So Real You Can Feel The Needle In Your Arm. Well, Not Really...
Written: Jun 25 '02 (Updated Jun 25 '02)
Product Rating:
Pros: it's fun, very in-depth, and there's is a huge fun factor involved.
Cons: I could go on and on, yet it's still a fun game.
The Bottom Line: Pure addictiveness and fun factor make up for problems that would probably ruin a lesser game. Rent it at least. Then buy it if you enjoyed it.
headlessparrot's Full Review: World Series Baseball 2K2 for Dreamcast
Here I am folks. Back from my Epinions respite (not that any of you would remember me anyways, but that's besides the point) that lasted a good 6 months. But, alas, now that exams are over and there's no pressure on me, I can get back to doing what I enjoy.
I was going through every video game, CD, and movie that I owned thinking desperately about what I should review first on my return. Twenty minutes passed before I checked what was in my Dreamcast console, and when I saw World Series Baseball 2K2 sitting there, I made my decision to do a review of it.
There's no denying the trouble that the sport of baseball is in these days. You have the contraction issues, you've got the Collective Bargaining Agreements between players and owners, and worst of all, you've got guys like George Steinbrenner who can buy and sell champions while small market teams are being crushed. And, to add to all of that, you've now got the steroid issue (by the way, for a real interesting read, pick up the Steroids In Baseball special report issue in SI from a couple weeks back). What I'd really like to see is a baseball sim where you have to deal with all of these things. You know, fight off contraction, try and draw fans to your building, try to prevent lockouts and so on. That would be wicked, but unfortunately, I know it will never happen for several reasons (one of which being that I'm sure they wouldn't authorize teams and names to a game that is pretty much badmouthing what is going on in the sport). Regardless of my wants, there are a couple of baseball games on the market. None are "what I want" in-depth, and there are only two for my beloved Dreamcast (a system that died out far too soon if you ask me).
One of those games is the absolutely atrocious World Series Baseball 2K1, a game I've never played but have heard lots of horror stories about. Fortunately for us baseball fans (and sports games fans in general), there is a little company called Visual Concepts. When 2K1 fell flat on it's @ss, Sega handed over the franchise to the boys who did so well with the NFL series, the NBA series, and just recently NHL 2K2 (sweet game, if you care). They revamped the entire game, and released World Series Baseball 2K2, by default the best baseball game on Dreamcast.
Pedro Martinez is the cover boy of one of the most addictive games I have ever played. That's not to say that the game is awesome, because there are far too many flaws and problems for the game to be considered good. I'm just saying that, good or bad, WSB 2K2 is one of those games where you just have to keep playing.
There are several modes of play you can choose (like pretty much all sports games). Quick Start sets you up with two randomly selected teams to just play a quick game. Exhibition Mode is just what it sounds like, as are Season Mode, Playoff Mode, and Home Run Derby. These modes are all entertaining and good for a kick - but especially the season mode. You choose your team (go Red Sox!) and you can play either the full 162 game schedule, or you can shorten it down to as few as ten games. You can manage your pitching, set your lineups for each type of game (vs. Left Hander with DH, vs. Left Hander No DH, etc., etc.) and even make trades. The computer keeps you from making lopsided trades though, which although it makes things more realistic, is also a bit of a bummer because you can't make a super team just for fun. If you make it to the playoffs, you can try to reach the holy grail of pro baseball (I was a bit peeved when I won the World Series because there is absolutely NO celebration sequence or even just anything at all that would indicate you just became World Champions). In addition to these modes, there is also an extremely simplistic create-a-player mode that kind of blows, and the franchise mode.
The franchise mode is supposed to be the meat of the game - where would-be managers make trades to bring in the great pitcher or the longball hitter. You take a team through 20 plus seasons of pro baseball (and you can choose the Expos, even though they probably won't even be hanging around next year, let alone 20 years down the road). Unfortunately, this mode falls extremely short of what it is supposed to provide. Yes, you can manage your team, but unlike NFL 2K2 (which had the best franchise mode available, and which all other sports game franchise modes should be modelled after), there is no money involved. You have a team, and each person just has a contract for 1 to 6 years. Some contracts have stipulations (No trade and/or no release, which is an extremely large pain when a crappy player has one of these stipulations), and some guys you can wheel and deal all you want. I guess the idea is to try to get a team with the longest contracts possible, but even this is hard, because teams realize what you're trying to trade to them and won't take the offer unless they are getting more return on their investment than you will be. And as if contract problems weren't enough, some players just up and decide to retire right in the middle of a six year deal - something that gets you scrambling searching for a replacement that, in the end, is just going to suck anyways. The ratings of players don't increase or decrease like in other sports franchise modes. If you pick up Jeremy Giambi hoping he is going to improve (he sucks in this game for some reason), you are sadly mistaken. The way you sign free agents at the end of a season is possibly the worst part of it all. It's set up like a draft, except your team is always the last team to pick in each round (yes, even if you were the last place team in the regular season, it doesn't matter. You're still picking last). That means that you never get the best players (or usually even just the great players; you have to settle for poor-to-average for most of the free agent signing period/rounds). A team rich with Pedro Martinez, Nomar Garciaparra, and Manny Ramirez devolves into a team featuring 9 unheard of starting players over the course of two-to-three seasons. There is absolutely no way to make your team better than it was the year before. In fact, it's a struggle to make your team as good as the year before. All of these problems could have been avoided by simply putting in a system where a team only has a certain amount of money to spend and you can make attempts to resign players. Stick with the season mode, franchise is far to frustrating to provide any measure of fun (unless you REALLY love a challenge).
