Major League Baseball 2K12

The start of baseball's spring training sees not only the return of MLB players to the diamond after a long winter break, but baseball video games as well. Major League Baseball 2012 ($29.99 on PC, $59.99 on PS3, Xbox 360)?the Visual Concepts-developed hardball title?may on the surface appear as yet another baseball title that's released on an annual basis, but the deep gameplay, excellent presentation, and outstanding three-person play-by-play and color commentary will quickly quell (some) doubts. Despite the game's many positives, series veterans may not find enough new content here to plop down cash. Note: We tested the PC version.

Stepping Into the Box
When you boot up the game, you're presented with the options of activating Living Rosters (which automatically downloads the latest rosters from the 2K Sports server) and Autosave (which automatically saves changes). Unless you like outdated rosters or prefer to manually save, I suggest leaving these on.?

The MLB 2K12 homescreen?featuring a soundtrack powered by indie rock bands and hiphop acts?is the gateway to the now-standard franchise, online, and create-a-player modes. There's also a new mode?MLB Today Season?which lets you play an entire season at the same pace as the real-life MLB team. You can compare your team's stats against the flesh-and-blood counterparts. If you're a diehard baseball fan, you can play out the entire season at the same pace as your favorite team?very cool.

Excellent Presentation
MLB 2K12 does a superb job of replicating the televised baseball experience. Before the contest begins, you see pitchers warming up and fielders tossing the ball as the announcing crew?Gary Thorne, Steve Phillips, and John Kruk?run down the key players and match ups.

Speaking of the announcing team, the crew does an excellent job of not only calling the play-by-play action, but adding color commentary. After a particularly long mental chess game in which I walked a Rangers' batter, the commentary team touched upon the stress that comes with long at-bats and how it makes hitters a bit over eager. The commentary (over 80 hours' worth!) really gave the game true-to-life feel.

Stats have a strong presence in MLB 2K12. The game shows not only the stats for each batter during a particular contest, but also the hitter's effectiveness in various situations such as when up three balls and no strikes. Sabermetricians will go nuts over the numbers.

MLB 2K12's animation, for the most part, is stellar. Players throw, run, walk, and step to the plate in a life-like manner, so much so that if a passerby saw this game running on a large screen TV, she could possibly mistake it for a real major league game. That said, it's the small mannerisms that give the game away as artificial. When a batter, for example, tracks the flight of a homerun, the head and neck movements look very robotic. Considering the quality in other areas, this does break the illusion of realism.

Gameplay Additions
MLB 2K12 makes the cat-and-mouse game between pitchers and batters more realistic than ever, as certain pitches will decrease or increase in effectiveness against certain batters, depending on that hitter's strengths and weaknesses. As such, gamers must approach each at-bat with a different strategy?just like in the big leagues. I found each match up very engaging as I couldn't simply spam an effective pitch.

Position players also receive tweaking. MLB 2K12 features a new throwing system that gives players more decisions to make in the field. You can queue up throws by holding the throw button before you catch the ball, but the tradeoff is a higher risk of error. Conversely, you can set your feet and then throw the ball, which results in a more accurate throw. The options come in especially handy when you have to make a split-second decision to gun down a base runner, much like the real life game.

Big League Problems
MLB 2K12's camera needs some help. Every now and then?after a batter hits a foul ball into the bleachers?the camera locked into place after it had tracked the flight of the ball. This camera glitch didn't break the game, as it unlocked after a few short seconds, but it negatively impacted the experience. Even worse, the defensive players were often in ill positions to make routine plays, which put more runners on base than there should have been in some cases.

Get Drafted Into Major League Baseball 2K12
Major League Baseball 2K12 may not have a laundry list of new features over its predecessor, but what's there?an engaging new pitcher-batter dynamic, improved commentary, and excellent presentation?help to beautifully capture the essence of America's favorite pastime. Still, series' newcomers may appreciate MLB 2K12 more than long time players who may see the game as an incremental improvement over MLB 2K11.?

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