MLB 2K8 (Wii)

Grab your glove, your remote and your Nunchuk. 2K8 delivers the best baseball for the Wii.
4/1/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

If the evolution of the baseball game on the Wii was put side by side with the evolution of the human species, it'd be about at australopithecus level right now. That's a good thing. Up until now, it's been gurgling as a single-celled blob churning in a primordial ooze. 2K Sports' MLB 2K8 finally has baseball on the Wii standing on two feet. It's not perfect by any means, but is a huge leap ahead of any other attempt to put you on the diamond with a remote and Nunchuk.

While 2K's baseball sim struggles to find its footing on other systems, it has done itself proud in its Wii debut. Baseball has been a tough sell on the system. The machine shipped with a bare bones and cartoony version of things in Wii Sports that let you whack away as your favorite Mii. MLB Power Pros kept the Big Head game alive with an ultra-deep, but not particularly Wii-esque game. The guts of the game is played with a traditional button-based controller scheme. There's an overly simplified motion-based mini-game, but that's about it. Several of the Crispy Gamer brain trust gave me grief for not giving the game bigger props, but as far as I'm concerned, because there's so little focus on motion-based play, it's only really a Wii game because it says so on the package. Hey, I can play the GameCube version of Acclaim's All-Star Baseball 2004 on my Wii, too. Last year's The Bigs came the closest to bringing the game to the console. The pitching was fun. The batting was fun. The fielding yanked.

MLB 2K8 takes things a step further. On the mound, pitching is generally intense and challenging. At the plate, hitting requires timing. Most importantly, though, development knew when to rein in the motion stuff and -- unlike in The Bigs -- made playing the field far more intuitive by letting you throw the ball around by using the directional pad. It's a small thing, but it makes the difference between a game that will infuriate you and one that you'll get a kick out of playing.

Pitching, which involved a lot of convoluted wrist twisting in The Bigs, has been simplified somewhat, but it's still far from being dumbed-down. Your catcher will spot the location he wants and an on-screen icon system will let you know the best pitch to throw. Now, it's up to you. Spot the ball by pointing the remote where you want it -- making sure to keep in mind the break point and movement of the intended pitch -- and then choose the pitch type by using the analog stick. Deliver the pitch by holding the B button, drawing back the remote and then throwing your arm forward when an on-screen meter prompts you. It definitely gives you a sensation of throwing a real pitch.

The system isn't without its problems, though. Too often, you'll do everything correctly, but when you pull the remote back, the on-screen meter doesn't move. The result is a meatball pitch -- a lame 80 mph throw instead of the 96 mph gas you were planning on hurling. Thankfully, the game is a lot more forgiving of mistakes on the mound than in other versions of 2K8. On the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, your mistakes usually end up in the stands. Here, errant throws generally stay in the park.