MLB 2K7 Reviews on IGN - What the...? Where have the great baseball games gone?

FriskyTanuki

FriskyTanuki

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I noticed that MLB 2K7 was reviewed over at IGN and I picked out the PS2 review to read first. They're talking about messed up ratings (Griffey, Jeter, and dozens more at 100 ratings), glitches galore (batters facing the catcher, then quickly zipping back into their stances as the pitch is thrown), and I'm wondering what's up with this game? Roster updates can fix rosters, the rest can't be fix on the PS2. Overall, they gave it a 7 citing lack of improvement over last year's game amongst other things. Did they phone it in this year if it wasn't a next-gen game?

Nope. Xbox version also got 7.0 (straight port between PS2 and Xbox). The PSP appears to be broken, as it got a 5.9. Damn. GBA and DS versions haven't been reviewed yet, but it's not hard to see what may happen.

Maybe they put all their focus on the PS3 and 360 versions? It looked like they'd phone in any new features and fluff up the graphics, which seems like the case. I see mentions of cut features (World Baseball Classic). I'm not sure if the beginning of the review is about cuts or just features that weren't added:

What does that mean? Well, you're not getting the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues in this year's game. Nor are you becoming the skipper of AA or AAA teams along with your Major League club. Involved franchise economics and negotiations for GMs? Strike three.
Click to expand...

They also mention new glitches and stuff popping up in the wake of the developers supposedly fixing most of the flaws in last year's game. It seems like that besides a graphical update and some work on the iffy mechanics in last year's game, not much has changed with glitches, flaws, and errors abound Hopefully nothing as series as the game just flat-out not working, but still, 7.5 for the PS3 version and 7.9 for the 360 versions aren't too reassuring.

I noticed that 1up also has their reviews up, 7.5 for the 360 version and nothing else. They pretty much bash the gameplay for not even stealing MVP's mechanics that have been proven as the best for years, but gush for the graphics.

The across the board mentions of glitches, errors, and lack of polish in these reviews, despite no mention at all in the GI review (8.5 review that gushed over graphics), cannot be a great thing for the MLB to see, but they'll probably be excited to see all the money they'll get regardless.

Even though I was planning on getting MLB 07 instead as I'm not a fan of the 2K series of baseball, I was hoping things would dramatically improve for the baseball fans without a PS2 or PSP. I here too much about how unpolished these games are every year.

It seems like MLB 07 has the easy ride to the top of the pro baseball games if they can make it. Looking around, I see UGO has a review where they tell you to get God of War or Rogue Galaxy instead (WTF?). Yahoo has a good review about it not blowing anyone away with its graphics, but having solid gameplay and a good amount of modes (done by our very own ViolentLee if I'm not mistaken, nice job).

Even lacking the license and amount of updates as MVP 07 does, it appears to be the better game so far. I can't wait for more MLB 07's reviews.

You may have skipped over all these words by now, but what's your take on the current state of baseball games (Pro, College, or whatever) in the console market today? What are looking forward to or like and why?
 
Yeah, that's ViolentLee. One of the good ones, he is.

I was just thinking about this last night, actually - the irony that everyone wanted to blindside EA for "roster updates" and not improving games due to exclusivity. However, they seem to be fully invested in the Wii and expanding what they do with games. 2K, OTOH, is nowhere to be found on the Wii (with their sports titles), and the reviews seem to suggest they did the bare minimum to get away with releasing a sports title this year for those systems it is on.

The Wii is a system well suited for baseball, yet it looks like that won't happen unless Nintendo does it.

Overall, a shame, really, because I'm really craving a baseball game right now.
 
You know your game sucks if 989 Studios beats you out. They'd been making nothing but utter CRAP nonstop since 1999.

Their baseball entries have been pretty good the past three years though.
 
I have to say that MLB 2k7 for the 360 is becoming more and more of a dissapointment as I get into it. The HR rate is alarmingly high, and when hitting it never feels like you hit the ball because of skill. One other thing that makes me extremely mad is the ability of the hitters in 2k7 to hit hrs by pulling clearly outside pitches or by hitting opp. field hrs on clearly inside pitches. It is completely unrealistic.

I remember playing MVP 05 on xbox live and having very competitive low scoring games. Every game I play of 2k7 turns into a hr hitting contest. It's ridiculous.
 
I was so surprised, if I may pleasantly so, the game did not receive the overhaul everyone was saying. It looks and plays almost EXACTLY like last years. The only difference it seems are slightly improved graphics (yes, only slightly), and the presentation doesn't seem as flashy. The great pitching/hitting interface is still in tact, and I love the base stealing mode which I was worried would get cut.

