Unlike the more realistic baseball games on the market, The Bigs 2 injects players with a little juice to make them larger than life, then put them in fast-paced games full of lightning quick pitches, warp speed throws and homeruns that destroy billboard lights. That is, unless an outfielder leaps over 10 feet into the air to catch the fly ball.
In this year's game, you can play a full season with your favorite team, make trades, enjoy the Home Run Derby, the All-Star game and World Series. To spice up the action, some games have goals, like getting an RBI with your created character, hitting a homerun or simply winning the game. Completing a goal unlocks different accessories for your character, increased attributes, classic uniforms and stadiums. Your ultimate goal, though, is to make it into the baseball Hall of Fame. To do this, you must gain votes by defeating legends in various All-Star games. All of this amounts to a fun mode that'll entertain you for quite some time.
The Bigs 2's also tweaks the already successful formula too. In this year's game, batters have a Wheelhouse; this is an area of the strike zone where the batter hits most effectively, and the Wheelhouse's size depends on the hitter's skills. You'll also enjoy Legendary Catches, where a player can make a catch that would normally be out of reach. When a Legendary Catch is available, the player goes into a mini-game where you press buttons in a certain order or release a button at a certain point to make the grab.
We also dig the improved version of the Big Blast, called Big Slam. This super-sized move, achieved after earning points during the course of the game, gives four batters a chance to hit, and if the final batter makes contact with the ball, it's an automatic home run.
Finally, 2K Sports added co-op and versus options to its addictive Homerun Pinball mode, allowing players to work together to get the high score or compete. 2K even threw new environments into the mix, including Las Vegas and Japan.
Bottom line, The Bigs 2 is everything a sequel should be, a game that adds to the previous edition while retaining its magic. Unless you despise unrealistic and arcade style sports, we highly recommend it.--Andrew Buffa
Reader Comments (0)