Major League Baseball 2K6
The Matt Finney weighs in on 2K Sports' latest baseball outing.
Published: April 19, 2006
All of those features sound great, but will they translate into a truly unique and realistic baseball experience? Time to find cause the game just arrived!
So after taking a chainsaw to the plastic wrapper I pop in the game and quickly fire up an exhibition game. I'll check out the rest of the game later. Right now I want to see how this baby performs on the field. Being born and raised in Seattle I naturally select my beloved Mariners. I set my lineup, hand the ball to King Felix and dress my boys in their 1977 pitch fork retro unis. M's versus the world champs, let's play ball...
...Two days later and the game just finished loading. Maybe I exaggerated just a little, but I didn't think Jeanne Zelasko and Steve Physioc were ever going to stop blabbing and let the game begin. Then as the camera pans across the field I realize it's raining inside Safeco Field. I know it's been a few days since I've driven by Safeco, but last time I checked there was a massive roof ready to spread it's wings when the sky turns gray. Did the creators decide to leave the roof open? After one pitch I have to check instant replay. Zoom out and there it is, a roof covering Safeco as the rain comes down inside. One pitch into the first game and I can feel a slight frown developing on my face. Second pitch and whack! Podsednik rips a triple into the right field corner, slides into third and kicks up a puff of dust. Dust? First of all big league ball fields are so well manicured Jessica Simpson is jealous. The infield just isn't allowed to dry out. Second of all it's raining! Inside! Needless to say on many levels I'm not happy with the auspicious start.
After escaping the top half of the first giving up only two runs it's my turn to swing the lumber with the new Swing Stick feature. Ichiro steps up to the plate looking like he ate two-dozen Krispy Kremes that went straight to hips. Don't ask me why I was looking at his hips. Three pitches later Ichiro strikes out looking and I couldn't even figure out how to get the bat of his shoulder. Two more batters, same result. Apparently this isn't a game you can just pick up and play without reading the instructions. Before the bottom half of the second I quickly scan the batting instructions. I'm happy to report I can make the bat move, but I can't say the result improved much.
It's official. Game one is in the books and I just got my ass handed to me by the computer. I'm frustrated because I was slow to pick up the timing of the Swing Stick, I kept serving up meat balls to the opposing batters and generally looked like I had never played a baseball game in my life. To top it off Jon Miller and Joe Morgan got all worked up over an obvious foul ball that they called fair then followed that in the next inning by congratulating the White Sox for a great shutout victory even though there was only one out in the bottom of the eighth and I had one run on the board. (I can't believe I just admitted that I only scored one run.) All the inconsistencies coupled with my poor play didn't make for a good first impression.
