This year, the 2K franchise celebrated their 10 year anniversary of their Major League Baseball games. With cover athlete Evan Longoria, the “10” on the 2K10 logo is golden to commemorate the event. Unfortunately, that’s really the only “golden” thing about this year’s release.
As I’m about to describe, 2K10 isn’t a terrible game. In fact, the pitching engine, once you get used to it, does add a little more of a sense of realism to the game. It’s easier for you to make a mistake on a pitch by overthrowing, or not using the right “arm movement.” One big problem that I have with the pitching system is the speed of the pitches. Even a 95 mph fastball comes in way to slow and a 4-seam fastball has a break to it (it shouldn’t) This lack of realism makes it slightly difficult to establish a hitting rhythm. With that being said, the batting engine didn’t change much. It’s still pull back and flick forward for power or just flick forward for contact. A big problem I had with batting was trying to drag bunt. In order to execute a drag bunt, you would need to start the bunt while the pitcher still has the ball.
In the field, their is a whole new bag of problems. Their are many flaws in the fielding engine that makes the game more complicated than it needs to be. For example, the game gave me control of my right fielder and wanted me to run across to make a play from a fly ball that was hit to straight-away centerfield. Another issue I had with the fielding was occasionally, when I would move the fielders towards the target to catch a fly ball, the fielder seemed to run in the opposite direction.
Graphically, the game looks decent. The best looking thing in the game is the stadiums. Citi Field looks very good, however one problem that I had with the visuals was the crowd. In the front, the crowd looks fine, but a few rows back, and the crowd becomes that blur of human mass. The players themselves look pretty good, although the uniforms could use some tweaking. However, a BIG problem I have with the players, is the fact that some players still have the profile picture of them on their old team. I’m sorry, but there’s no excuse for having the old picture of a player who’s been on the new team for OVER A YEAR. Little things like that really put a damper on the full experience of the game.
2K10 dives into the single-player-career-mode this year with “My Player.” This feature allows the user to create a player and assign themselves into the Double A affiliate of any team. I would have liked the option to get “drafted” and randomly be assigned to a team but maybe next year. In My Player, your player’s attributes are acquired based on your performance in games, which I liked. Unfortunately, some stats are more easily acquired than others; you only gain speed attributes after you score. That doesn’t make too much sense to me but it’s their first year trying out this new feature so I can allow a few rookie mistakes.
The online play is pretty good. I don’t really enjoy online play for baseball games because if the connection isn’t perfect, and there is a hint of lag, the game becomes impossible. However the ability to play in online leagues really make the adventure worth taking.
All in all, Major League Baseball 2K10 is an improvement from last year’s release. This doesn’t say too much because last year’s title, in my opinion, was abysmal. I think 2K sports is on the right track with the baseball series. I feel they still have a ways to go before they catch The Show, but they’re on the right track.
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Overall= 6.8
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Hey, nice stuff! Keep bringing it!