Major League Baseball 2K7

"What I want to see in a Review..."

Normally, what you see in a review is... "It's the best game EVER!" Or, "It's the worst game EVER!" That just bugs me... so I never read those. So, if you're wondering about this game, I'll tell you the things I've noticed about mine, and things I would like to know when reading a review. Here you go-

* This game runs smooth and plays quickly. There are a times when it hitches and shows a LOADING box... but they aren't to cumbersome. It has a feature that allows you to push the (A) button and avoid watching everything in between the plays... ie- pitcher pitches- ball outside- catcher adjusts his mask prior to throwing it back- umpire fiddles with his gear- batter backs out of box- looks at his bat- digs in again- gets set- pitcher catches ball from catcher- plays with hat- gets set again- and now you're ready to pitch. That takes a while (some older baseball games are like that and take nearly an hour to play). Some people like that though... and you can watch it all if you want. If you hit the (A) button, it skips all that and you're set to pitch the next pitch. Nice. You can also change your settings to avoid any and all of the replays (if you want, if not, you can watch them).

*Swing stick- takes a bit to get used to. But that's not a problem. You have to adjust the sliders to set your difficulty so you don't hit a million HR's a season (once you do get the hang of the swing stick)... But the game took care of that problem- slide the difficulty one way or the other.

*Fielding camera- sometimes you have to really watch where the ball is going, and it can make for some cheap runs (against you). The camera has a low angle, just above the player's eye level. I did not like this at first, but I'm used to it now. I do still make the occasional blunder of running right by an easy grounder with my second baseman, so expect that.

*Baserunning- stealing bases is decent. Baseburner mode is tough (for me). This is almost like a mini-game. You get a guy on base, hit the (B) button, and you become that runner. You can get a huge lead if you want and try to steal. You control everything here. Diving back to the bag or taking off to second. You can also give your batter a few orders too... Don't swing, Swing, Etc (minimal orders given with the D-pad). I still haven't been able to steal using this- I don't use it anymore. (There's no place to practice this either, except in a game). I'm happy to send them on their own, my guys are much more successful this way.

You do have to tell your guys a little ahead of time what to do. ie- coming around 3rd, if you don't tell him early to go home, he'll slow down and practically stop on 3rd... and then go (which will probably result in an out). You have to plan ahead here- if you do that (telling him to go home before he makes it to 3rd) you'll be fine.

Another baserunning issue- no outs, deep fly ball to center, you have a guy on first and gamble that the CF won't catch it. You run on from 1st to 3rd... but the CF catches it. Now you have to get back to first (re-tagging 2nd on the way). This game will not let you do that. It lets you get back to 2nd, but then you're stuck there. You can't continue on back to first... so- you get doubled up. I found that one out the hard way.

I have yet to see a baserunning collision (except at home- and that's rare). Not really a break up the double play slide... your players just magically slide through your opponent. I think they focused more on fielding collisions... (Side note- you have to call for the fly ball sometimes, or you'll have a player slam into you as you're trying to catch a pop-up).

*AAA and AA feature- minimal to none. You have a full team roster and can move guys up or down within that, but no minor league games are played. Good and bad here, I think. MVP 05- you could play every single A game if you wanted, or not if you didn't. This game doesn't focus on that at all. You just assign your guys to your minor league teams. I don't know if your players do better or progress quicker on one team or the other (according to their ability)... I'm still trying to find that one out. It's not a problem for the game (in my opinion), it's just obvious they wanted to focus on the MLB teams only.

*Catcher cam- this is another almost mini-game. It lets you look through the catcher's mask in attempt to throw out the base stealer. I haven't tried this much, and there is not a way to practice anywhere (except in a game). I disabled this feature, which lets you throw out base swipers the "old fashioned way."

*Pick off moves- You can actually pick of runners in this game. Weird huh? You do have to time your throw though... watching for the baserunner to get the extra step. If you time it right when he's leaning or stepping to get a bigger lead... sometimes you get 'em.

*Robbing of HR's- You get robbed a lot. Face it. Deal with it. Annoying... yes, a bit. But oh well. It's also easier to rob them of HR's too... Give a little- take a little.

*Computer team domination- Man- sometimes you know how in Madden, the opposing computer team will do EVERYTHING right? Well, most sports games have this "we will win no matter what feature" and this one is no different. My worst experience so far was a 15 run inning... I would throw a pitch a foot outside and then their 8-hole hitter would crush it over the fence in right *sigh* Best advice I can give you here- put in a pitcher you just called up from AAA... so your main pitcher(s) ERA won't get demolished. Man that was frustrating, but oh well... video games. What are you gonna do?

*Create a player/ Edit player- You can make your favorite player wear baggy pants, change his glove color, stance, etc... Pretty good set up here I think, good amount of variety. When you create a player, there are only 30 faces... if that matters to you, there it is.

*Crazy throws- On defense, routine ground ball to 2nd base. Your defender catches the grounder, and then goes into some weird, off-balance, dancing with the stars audition style heave to first base. I don't know if it has something to do with the momentum of your guy or what. You still make the throw however (most of the time). But it just looks odd. There are no "intensity" meters on the throws- that I can tell. Now there is a spot in your profile, "Tendencies" that shows how often you throw the ball at full power... and I think that is talking about your defense... Maybe it's pitching? I dunno.

*Franchise mode- You start out with April 2007. The announcers are nice, and have "player bio" talks with some players... It flows good, but when you get to April 2008, they still talk about how Todd Helton had a stomach problem in 2006. Oh well... But hey, they do tell you, "He had 34 HR's last season" or "He was a 11 game winner last year." That stuff is correct- based off your 2007 results- so that is cool.

*The manage game feature- Not as good. MVP 05 had a really good, quick feature here. This game doesn't let you manage a game quickly. It's quicker than playing (obviously), but it's not fast. You have to warm up your pitchers! In a manage feature you shouldn't have to do that, but in this game you do. Now I don't know if you disable this feature for your regular game if it will disable it during managed games. Plus- you can't warm up pitchers while you are hitting! You can only access your RP's while you are on defense... which makes no sense. Oh well.

*Joe Morgan and Jon Miller- great job in this game. They have a few off time comments, but not many. They do a good job here. Almost like you're watching a game on TV. They even have little side stories- during times when you hit pause... cool.

Closing comments-
This is a great game. Even with the frustrating 15 run inning I had, the players magically ghosting through one another occasionally, the 2006 comments in 2008, the dancing with the stars throw to first, and the manage game feature that isn't polished... Still a good baseball game. If you want to play as a Franchise, you can. If you want to play through as a GM, you can (the owner tells you stuff to do- don't spend more than this, get rid of this player, etc). Or if you want to play regular old Exhibition style with nothing else- you can. There are a decent amount of unlockables to play with, an "Inside Edge" feature that scouts your opponent, and plenty of unbelievable graphics to stare at. (I didn't cover the graphics here... I'm sure you've heard/ read that they are outstanding somewhere else). The "glitches" or "quirks" of this game do not make it a game to avoid. I am a huge baseball fan (real and video game) and since MVP 05, I haven't seen one close to it. This one has done good for me. Are there things I'd like to see different in 2K7? Sure. But hey, there are very few PERFECT video games out there.

Great Baseball game- 8.8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/07