When they brought in the lead from the EA MVP series, he was saying the 2K series was trying to do too much yet not any of it particularly good, and so I thought he was going to make some drastic cuts and changes. As it stands, it's primarily the same game as last year.

I liked the play of last year's game, so I'm glad it hasn't changed much, although I'm not happy to have paid $60 for essentially the same game. At least the other 2K sports games saw dramatic improvments to justify a repurchase.

Oh yeah, it's not an easy 1000 achievement points this time either. Bummer.
 
[quote name='C_A']You know your game sucks if 989 Studios beats you out. They'd been making nothing but utter CRAP nonstop since 1999.

Their baseball entries have been pretty good the past three years though.[/quote]
I don't think 989 Studios is around anymore, some stuido in SCEA has been working on their sports games for the past few years, which is good news anyway. Since Sony's dropped football and possibly hockey (I don't recall anything for maybe two years), their game have gotten a lot better. MLB finally found its stride, like you mentioned, and NBA is getting there.
 
The 2K7 demo drives me absolutely crazy with the zooming/blurring that it does constantly. Did they ever fix the problems with the 2K6 360 version (lockups, data loss)? I may just pick that one up when it gets cheap enough...
 
I want this game bad. Thing is Im jobless. Broke. You know the deal. I cant post my trade list yet (gotta wait 30 days) but Im looking to trade for it. I have a dreamcast system,PS1 games,PS2 games,Sega/Cd/32X,SNES.. Ah this might even get deleted because its not under the trade forum. Crud. Anways PM me please or I'll be talking to you all when its my time.
 
Goes to show that exclusivity, no matter who has it, is a bad thing in sports games. MVP 2005 was so good. Please make it backwards compatible!
 
I too read the ps2 review and last gen versions were given the shaft honestly.

MLB2k6 had an overall score of 6.2 out of 10 reviews, not to mention the game wasnt really playable. MLB 2K7 currently has an 8.2 out of 2 press ratings. Its pretty obvious that the game has improved.

Sure its not MVP status yet, but MVP is gone and theres nothing we can do about it. Like i said in the 360 thread, MLB 2K7 is better than 2K6 and thats what really counts. Might not be the 9.2 that MVP got but 8 is acceptable + it shows hope for the future.
 
Eek! I really wanted to pick up the 360 version but I think I'll wait for a price drop instead.

P.S. Nice to see you are still on CAG, Weedy!
 
[quote name='Weedy649']I too read the ps2 review and last gen versions were given the shaft honestly.

MLB2k6 had an overall score of 6.2 out of 10 reviews, not to mention the game wasnt really playable. MLB 2K7 currently has an 8.2 out of 2 press ratings. Its pretty obvious that the game has improved.

Sure its not MVP status yet, but MVP is gone and theres nothing we can do about it. Like i said in the 360 thread, MLB 2K7 is better than 2K6 and thats what really counts. Might not be the 9.2 that MVP got but 8 is acceptable + it shows hope for the future.[/quote]
What? MVP isn't dead. I was playing MVP 07 a few days ago and frankly it sounds better than MLB 2K7 just by being a quality game throughout the product.

If you want to take a glitchy game that's better than a broken game just because that's all you're getting on the 360, go right ahead. The game's averaging 8.1 right now on gamerankings while MLB 07 is right at the same score, 8.1. But frankly, the MLB 07 reviews are much more positive and indicate that there's been a lot of additions and improvements, while MLB 2K7 seems to be just a graphical update mostly.
 
[quote name='evanft']Reason #1254325 to hold on to the Xbox version of MVP Baseball 2005.[/quote]Roster Update!

Or, you could just go hunt down a copy of MVP 2005 for the PC, and download the MLB07 Total Conversion mod for it at MVPMods.com

And it's funny. I've been saying this for years, the 2K games outside of NFL and NBA are always buggy pieces of garbage, with huge bugs that can cripple your 50-game-in dynasty. I ripped them for mailing it in with the MLB game last year, right after they bought the exclusive third party rights, and of course, I was labeled an EA fanboy for saying as such.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']Roster Update!

Or, you could just go hunt down a copy of MVP 2005 for the PC, and download the MLB07 Total Conversion mod for it at MVPMods.com

And it's funny. I've been saying this for years, the 2K games outside of NFL and NBA are always buggy pieces of garbage, with huge bugs that can cripple your 50-game-in dynasty. I ripped them for mailing it in with the MLB game last year, right after they bought the exclusive third party rights, and of course, I was labeled an EA fanboy for saying as such.[/QUOTE]

fucking EA fanboys.
 
