Two Times the BIGness
The BIGS 2 arrives deeper, more varied and, yes, more entertaining than the already awesome original.
Published: August 14, 2009
Batting and pitching have also gotten a bit of an upgrade. Though pitching still works the same way as before -- aim, hold one of the four face buttons to charge up the pitch and release, and if someone gets a hit off the patch, your confidence in it drops and you can even lose it altogether for the rest of the game unless you use a turbo -- there's more to it now. Every batter has something of a sweet spot -- a part of the strike zone where, if served a pitch, will be naturally more effective; contact hitters will be able to drop a hit into an open area and power hitters will likely send their ball over the wall (though of course good fielders can rob 'em of a homer). Though it's more risky to throw a pitch into these areas (and some Legendary hitters have ones that can take up 2/3 of the strike zone), getting a ball past 'em will shrink the effective area, thus lessening their danger in subsequent at-bats.
One other big addition to the normal super meter-powered pitching and batting modes: you'll still accrue points and bits of turbo for successfully striking someone out, getting on base or pulling off an awesome catch, but on the PS3, if you let your batting meter fill an extra bit, you'll get the opportunity to play yet another mini-game where four pitches are thrown in rapid succession, and connecting with at least the last one will let you belt out a guaranteed home run. Get 'em all and you can tack a grand slam onto your team's scoreboard. It's a great little risk/reward set-up -- particularly as it can actually blow the whole use of your mega-hit -- and I found myself stocking more juice to try my hand at it every chance I could.
Outside of Become a Legend (which, it should be noted, unlocks the individual training mini-games once you've beaten a particular legend in the game at his own particular discipline), there's a full season option, trades (steals, actually), roster fiddling, actual MLB schedules and so on. There's actually quite a bit more single-player stuff to play around with, and when coupled with the online play (at least on the PS3, the PSP lacks any kind of multiplayer at all, even Ad-Hoc) and the ability to do local Homerun Pinball co-op (plus two new locales in addition to the old Times Square one and even an older version of New York), there's plenty to dig into with The BIGS 2, finally giving it some of the depth of a full sim version of baseball. It's intentionally left light, though, which means it won't be overwhelming for guys like me.
The game also looks damned impressive. Increased use of depth-of-field and better textures, more varied animations (though I noticed a few holdovers from the last game), and burlier but slightly more realistic players all contribute to a game that actually feels improved, presentation-wise over the previous iteration. Stadiums are rife with detail and actually give a fantastic sense of scope; there's a sort of imposing feeling when you stand at the plate that for some reason I didn't really get in other baseball games. The PSP version sports some nicely detailed players, and though the framerate and animations are obviously lower-res, it actually comes off looking better than a lot of sports games on the system. One thing I noticed when playing the handheld take on things, though, was that it effectively used the same graphics and ratios, leaving a ton of empty space at the corners. On consoles, I can understand the need to adhere to 4:3 safe zones, but the PSP only does 16:9, and when the front end is already small enough on an HDTV, it seem positively piddly on the PSP's smaller screen.
Though the soundtrack doesn't even hit the two dozen song mark (and features some really odd choices like P.O.D.'s "Boom" and "Super Bon Bon" from Soul Coughing), the tracks are generally pretty fitting. Unfortunately, there's no support for custom soundtracks, so you'll end up hearing those songs an awful lot while navigating the menus and country-wide map in Become a Legend. The commentary bits, too, can tend to get looped more than a few times per-game, but for the most part they're at least clever enough to elicit a chuckle after the 10th time. The effects work, of course, is absolutely top-notch; the sound of a bat connecting with the ball is appropriately huge, and the crowd, while tapering off rather quickly, can offer some great ambience if you've got headphones or a 5.1 system set up.
The BIGS 2 is a genuine improvement over the original in every way. It's lengthier, deeper, offers more for those willing to spend the time yet offers immediate pick-up-and play mechanics for short bursts and expands on everything that made the first game so good. If you played the original, this purchase of this one should be a no-brainer. If you didn't, this is undoubtedly the best arcade baseball game ever made and may be ridiculous and easy-going to rope in even those that traditionally hate sports games. Nice work, Blue Castle Games; keep cranking out hits like this and you'll be my go-to dev for arcade sports games for years to come.
