Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by John DeGiorgio

What’s that little white thing over there with the blue light? What? A Wii? Oh, yeah, I remember that thing. I played some mini-games with that when I got it and it’s just been sitting there since then. That’s what may have happened to you if you were a sports gamer who owns a Wii. Things started off all full of potential with the, always fun, Wii Sports and the, surprisingly playable, Madden ’07 but from there we’ve seen some barely playable golf games and then…well…nothing. To be fair, after skipping the NBA and NHL at launch the Wii has only seen one season of fresh sports gaming in it’s life. The start of baseball season came and went with games everywhere, even the extremely late, MLB: The Show eventually made an appearance on the PS3 while the Wii sat in the corner like it had no friends. Well, the nerdy kid of the sports game world has come over and asked the Wii to come out and play! The Bigs from 2K Sports has made its arrival on all next gen systems including the Wii. Although ‘extreme’ versions of our sports games are sometimes looked down on because of their distance from reality, the Wii would seem like a perfect home for it. You’ve got a baseball game that loosens the rules and removes all pretense of a sim to focus on fast paced fun and playability? This is what the Wii was made for!

It’s not horrible. It’s really not all that great either. In what’s becoming a habit in Wii sports games, things are looking a little jaggy in here. The menus and everything look respectable and there doesn’t appear to be anything left out, and the information you’re presented with during gameplay is informative without getting in the way, but on the whole, there isn’t anything that’s going to showcase the system in terms of its beauty.

There’s a decent amount of detail in the stadiums and players (who are all pretty big in this game) but the Wii is hurt by being around other systems. Maybe it’s not fair to judge the graphics of one game on how it looks on another system, but the fact remains. The Bigs looks old. It looks like a GameCube game. This doesn’t interfere with any of the gameplay, so that’s a plus, but when looking around you’ll wish there was a just a touch more crispness than what you have. Another graphical aspect that you should know is the lack of camera choices you get in the game. By “lack”, I mean none. You’re stuck with a default camera that you can’t change. I didn’t think it was all that bad for pitching and hitting, but when trying to field you may have some issue. It’s not a horrible camera angle but you better be able to adjust if you aren’t too fond of what they are giving you.

Well, look what we have here! A sports game, that’s trying to be edgy and the soundtrack isn’t loaded with hip-hop. Thanks 2K! Taking a step out from the stereotypical soundtracks and took the old-school, hard rock route. Rob Zombie and Primus are here to rock you into America’s Pastime! (I can’t believe I just typed that). I’m giving it points for the effort, but this is something that’s completely a matter of taste.

On the field, you get the roar of the crowd and the crack of the bat to go along with the lack of the announcing. In another Wii drawback, there’s no play-by-play for this version. There is a stadium announcer to tell you who’s up, but that’s a far cry from some commentary, no matter how good or bad it might be.

Pull up a chair, this could take a while. The thing that separates the Wii from every other console is the controls. The controls mean almost everything in a Wii game, and are usually what will drive us to, or away from games for the system. I should have known that something was up when I couldn’t use the remote to point at menu options.

The Bigs is a mixed bag of frustration, brilliance and stupidity. Because I’m a giving mood, let’s kick things off on a high note. When strutting out to the mound, you are presented with your pitchers allotment of weapons on the screen along with a subtle reminder of how to throw said pitch. It’s a good thing for the reminders because the tutorial runs you through all the possibilities and your potential for confusion would be at a pretty high level if you had to remember all 9 potential twists and turns for the remote. Those twists and turns include 3 arm motions combined with an “A”, “B” or “A+B” combo with the Wii-mote and the nunchuck to select location. It’s nice to have options.

When selecting your pitch, much like the bowling in Wii Sports, you hold down your desired button while the remote faces up and then bring your arm forward like you would in a throwing motion and release the button when the on-screen indicator shows that your in the “good” zone. Oh yeah, you’re not going to get away with throwing with the power and accuracy of your remote. No, you’ve got to pay attention to the meter that appears next to your pitcher and try to release when you’re in one of the 3 ‘good’ zones. Meter, zones, arm motion, location selection and button release are all involved in throwing a pitch. While it’s a bit involved, you won’t need Dave Duncan in your living room to get it all down, but it wouldn’t hurt. This is a Wii game. This is a Wii game representing an arcade style baseball game. Why is there all this going on to throw a pitch? I don’t really want to complain about having too much control over what’s going on, but the pitching seems a bit out of place compared with the rest of the controls. I’ll move on.

The fielding is a done with the nunchuck for movement and the remote for throwing to bases, along with a button press. You press “A” and jerk the remote right for first, up for second, left for third and down for home. Throwing to bases feels really good in the infield but seems a bit strange when you’re tracking a ball down on the warning track and then making the “up” motion to throw the ball into second. Feels like you’re trying to flip one into the stands for a fan after the 3rd out of an inning. Fielding, overall is just OK, there are plenty of moments of sluggishness and times where you’ve been given control of the wrong guy, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t as disappointing as the hitting.

