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The Bigs |
Wii |
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Review by Matt Paprocki |
2K Sports |
Sports |
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Graphics: 8 |
Sound: 8 |
Gameplay: 8 |
Overall: 8 |
| From the “it should be obvious” department comes the second
attempt at capturing the national pastime on the Wii. The Bigs is certainly suited
for the hardware, and the controls make it loads of fun to play, though some significant
tweaking is needed in places. Missing features also drop this version of 2K Sport’s
new series down a notch. Without a season mode, it’s the Rookie Challenge taking center stage. Here you’ll create a character and take him through various competitive challenges. The five inning standard gameplay makes for fun and non-tiring sessions, while the mini-games that build the created player’s stats work wonderfully with the controller. While it's arcade style baseball, there’s unquestionably more depth and skill required compared to Wii Sports. Expected motions to pitching and batting are logical. Response to the players' movements are spot on, and adds the extra boost the Wii version needs to one up its competition on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3. Unfortunately, the control scheme is needlessly complicated in places, and going so far as to require a nun chuck attachment at all times. It would have lessened the depth, but there are some obvious control schemes that could have easily eliminated the need for the cord. You can’t fully swing the Remote like a bat when holding on to the nun chuck, and it’s definitely a hindrance to the overall experience. The only purpose for the attachment is to aim your swing in terms of where in the field you want the hit to go. Why not simply move this to the d-pad for a general direction? This is an arcade style title anyway. For pitching, you’ll need to aim the general pitch location. Did the development team forget motion controls allow for aiming with the Remote? Why not let the player point right at the screen before they begin the pitch motion? There’s a wonderful touch that requires the player to move their wrist to throw breaking balls, and convenient on-screen guide makes sure you’re always aware of what motions produce what. Fielding also ends up as a sore spot. Again, the d-pad would be perfect for throwing to each base, yet an inconsistent and frustrating motion in time with the release of the A button is needed to complete the task at hand. You’ll miss far too easy outs at first. The Wii edition also drops two features from other current generation versions. Online play will be the deal breaker for those looking for tighter competition once the occasionally aggravating AI takes over. The second deletion is the Home Run Pinball mode, a fun mini-game placing batters in Times Square to deal out damage on New York’s lights. Even with the oddball control setup, it remains the advantage the Wii version carries with it over counterparts on the PS3 and 360. Hitting a button is no replacement for actually swinging the Remote or physically flinging a slider right past Alex Rodriguez. The other choices, or lack thereof, keep it on equal ground. |