Last week, I tackled "MLB: The Show " and its newest release, as well as the decline the franchise has taken over the past few years. This week, I want to break down my personal favorite baseball video game of all time and outline what made it so successful.
Back in the day, San Diego Studio had a lot of competition in the baseball genre. 2K Sports was releasing an MLB title every year, "RBI Baseball" was going strong, EA had both "MVP Baseball" and "NCAA Baseball" releasing semi-annually and even Japan was capitalizing on America's Game with "Mario Super Sluggers" and "MLB Power Pros."
However, none of those could ever live up to what could have been the conqueror of baseball sims. There is no game I hold nearer and dearer to my heart than "The BIGS 2."
"The BIGS 2" was published by 2K in 2009 and featured an over-the-top gameplay design to bring an arcade feel to the world of baseball simulations. It was available on Wii, PS2, PS3, XBOX 360, PSP and the Nintendo DS.
Before we even talk about gameplay, let's first talk about game modes; there are SO MANY. You have the regular exhibition game, a complete 162-game season mode, home run pinball, -- which is a home run derby in the middle of famous cities, where balls will crash into objects and give you more points -- a draft-and-play mode, various other mini games and finally, the Become a Legend mode.
Become a Legend is the typical campaign mode where you build a character and try to achieve greatness. You start recovering from injury in a professional league in Mexico and slowly recover and build up stats until you are picked up by an MLB team. From there, you dominate the league and even go back in time to face baseball's biggest names in order to obtain legendary status.
Moving on to gameplay, it makes for some of the most ridiculous time you'll have in a baseball game, but that's what makes it so good. The game introduced 'the wheelhouse' for batters, giving them extra pop in a certain part of the zone to combine with directional hitting.
Pitchers can try to avoid the wheelhouse and paint the corners, but if they get a whiff on a pitch in the wheelhouse, it will shrink a considerable amount for the remainder of the at-bat.
There's also the element of 'Turbo,' that basically gives players superpowers. Hits, catches, strikeouts and other in-game feats award a certain amount of points that fill up your turbo meter, allowing you to gain ultra strong abilities to try and turn the tide in your favor. It's such a unique concept that works very similar to X-Factor from the Madden franchise.
Stats are narrowed down to just five categories: speed, power, contact, fielding and arm strength, which are all the components of a 'five-tool player'. Each category is ranked by 1 to 5 stars or fully upgraded to 'legendary.'
Combine all these elements with one of the most nostalgic and star-studded rosters of the 21st century, and this game is an absolute blast to play. If you ever get the chance to play this masterpiece of a sports video game, I promise it will not disappoint.
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