting a ball or an opponent. But the problem was, there was absolutely no statistical depth what-so-ever, especially in baseball, a sport that has endeared many with it's mathematical aspects as well as it's physical aspects. So when Major League Baseball came out in 2008, there was finally a game on the Wii with realistic graphics, stat tracking, and the motion controls that we had seen in Wii Sports... but something didn't seem right.

Game play:
As mentioned above, the big draw of MLB 2k8 is it's somewhat realistic motion control. Gone are the days of holding down an analog stick and timing a button, and complicated button combos to choose different pitches. For the Wii, the game of baseball has become more realistic, and a bit more simplistic. However, the controls do seem slightly shoddy and gimmicky, and can actually cause physical pain after awhile. Let's start with pitching: In the past, console games with traditional controllers would require a button and analog combo to choose what pitch to throw, and then a timing bar to effectively execute the pitch. Precise button pressing was the name of the game.

However in MLB 2k8 for the Wii, the process is more simplistic. You choose one of up to five pitches in the pitchers repetoire by either leaving the analog stick alone, or moving it in one of the four cardinal directions. The better the pitcher, the better the repetoire. Then, you point at the batters box to select the location of the pitch, pull up the remote to start the windup, and flick it back down when the pitching meter circle is in the green zone. Flicking the remote or curving it executes slight movement on the ball, where as just bringing the remote back down can serve up a costly meatball.

Now, this sounds actually kind of fun, but the controls can be exploited so that instead of doing an actual windup (as I'm sure was the intention of the developers), the pitching sequence can be a simple flick of the wrist. Takes the fun out of it. At the same time, those who are too into the realistic pitching can actually hurt their arm from flicking too much, or "throwing" as fast as possible. The implementation was nice, but it ended up being a pain.

For batting, you do exactly what you'd think would be done in a motion controlled baseball game: when the ball gets close, you swing. By manipulating the analog stick you can induce a pulled or opposite field hit, and induce grounders or fly balls. You can bunt by pressing A and aiming with the remote, and you can check your swing by pulling back on the remote. This is probably the most frustrating part of the game. Many times I've tried to check a swing, only for the player to follow through and either ground out or strike out. Other times, when I'm prepared to go yard with runners on the corners, THEN my batter decides it would be a good time to be cautious. As minimal as this aspect may seem, I've lost several games based on the shoddy motion detection. Again, I appreciate the thought but the execution was very poor.

The game itself is played like a normal baseball game, full of nine inning ball, injuries, rain delays, ejections, and what not. There is a quick game mode, season mode, somewhat deep franchise mode, and even a create a player mode... that apparently doesn't register player names as whenever a created player goes up to bat, the announcers will just say their number instead of their already cataloged name. The franchise mode does offer trading depth, coaching strategy, and even the option to hold team meetings, but the effects more often than not go unnoticed. The game has a severe glitch in it that, once you turn off the system even after saving, when you return later all of your options have been reset. There is a way to get around this, by loading a game from a newly created franchise, but that is really too much of a hassle for a game that shouldn't have that problem in the first place. Once again, the ideas were in place but the execution was rather poor.
Score: 6/10

Graphics:
Ah, the Wii. The underpowered next gen console that fails at almost every turn when it comes to realistic graphics. Therefore, this being a third party game with less the normal effort put into it, the graphics look ported straight from the beginning of the decade on the PS2. There are some similarities between players in-game and their real life counter parts, but if in a franchise, once the familiar staples start retiring the MLB will become the league of clones thanks to the sparse visual options for the create a player and minor league group. The parks do look nice, but they clearly copy and pasted sections of fans into other sections, very reminiscent of early 90's sports efforts. Also, heaven forbid you hit a ball out of the park, there will be evident seams in the background that show that the developer tried just enough to make it look decent. Other examples include home run balls popping in and out of the wall (specifically when hitting it into the bay in San Fransisco), and balls that bounce magnificently well when hitting someone in the crowd. Couple that with generic player movements in the field and repetitive home run celebrations, and the game feels as though the developers worked on ten minutes of game play, and copy and pasted from there.
Score: 4/10

Sound:
The sound in this game is decent. The announcers in the game sound interesting and captivating at first, but after several games in a row everything sounds awfully familiar. The crowd always sounds exactly the same, and sometimes boo for the home team and cheer the away team. There are no player sounds what-so-ever, and possibly the only saving grace is the use of the wii speaker to make it sound like you're actually holding a glove or bat, and the inclusion of a soundtrack. The soundtrack was the best part of the game for me, as it led me to some much listened to purchases on ITunes. If there's one thing I can count on the developers for, it's a good playlist.
Score: 7/10

Replayablility:
The replayability of this game is a mixed bag. If you can handle the glitchy franchise mode and actually are willing to sit through anywhere from 10-162 games a season, then this game if for you... makes you appreciate just how long the baseball season is. There is also local multi player for those with two wiimotes, two nunchucks and a friend, although the roster from your franchise can't be transferred to the quick play mode. Your friend could become an adversary in franchise, but that all depends on if you're ok with some human interaction in your own little season. Otherwise, this game is as replayable as any other sports game. It all depends on how much you are willing to muster through, and how dedicated you are to the sport.
Score: 7/10

Recommendation:
Despite the somewhat low score, this is a toughie. There is only one more baseball sim for the Wii (ironically enough the next installment in this series), and from what I hear it's about on par with 2k8. If you don't mind the outdated rosters and you only have a Wii, this is probably the best bet you have for realistic ball. There's always Power Pros, which offers a more kiddie aspect to the national past-time, and once you get past the graphics that game might offer a bit more. But for those who have no other system to turn to and are willing to work around the games flaws, the $20 or so price tag won't break the bank while offering a halfway decent baseball sim.

Final Score: 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/07/09

Game Release: Major League Baseball 2K8 (US, 03/03/08)