You can see where this is headed. I’m hoping none of you run out to get a Wii (if you can find one) to play this game. Now that I got that out of the way, for all you current Wii owners, you’ve used the bat in Wii Sports and thought “Boy, I can’t wait until they come out with a full baseball game so we can build on the swing mechanics that are already pretty good in here!” Maybe it was just me thinking that. I had really high hopes for bat mechanics with the remote in a full-fledged baseball title. There were dreams of defensive swings with 2 strikes to foul off a nasty splitter. Taking something off and going the other way on an outside curve. I was ready. Now, I know is an “arcade’ baseball title and, by no means, was I looking for perfection, but this is a step backwards. When you have the potential of the remote as a bat and what you’re left with is some sort of delayed, detached, pseudo button substitution, there’s bound to be some anger and tears. Starting off, you use the nunchuck to select location. OK so the ‘swing’ itself doesn’t impact location? Then you press “A” for contact or “B” for power. OK, now you’re telling me that how hard I swing doesn’t impact power? That’s it. That’s your swing in The Bigs. If you could hold a button, and drop the remote in your lap, you’ll get the same swing as if you were pinwheeling the bat and stepping into one like Gary Sheffield. Sorry, I was only half right about that one. There is actual ‘1 to 1’ motion of the bat PRE-SWING. Yep, get that hitch in your cut going before the windup all you want but once you actually take the bat off your shoulder, you’ve lost all control. That’s pretty sad. It’s sad on so many levels. The hitting in The Bigs has turned into the ’07 Yankees to this point. Huge expectations and payroll (2K has the MLB license) only to stumble out of the gate.

Separating gameplay and controls in a Wii title will never be an easy task but what we’ve got here is a nice little change of pace. This is a far cry from High Heat and APBA baseball, but then again, it’s not as over the top as the old Slugfest series was. The Bigs strikes a nice balance between the traditional and absurd.
Baseball is a game where ‘the book’ is used more than any other sport. Lefty/righty matchups, double switches, moving runners over and general tendencies are charted to an extreme degree. The book gets tossed in The Bigs. Everyone has a shot to hit one out, or throw 105+ MPH. It’s an arcade game, not doubt, but don’t expect a game that’s dumbed down all that much. Sure, there’s a power meter that builds up over time on both offense and defense, but when will you use it? There rosters aren’t complete, but you still need to know when to make the call to the pen.

Getting back to the “Power Up” meter, it sits at the top of the screen and fills up on both offense and defense. Offensively, the meter is built in the manner that you might expect with increasing amounts for singles, doubles, triples and home runs along with steals. It’s also a benefit to know when not to swing, as you get points for drawing walks and even getting hit. Getting points for you meter isn’t something relegated to when you have the bat in your hands. Pitching and hitting can chip in with strikeouts, diving catches and, the big prize, for robbing someone of a home run.

Once your meter is filled, you need to decide how it’s going to be used. Kicking off the power up meter will last an entire at bat, and on offense, all you need to do is make contact for a home run, if you’re on the mound, your pitches become unworldly and with every strike you throw you steal from your opponents meter. Do you need the runs or are you holding on and looking to get out of an inning and steal some potential from the dugout across the diamond.

Overall, the gameplay is fun and quick (5 innings is the default game length) and provides a good alternative to pitch counts and sacrifice bunts.

Being an arcade title you wouldn’t expect too much in terms of depth as far as options go, and for the most part you’d be correct. There are no season or franchise modes in The Bigs, and only one mini-game to play (Home Run Derby) but there is a career mode called “Rookie Challenge” that gives the game some legs.
In Rookie Challenge, you create your own player and put him on the team of your choice. From there you are given all sorts of challenges and situations to overcome as you move across the objectives that are laid out for you in the form of a map of the country. Also in Rookie Challenge, in a nod to other ‘street’ games, you are afforded the luxury of taking players off of teams you’ve beaten to pump up your own team and, in the process, get yourself some points to increase your rookie’s stats and appearance.

While the Rookie Challenge provides some fun, this is the type of game meant to be played with others, and on the Wii, that means the person you are playing against needs to be sitting next to you. No online play hurts, especially in a sports game, so proceed with caution if you low through the RC and are looking around an empty room to get some extra longevity out of this title.

The Wii is a unique animal. What sets it apart and makes it so great is the same thing that sometimes does it in, and in this case, the Wii version of The Bigs collapses under the weight of its own ingenuity.

 The game itself is pretty good, the arcade style of baseball presented here is fun and even a bit cerebral. The small pitfalls of graphics and lack of modes (including online) could easily be overlooked if the controls held up, but they don’t. It’s so uneven and just plain laggy that you end up fighting the game rather than playing it. The pitching is extremely involved and filled with little nuances, the hitting is lacking and fielding is just plain suspect all around. In the end, I’m sure you could find some fun with this game, but overall, I consider it a disappointment.

Gaming Trend Score

72

1. Graphics: 70
2. Audio: 75
3. Controls: 55
4. Gameplay: 80
5. Value/Replay: 70
6. OVERALL:72