[quote name='mr ryles']If you guys are going to let this review sway you from buying a good baseball game, then it is your loss.[/quote]
I didn't let it sway me from buying a great baseball game, I bought MLB 07 last night. It's fantastic so far. Just so much content and gameplay in one tiny package.
 
The title of this thread is misleading, when you have a gem with Sony's MLB series. MVP is a nice complement and is still improving in the gameplay department. I guess 2K is adequete, I can't see myself playing it over MLB or MVP.
 
[quote name='captainfrizo']QFT. MVP 2005 is the king of baseball games.[/QUOTE]

I agree. I even went so far as to buy NCAA MVP Baseball 2006 The College Edition, or whatever it was called, and it... well... kinda sucked, it was really choppy and... it wasn't MLB.

I still play MVP 05 almost daily, it's fine by me since I'm already well into the second season (having played every game) and many of the players have retired/new ones have appeared, so it's sorta like a parrellel universe.

But ya, MVP not backwards compatible, is pretty much the #1 reasons I didn't get a 360 at launch time.
 
Im as big an MVP addict as anyone here, and plan on buying the lastest NCAA game, but seriously the hate for 2k7 here is rediculous, its the best playing baseball game since mvp 2005, and the presentation is simply amazing.


and lol @ slight upgrade over 2k6, thats just wrong.
 
[quote name='hhhdx4']Im as big an MVP addict as anyone here, and plan on buying the lastest NCAA game, but seriously the hate for 2k7 here is rediculous, its the best playing baseball game since mvp 2005, and the presentation is simply amazing.


and lol @ slight upgrade over 2k6, thats just wrong.[/quote]
:lol: Despite the lack of reviews for both games, MLB 07's gotten better scores than 2K7 from both IGN (8.5 to 7.9 (360)) and Game Informer (8.75 to 8.5). Just because 2K7 is all you've got, it doesn't make it the best around.
 
[quote name='hhhdx4']2k7 isnt all ive got, I own the previous two years Sony games.


and basing your opinion on other peoples opinions FTL.[/quote]
Do you own or have you extensively played MLB 07?
 
nope, dont plan on it either. The series has been VERY overrated these last few years, and I cant play the ps2 version after playing 2k7 for the last week.
 
[quote name='hhhdx4']nope, dont plan on it either. The series has been VERY overrated these last few years, and I cant play the ps2 version after playing 2k7 for the last week.[/quote]
Then just so you know, you're missing out on one hell of a baseball game. Easily the best baseball game since MVP 05, in my opinion. There's a lot of new features and improvements, too.
 
I've tried to play a lot of different baseball games since the 16 bit era, and have never really gotten into any of them. World Series Baseball for the Genesis was fantastic, the first Ken Griffey game on the SNES is probably my favorite baseball game ever.

Is there a decent, arcadey baseball game out there from recent years?
 
[quote name='daroga']I've tried to play a lot of different baseball games since the 16 bit era, and have never really gotten into any of them. World Series Baseball for the Genesis was fantastic, the first Ken Griffey game on the SNES is probably my favorite baseball game ever.

Is there a decent, arcadey baseball game out there from recent years?[/QUOTE]

Midway's MLB Slugfest series. 2K sports is coming out with something called The BIGS:

http://www.gamingtarget.com/article.php?artid=6631
 
My first impression of MLB 2K7 was, "Oh shit, I just wasted $65 on another horrible 2K baseball game." But I soon figured out that the problem was the swing stick. Great concept; terrible execution.

I have played 6 games with the classic swing, and I love this game. It's better than the very good MLB 06: The Show from last year, and while I can't say it's as good as MVP 2005 yet, it's right up there. Having the excellent 2K Sports presentation, adjustable season length, online leagues, amazing 360 graphics, and achievement points adds a lot to the experience.

I've played with a variety of different teams, and I am absolutely in love with MLB 2K7. Excellent baseball game.
 
This world needs more:

baseball%20stars%202-2.gif
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']What? MVP isn't dead. I was playing MVP 07 a few days ago and frankly it sounds better than MLB 2K7 just by being a quality game throughout the product.

If you want to take a glitchy game that's better than a broken game just because that's all you're getting on the 360, go right ahead. The game's averaging 8.1 right now on gamerankings while MLB 07 is right at the same score, 8.1. But frankly, the MLB 07 reviews are much more positive and indicate that there's been a lot of additions and improvements, while MLB 2K7 seems to be just a graphical update mostly.[/QUOTE]

I was under the impression that MVP was only a NCAA game now, not MLB.
 
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