Audio:		8.0
Visual:		9.0
Gameplay:		9.0
Story:		5.0
Replay:		8.0
Score:		8.0

Platform:	X360
Developer(s):	Visual Concepts
Publisher(s):	2K Sports
Genre:	Platform
Players:	1
Release Date:	March 03, 2009
Rating:

Sports games are a dime a dozen these days and mostly they don’t do anything special or unique to really impress us. We buy them cause we love the sport and want the newest rosters and the such, but with MLB 2K9 they brought a beautiful side of baseball back. MLB 2K9 when compared to PS3’s MLB: The Show has been seen in a less than stellar light. MLB 2K9 with this installation, has really shown what it can do and really taken their game to the next step. 2K9 has a lot to prove in their latest edition of the series and really need to hold up against the foe that MLB: The Show has truly become.

Gameplay:

The changes in pitching, batting, fielding and base running are extremely beneficial and make the games easier to play through. It has a much more flowing feeling, a more realistic touch if you must. When pitching and hitting you use the right joystick to pitch and throw. When pitching you pull the stick back allowing the yellow to engulf the full circle and then push the stick forward to release the pitch. When pitching you don’t call your own pitches, your catcher calls them (like in a real game) and you can shake his choices off with the A button if you don’t happen to like the call.

With batting other than the hitting you can bunt with X or during the pitch you can drag-bunt with the same button. You can attempt to guess the pitch as well to get an edge on the pitcher and take a better swing. My personal favorite thing about batting in this game is the ability to finally dictate where you swing toward. When you swing using the right stick, you aim your hit with the left stick. If you pull the stick down you’ll hit more of a grounder, left and right obviously do their thing, and up gives you a better fly ball shot to go for Homers. I’m a fan of small realism and by that I mean the little things in a game that makes it realistic, and in MLB 2K9 it really has a lot of them. Things such as when batting you have to pull back to get ready for the pitch just like in real games, before your flow your swing. Also, when pitching, you don’t call your own pitches as I said before and I really think that is for the better. The game has finally given that great realistic feel finally and done so very well.

Finally fielding and base running have been worked on and for the better. Fielding is done in 2 ways, the old school A,B,X and Y being used for the bases to throw to have been given a new addition in that the right stick is used for the bases as well. It has also given a power gage to use, green is the best throw possible and red can get away from you and overthrow, it is used with both the old school and new school ways. Base running is controlled during batting with the left and right button and trigger. You can set all your runners to run or do it by certain runners. It’s a nice flex option to work with.

The game itself is a real accomplishment and a great addition to anyone’s sports game collection and is one of the better baseball games made. The redux game controls and better put together pitching as well as batting system have made this game one that is enjoyable and hard all at the same time. It is definitely a worthwhile pick up.

Game Modes:

Franchise mode has always been something hard to do correctly in terms of baseball games, but even with rosters from the MLB, triple-A, double-A and single-A MLB 2K9 has made roster management manageable. In these franchises it is truly hard to work with certain teams than others due to no salary cap being in place, so if you’re the Yankees you can pretty much buy up the free agency no problem, but if you’re my Cincinnati Reds your stuck with certain lackluster players getting paid too damn much and you don’t have much in the way of cap space for awhile. The exception is that the better you do in your season’s the higher your cap space becomes (oh joy!).

The easiest way to get a worse team better (Reds, Royals, Pirates) is to rely on your minor league players getting better. The Pirates have Chad Davis and Derek Soson as well as a slew of young pitchers, the Reds have Homer Bailey who is considered one of the best pitchers and seen as a future hall of famer along with James Astacio and the Royals have about 5 or so good young pitchers and Ellis Houston who is a 19 year old first basemen who will prosper.

I’m just giving you the idea that if you take any team besides the Yanks, Red Sox, or Phils you will be able to win; it might just take a little time.

Postseason mode is just that, you play only the postseason. It’s pretty enjoyable if you’re only looking to do the whole World Series thing quickly and is the equal of a Madden season mode. Honestly though, postseason mode is only worth it for the Gamerscore points and really nothing more. When you have franchise mode and online play, this becomes obsolete after one playthrough.

