The Bigs 2 Review

I am a sports fan.  From football (both real and american) and tennis to amateur wrestling and MMA, I watch, play and/or follow them all.  Baseball has always been one of the few ones on that list in that I enjoy playing it a lot, but rarely enjoy watching it.  As for the video game front, I have some fond memories of Mike Piazza’s Strike Zone and Ken Griffey Jr.’s game as well as some games from the NES and the Neo Geo (the latter I believe was originally an arcade game).  Now, baseball fans have 2K sports and Sony’s simulations to appease their appetites.  So where does that leave the people that want something else.  I am talking about the people that want a baseball game that is faster paced.  Enter 2K sports’ title The Bigs 2.  Does this game hit step up to the batter’s box and hit a grand slam or strike out without even swinging?  Read on to find out.
I’m not a graphics whore so let me get this section out of the way.  Graphically this game does what it needs to.  The crowds look extremely subpar yet the stadiums themselves are gorgeous.  In fact,  great attention to the detail of each stadium’s real life counterpart is displayed and even featured in some of the mini-games.  the animations are both crisp and numerous featuring many players’ real life mannerisms.  This game has some of the greatest catches I have ever seen in a baseball game.  The Legendary Catches are superb and the slightly less spectacular Great Catches are nothing to scoff at.  Player models are great, especially the faces.  The players are pretty beefed up but it is done in scale so a wirery player will not be the same size as muscle bound home run hitter.  The players faces are well done as well.  Not once did I struggle to identify who a player was based on his face.  As for the sound, the menu music lacks diversity.  I only liked about three tracks.  Fortunately, like all 2K sports games, you can control all the music that is played on the menus with a simple button click. The rest I turned off.  In the new “become a legend” mode, you can even pick your theme music.  This would have been even better if they allowed you to rip your own music but alas this is not the case here.  The in game sounds are on point.  The sound of contact between the ball and the bat is well captured and varies depending on the type of hit that is used.  The crowd chimes in at opportune moments.  With that said, there is still so much more that could be done with crowd noise.  The commentators do a great job with some witty and spot on commentary.  This is one of the few sports games where I didn’t want to strangle the commentator and for that, it gets kudos from me.

The controls in this game work flawlessly.  Pitching in this game is fun.  In fact, this is the first baseball game where pitching or playing defense period is as fun as batting.  Speaking of batting, the game utilizes a two button  batting system.  One button is for contact swings and the other is for power swings.  If only 2K would use this system in their basketball game.  You know, one button for passive shots (like a standard jump shot or lay-up) and another for aggressive shots (like floater or a dunk).  Even with this setup, batting is about timing like it should be.  Fielding controls are a cinch and is made fun with previously mentioned Legendary Catch and Great Catches respectively.  Each attempt at a Legendary Catch initiates a mini-game.  The mini-game chances depending on the type of catch.  For example, the mini-game for catching a foul ball before it heads into the stands requires the player to keep a baseball balanced on a plane.  This differs for the mini-game for a diving or home run robbing catch.  They are great to see too.  There is even a mini-game for the runner vs. catcher scenario, though it is much simpler.  The two sides must rapidly bash a button.  There is a bar on the screen that shows the tug-o-war like situation and who is winning.  There are dire consequences for losing too.  You player gets hurt and takes a hit to his stats.  This also happens when a pitcher or fielder is hit by the ball of the batter’s bat.

One interesting addition to this series is the Batter’s Wheelhouse.  Imagine a strike zone.  Within said strike zone, there is a area where every batter hits at a higher percentage and prefers balls be thrown to.  Well in The Bigs 2, this area is glows a reddish, yellowish, orange within the box that represents the strike zone. This feature makes both pitching and batting more challenging.  Certain Batters are just plain headaches should be feared due to this.  Others are jokes and you will get dominated.  It balances out perfectly, especially when you have a great pitcher versus a great batter.  Of course, you can turbo to help close the gap when the matchup is not in your favor.  This game also features a Turbo system.  Yeah, I know.  When you hear Turbo, you think NFL Blitz or some other “fun” take on a sport.  Well the implementation in this game is way less cheesy.  Players are rewarded with Turbo for making good plays.  Said Turbo can be used in any situation to help their team get closer to the “W”. Examples include using it to gain foot speed to assist with base running or fielding, arm strength to throw the ball faster and farther or even improve hit strength and location , or even to gain back stats or skills lost due to injury or previous poor play.  I almost forgot to mention the fact that you can lose skills with bad play.  Give up too many hits with a pitch and that pitcher loses it.  Theoretically, you can lose pretty much all your pitches.  You would have to tough it out, or go to the Bullpen (I strongly suggest the latter in this game).  Strike out on pitches thrown in your Batter’s Wheelhouse and you will see the size of your wheelhouse dwindle to nothing.

