Major League Baseball 2K9 Demo Available, Post Your Impressions Here

[dave_sz]

I enjoyed the demo but I'm very glad I don't have to pay for the game when I get it. Gameplay feels good and pitching/batting is very easy to get used to. However, fielding or maybe button designations are poor. I had a lazy fly going into shallow left and the 3rd baseman was coming over to get it, I tried to preload a throw home, so of course that switches players and the 3rd baseman just stops dead in his track, 2 runs score. Then I have a ball flying over the shortstops head. He gets to it and I hold Y to throw to second I guess I held down on one of the sticks as well cause he threw home, runner advanced. Why are there two sets of buttons to do the same thing? I have no idea how to steal, trigger advance and retreat but dunno how to steal. Had bases loaded and burrell hit a ball to the wall so I pressed LB or RT, seeing as how it advances runners before the pitch, nope, all the runners retreat. The pitch calling is just awful. I had guys on 1st and 2nd and the first pitch to howard is a fastball right in the center of the zone, it's gone. Then they have bases loaded with no outs and the catcher tells me to throw a fastball right down the middle to longoria, guess what the outcome was? Yup, grand slam. They walked werth with 1 out and 1 on to get to Utley. WTF? I average 2-3 HRs a game and so does the CPU, except all theirs come on off speed stuff way high and away...

[HK-47]

Quote: Originally Posted by DaveDQ

How do you call off a pitch and switch location? I'm hitting A and it selects a new pitch, but how do you position the catcher's mit? How do you steal? thanks!

You move the ball indicator with the left stick to the location that you want, then you press A.


You steal by holding down the left trigger and releasing it at the right time.If you release it too early, you'll get stuck in a pickle...And if you release too late, you'll most likely be thrown out by a mile.

[myghty]

WOW! So much hatred for the game & its only a demo! Now i'm scared to download the PS3 version when it comes out...

[brendanrfoley]

I just played the demo three times. It's clearly an unfinished product, but there is enough here to make it clear MLB 2K9 is much better than 2K8.

Pitching
I was not a fan of Visual Concepts decision to get rid of the timing release portion of Total Control Pitching. I no longer feel that way. The timing on the first gesture is much more difficult to nail. The CPU does swing at a lot of pitches in the zone, but I have found ignoring the catcher's suggestions alleviates this a bit. The computer will also chase bad pitches when it's behind in the count.

Hitting
Hitting feels much better than last year. Steve is right; there is tremendous hit variety (even with slider tweaks). I've seen fly-balls, choppers, grounders, soft liners, line drives, gap shots, etc. I also drew a walk with Howard on 6 pitches.

Fielding
Fielding is also much better, mainly due to the silky smooth framerate. I was stunned when I fielded my first ball (a squib to second that Rollins beat out). Even at it's unoptimized point, 2K9 is free of hitches during gameplay. The game slows a bit during some cut scenes and foul balls, however. The throwing meter also feels much better than last year.

Presentation
Presentation is great. Any other questions?

Overall
I'm stunned, to be honest. A lot of the videos we've seen so far gave me an improved 2K8 vibe. But actually playing the game is much, much different. Yes, it's 2K baseball. But this isn't 2K8 with a fresh coat of paint. It is a huge step forward for the series, and is to 2K8 what 2K7 was to 2K6.

[JBucc]

I've played 3 games and think it's pretty good.

-The presentation is great 95% of the time. Really feels like a tv broadcast. The commentary is great and flows so well with the action on the field. It is a little weird at times with players being out of position (One time the camera focused on Kazmir after a play and he just stood between the mound and third for about 15 seconds doing nothing), and the shots of the dugout can be painful, but most of the time it's excellent.

-I love the hitting camera angle. Nice and low so you can really see the break on the pitch. The fielding camera however is terrible and I will be changing that.

-I'll probably switch back to last year's pitching as well.

-Everything is smooth. Such an improvement over last year in that regard.

-Hitting is really easy on this difficulty but I like the influence system. Wish you could try out the zone hitting though.

-I've seen some nice hit variety.

-I don't like having to call up the IE information manually.

-I've caught a few guys looking, but the CPU does seem too agressive overall. If the final tuning and sliders can fix it this could be a great game.

-I'm not sure about the fielding or baserunning yet. Need some more time with them.

-I also found it really easy to pick guys off

-Biggest negative is probably the lack of collision detection



Overall I'm very pleased by the demo. It felt pretty polished to me, but I'm not bothered much by the little hitches in the animations. The flow of the presentation is phenomenal.

[pearljimkusz]

i'm enjoying the demo quite a bit...however

Iwamura just hit one to Werth in right...the ball hit him...fell to the ground and i was unable to pick it up..leading to an inside the park home run...hopefully this is ironed out in the retail version

otherwise as i said i'm enjoying the demo quite a bit..lots of different hits i must say which is very nice

[brendanrfoley]

Quote: Originally Posted by myghty

WOW! So much hatred for the game & its only a demo! Now i'm scared to download the PS3 version when it comes out...

Don't be scared.

[Blitzburgh]

For those having problems with the controls just gp view the screen shots that steve put up a wile ago. It explains the controls and after you learn them they really make sense.