The Home Run Derby is awesome on its own and the game mode is no different. I find myself having fun just doing that and screwing around with using people who should never hit homers (hi Angel Pagan[Mets] great name). My only gripe is why can’t I use pitchers?! That was so fun watching these overpaid 12-7 averages swing for the fences and hitting mostly grounders. I need something to do and make a drinking game out of!

Finally, there is practice mode which is truly more helpful than not. It helps you learn all the ropes within the game and introduces you to the new controls and stylings. It helps you hone your skills to pay the bills (insert 80’s basketball movie pun here) and find your strengths and weaknesses within all parts of the game. Not only is it an easy 5 Gamerscore points, but it actually helps teach you! Isn’t that amazing boys and girls!

Graphics:

Solid my friend, the game features some great looking characters and the fields are really well done. The gameplay has a much more true feeling to its audience than before, and produces some very realistic in game moments. Things like your pitcher getting shaky in certain situations or a home run raising and rallying not just your players, but the crowd as well. Throwing in the mound visits and good look graphics in the benches for each team really help too.

Each player looks really well in comparison to their real counterpart. The game flows so well and the graphics do that a great justice in keeping the real feel to it all. A problem though is a minor glitch it doesn’t affect the gameplay, but is more annoying than anything else. When the camera pans to the bench your players will be resting their arms in nothing but the air and your skipper will be able to walk in the slowest motion but still cover some crazy distances. In one step my skip went from one side of the bench to the other, that is crazy why isn’t he playing center field for me? All in all though, the game is solid graphically and enjoyable to look at. You can even see the disdain from Yanks fans that they missed the postseason last year, haha take that Yank fans.

Sound:

The music for MLB 2K9 is great; they have the “Final Countdown” by Europe and before either Rock Band or Guitar Hero, for shame! The ability to throw down your own tracks for players when they walk out to the plate is a pretty neat tool to use and keeps the game from getting sound stuffy in its own way. The fade in and out from inning to inning is done wonderfully and is exactly like a real game minus the terrible ShamWow! Commercials and gives that in game feel. The crowd gets excited or distraught depending on how the game is and obviously who is the home team.

The crowd effects and music background make for a well put game with a lot of upside and very little negatives. The game stays strong in this department and with a decent soundtrack along with great stadium sounds and an umpire that clearly calls ball or strike you really can’t find a whole lot to complain about.

Replay:

This all depends on a few factors; do you really enjoy baseball? Do you love to play the game a lot? Are you an online junkie and need to get your fix as much as possible? If you’re in with at least 2 out of 3 of these then the game has some great value to it. A lengthy and in depth franchise mode help as well along with the character creation too. The big downer for me is still the lack of a career mode like MLB: The Show has which would easily catapult the game series to a much higher standard and create a real competition with The Show.

Final Analysis

The games has more ups than downs and that is a definite good thing. With a strong and long (no pun intended, but hey) franchise mode and some really enjoyable online play it has a few key components needed for a games true worth. Where MLB 2K9 falters it easily makes up the ground with great gameplay, solid graphics and quality sound to compensate for no career mode and lack of diverse play types.

For the game to really impress me I would have liked to have seen a career mode as I have stated several times and why I continue to pound that subject into the ground is because of how great it really is. People love RPG’s and not the a-typical types, but more sports styled. From Madden to MLB: The Show and many other sports titles, the career mode has always been a jewel that could help you look past crap graphics, terrible sound or even bad gameplay. It makes up for it on the simple basis that people love fantasy and them playing a professional sport is just that, a fantasy.

That being said, where it lacks in that term it makes for a damn good and enjoyable franchise mode where you take any team you like and attempt to get to the World Series. You can create your own player and sign him to whatever lowly team you decide to help and also dictate his salary.

The online gameplay really is done well. It will always be fun to play head to head against somebody in just about anything, but there is some real satisfaction beating some guy who picks the Yanks and tries to take down my Reds. Yeah, you know who you are! Hope you liked that Aaron Harang 8-3 win buddy! It is just a really fun time going back and forth and trying to one up your opponent.

Finally, the game itself is really overall decent. The gameplay is really beautiful and the most important game mode on the title (franchise mode) works wonderfully with very few kinks. The game is one of the best that 2K has put out and we can only hope that they expand upon this great platform to make 2K10 or whatever the hell they decide to call it even better. 

Achievements:

Secret Achievements