Overall, the gameplay here is great and enjoyable.  This is a great “pick up and play” game and is welcoming to newcomers.  They have a good amount of fun mini-games that teach players the mechanics of the game and have a tutorial game to get people up to speed.  With all that said, the game is still deep enough to keep experienced player coming back and allow them to show their prowess.  The Bigs 2 is shockingly strategic.  There are some huge faults though.  For starters, the AI abuses the hell out of both Legendary Catches and Great Catches.  Hell, hitting into the games is almost impossible due to the insane leaping abilities of the fielders.    In fact, they catch just about everything.  You will think you finally hit a ball into a gap only to see a blur running from the side of the screen and then bam, Legendary Catch.  Also, I have never seen so many damn tip catches in my life.  If one fielder cant make the catch, you better hope the ball does not bounce up or another will make the catch.  God forbid your hit hits an infielder.  The ball will get caught of the bounce as well.  I have heard only encountered one glitch in the game.  It only happened to me one time, but I am sure it will happen again due to its nature.  I hit a ball deep into center field and I saw it hit the ground.  For some reason, the game decides to allow the center fielder to do a Legendary Catch off the first bounce off the ground and my batter is called out.  Also, while I like the Big Blast and the Big Heat power-ups, the Big Slam is just unbalanced.   It gives the batter four swings at bat, once of which is a home run.  What is so annoying is that if you are on the defensive end of a Big Slam, there is nothing you can do.  You only have control over the first pitch.  The next three are automatic.  In other words, you sit back and watch and points go on board for the opposition and you are powerless to stop it.

The big savior (no pun intended) for this game is the “Become a Legend” mode.  Sure there is a season mode and it suffices, but the “Become a Legend” mode steal the show here.  It features a story of a superstar who gets injured and has to start over to get back to his previous prowess.  This superstar is your created character.  After a short stint in Mexico, you return to the MLB toward the end of the regular season and do mini-games against MLB greats to gain back stats and attributes.  At the same, you play Hall of Fame players in Cooperstown gain votes for your own bid into the Hall of Fame.  I like this approach.  To be amoung the best, you have to play with and best the best.  Sadly, even this great mode is not without its shortcomings.  For starters, you have to win set amount of games in each city against that respective team to move on to other challenges there.  This would be fine if it were as simple as winning the game or fulfilling a simple stipulation like getting a hit on base or get an RBI.  Instead, you give you ridiculous and annoying stipulations.  I remember the game where I had to record a hit and steal a base plus win the game.  Sounds easy enough right.  Well, this was early on so my speed attribute was very low.  Also, they do this against during my stint in Japan during the offseason.  Japan’s team is great at small ball play.  They are extremely quick both in foot speed and pick off ability.  Oh, and I forgot to mention their Catcher had a Legendary ranked arm.  It took me about six games to win meeting all the stipulations.  Other stipulations require to move your player to a position that he doesn’t play usually.  For instance, to get the two players thrown out stipulation, I had to play second base.  This is annoying because it forces you to play your character out side of their skill set or preferences.  It also makes you repeat the same games over and over again.

Even with all the faults, The Bigs 2 is still a great game and experience.  It takes non-simulation sports games to a new level.  It has many features that need to be added to sim baseball games.  There is no lack of replayability here either.  The previously mentioned mini-games will bring players back for more, especially the surprisingly addicting yet difficult Home Run Pinball mode.  It has both a normal season mode and the “Become a Legend” mode to keep players coming back for more to take either their favorite team or created player to the coveted World Series.  The flaws keep this from being a grand slam, but the game is far from a strike out.  I would give it a Triple or maybe even a solo shot Home Run.   Okay, I think I stretched the corny baseball analogy long enough.  In layman’s terms, I would highly suggest you give this game a try.

AnalogHype Rating: 8.4/10

Buy, Rent, or Demo: Rent