The graphics of WSB 2K2 are probably the games strong point. Even though players don't look too much like their real-life counterparts, there is a resemblance when you look at the big name players. There are several different body types, hundreds of different swing styles, and several different cut scenes. Each pitcher has their own personal set up and throw. No two look exactly the same (except for the minor league guys who are modelled after no one). The best part is that each field is painstakingly reproduced to look exactly like it's real-life counterpart. The building towering over Comerica Park in Detroit are exactly true-to -life, and the Green Monster has never looked more... green... or... monster-ish. It's pretty sweet.
The sound is average. Neither excellent nor poor, it does it's job fairly well. The sound effects are all there, but they sometimes seem just a little off. The crowd roars even after their home team has been slaughtered 14-0, and the calls of the umpires always come late. You'll hear "You're out of here!" while the next batter is already at the plate and swinging. Vendors sell their wares, but it's barely audible: I want to feel like I'm at the park, drinking a Coke and devouring a Ballpark Frank (or in the case of the nearby Detroit Tigers (boo!), a large pizza from Little Ceasers on a cardboard slab). the announcer is capable, but the lack of stupid colour commentary (a la NFL 2K2, NHL 2K2, NBA 2K2) is a little disheartening. There aren't too many miscalls though, so I'm happy.
The controls are extremely simple to master. Once you realize how to time your swings, that a pitch doesn't go exactly where you aim, and that four face buttons each corresponds to a base, things are pretty easy to figure. Learning things like throwing out or picking off base stealers is a little more complicated, but still pretty easy.
The gameplay is both bad and good at the same time. While the game is it's funnest here, it is also where there are the most flaws and glitches. Just like in real baseball, you have to vary your pitches and throw the occasional ball to get a strikeout, and just like in real baseball, it's best if you bide your time while you're at bat to wait for the best pitch possible (and to tire out the pitcher). You can substitute players mid-game, and even go to the bullpen when your starter shows signs of fatigue. I was dissapointed by the fact that you didn't have to warm up bullpen pitchers before you put them in. That would have added a little more realism. Some players are slow, some players are fast, and so on - so don't go trying to steal a base with Barry Bonds, because you'll get thrown out 99% of the time. At the same time, there are also power hitters, and weak hitters and so on. You can take the power route by blasting a couple two run shots, or you can take the more strategic route of setting a runner up to third and sacrificing to bring him in. All in all, it's pretty sweet. But, like I said, there are some fairly large problems with the gameplay. The main ones are that there are an extremely large number of hits in a game. At the end of the season, Ichiro lead the majors with a batting average of .523, while Manny Ramirez and Nomar weren't far behind with .497 and .491 respectively. That just doesn't happen. The same thing goes for home runs. In a forty game season, Manny had 43 and Garciaparra wasn't far behind with 39. It's not unusual for a batter to have a three or four home run night if they're that good.
In addition to that, the computer is absolutely stupid. If you time things right, you can easily catch them leading to far off any of the bases, and if you wait until just the right second, you can convince a runner to go back to a base where a player is already waiting with the ball. On defense, they are even worse. Unlike in real life, when you get into a run-down in the game, it's the offense that wins 9 times out of 10 because of the stupid tactics the defense uses. I've scored four home runs on infield hits by just timing things right. I guess it's all about timing.
The other complaint I have regarding gameplay is the animations of players catching the ball. Watching a player catch a ball with his back totally turned from it is an all-too common sight, as is watching a ball pass a defender only to suddenly end up in his mitt.
My last complaint about the game in general is the rosters and how poorly they have been set up. For some reason, the Yankees are listed as the World Series Winners, and the DiamondBacks still have '0' under the "No. of Championships" category. I guess they put the game together at the end of the 2000 season rather than the 2001 season, which doesn't make much sense to me. Why not release the game at the beginning of the 2002 baseball season and have updated rosters rather than release it along with all the other sports games in September and October and have a missing year in there somewhere.
But despite all my complaints, World Series Baseball is an addictive and fun game that is good for killing time, kicking back with a friend, or just practising your skills so that one day, you can become a famous baseball player - needle in arm, testicles shrunken, and $200 million paycheque in your wallet.
This year, Sega Sports brings online gaming to the majors with World Series Baseball 2K2. In true 2K2 spirit, WSB 2K2 now supports online play and cha...More at eBay
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