The Lowdown: Baseball with a fresh twist. Updated mechanics and new game modes add for a great experience. Something casual, hardcore, and even non baseball fans can enjoy.

If you’re looking for an authentic baseball experience, turn around and stop here. This game is not for you. However, if you’re looking for a fresh spin on America’s pastime, then you’re in the right place.  Imagine the Majors where everyone was forced to take some ridiculously potent steroids.  This is more or less the experience you will have with The Bigs 2.  I have witnessed a friend, who has no interest in baseball, grow an addiction to the game.  Maybe it will have the same luring effect on you.  While I prefer a more authentic Baseball experience, the new gameplay and “enhancements” in this title make it a blast to play nonetheless.  Every game is full of flashy, highlight reel plays and out of the park Home Runs.

Product Features:

Become a Legend is the new revamped career mode for the Bigs. So the premise is that you start off at the bottom and must build your player’s reputation and skill.  The thing is you don’t start off in the majors or minors; you start south of the border, in the good old Mexican League.  You will travel the world far and near, participating in everything from regular games to mini games and challenges.  The Majors will call you up after finishing the first stage, and you will be given the opportunity to build your legacy as a MLB Legend.  Well, more like a legend in the All Juice League.  This mode will last for 4 seasons, after which you retire.  It does not end here though.  You will go head to head against other MLB Legends in matchups that, at times, will require sheer luck for you to complete some of the challenges presented to you.

One of the biggest changes are, also a welcome new addition to the standard fare, the mini games revolving around fielding scenarios.  These ‘Legendary Catch’ situations crop up when you need to dive for a line drive, practically fly in the air to catch a high ball or balance off a rail to catch a pop fly foul.  They come in 3 forms: you either have to hold a certain face button for an indicated amount of time, press a sequence of buttons or balance on a beam to lean over rails to make a play.  They keep you sharp and on your toes, so when you need to make that spectacular play you should be ready for whatever they throw at you.

Batting has also seen some mechanical improvements.  There is the addition of the ‘batter wheelhouse’; a red zone indicator of where a hitter excels in blasting pitches away.  You can pitch directly into these areas, granted that they are strikes, to shrink the zone down, giving you more space in the strike zone to work around. They also give pitchers a turbo boost if you throw one into the zone.

In addition to the Big Blast and Big Heat from the first version, the Big Slam has also been tacked on to your arsenal. It’s an interesting addition, but I’m not quite sure I like it. It gives your first three hitters a single pitch, each with the ability to get an automatic single upon making contact with the ball. This can quickly load up the bases and sets up your 4th batter to nail a grand slam out of the park. It doesn’t take many more points after reaching the Big Blast to get the Slam. Your only option to combat the Big Slam is the Big Heat, which I personally feel puts the pitcher in a disadvantageous position. Avoiding the contact on hit scenarios are much tougher if you’re restricted to pitch solely to the strike zone.

Homerun Pinball is a very innovative and addictive new mode. You can play head to head or co-op, and try to get as many points as possible. Each stage takes place in the intersection of a major city landmark. They chose locations like Times Square, illuminated with neon signs and billboards. The CPU controlled pitcher will start with one throw, and as you gain more points different pitches will be added, one by one, at set intervals. Certain targets are out of reach and this is where all those points will go to getting you the Big Blast to hit bombs to reach these high value targets. Grouped targets, found in the form of a single sign consisting of several characters, are your primary marks. After knocking out all the lights of a grouped target, several turbo targets will appear. They come in the form of 2x, 3x, 1UP, Multi-Ball, X thousand points, etc.  These turbo boosts are best saved for when you have the Big Blast to get the background targets.

While sometimes comical, some of the over the top animations and moves are a part of the game. Pitchers who can barely top 97 in the Majors, will be able to throw 100+ MPH fastballs with relative ease.  If a ball is blasted to the warning track, a fielder with enough skill will be able to jump off the wall and 15 feet into the air to snatch it.  Power hitters will get special perks that make homers easier to hit.  For instance, there’s the No Doubt home run perk that cannot be caught even if your fielder has Legendary fielding.

The graphics and models are thoroughly detailed and well rendered. Each of the stadiums and environments are fantastic and very accurate. For example, if you knock one out of the park at Citi Field, the Big Apple will come out.  Subtle things like these add up for creating a better overall atmosphere.  Like the title, they make the player models look and feel bigger from their real life counterparts.  If you thought Prince Fielder and Big Papi were big enough in real life, think again.  Even the flaming ball trails and special effects, while a bit overused, are crisp and enhance the look of the game.

However, the animations are mediocre. If you watch baseball at all, you will notice small things like your favorite player’s batting stances and deliveries are off. For instance, if you’ve ever seen K-Rod deliver his pitches, he has a forward falling movement. In the game, he falls to the right side of the mound. While this may sound like something very minor, making an authentic looking experience is clearly not at the top of their to-do list.  The flying off the wall catches also look really awkward.

If you play sports titles, you are most likely used to the inevitable redundant commentary.  They do, however, make some funny remarks in the early going, before you get used to the recycled lines of course.  Like the rest of the game, sound effects are also exaggerated.  Not really much of a change from the last version in the audio department.

There are several annoying things that occur throughout the game.  I would like the option to turn off the strike zone box and indicators that tip off the batter where a pitch is going to land.  Another issue that is quite serious, but still managed to make it through testing, is that sometimes catching a pop fly doesn’t register an out.  This is a HUGE problem that only rarely occurs, but is just one of those issues that leaves you scratching your head.  Base running could also use some tweaking.  Overrunning bases can happen regularly if you’re not careful, leading to easy outs for the defensive team.

Injuries happen on a regular occurrence. If you are running home and are facing off against the catcher, chances are, whoever loses the button mashing battle, is sure to get a serious injury. While they’re usually not enough to take a player out of a game, they bring their effectiveness down a considerable amount. Getting beaned by the pitcher or getting nailed by a line drive will also have the same outcome. It becomes a major nuisance with the rate players get injured.

The online mode doesn’t offer a whole lot of fare, but enough to keep things interesting. I would, however, like a deeper set of options and gaming modes to work with.  It is more or less your standard online set of multi-player matches.

Conclusion: Again, I cannot stress enough that this is not meant to be a simulation. If you don’t take it as seriously, it’s a great game for playing with friends. Expect some extended playing sessions of The Bigs 2.

Pros

• Homerun Pinball
• New mechanics
• Great for head to head matches with friends
• Batter Wheelhouse

Cons

• Frequent injuries
• Big Slam
• Base running

Single Player Rating: 8/10
Multiplayer Rating: 7/10