I just played the demo of MLB 2k9 for XBOX 360 and still have more fun with Baseball Stars on the Nintendo NES. My problem with this video game and all the baseball games since the NES classics have been that they try to make it too real. Let face it Baseball is a slow sport. The time between pitches and innings in real life takes a long time and does not need to be portrayed exactly in a video game. The game is impressive when you are pitching. That part not only looks really cool but plays well also. The problem is your fielders are so clunky because of the long animations that it takes all the fun of playing the field out of the game. The players are half controlled by you and half by the computer so you want your second baseman to dive but he’s already running the other way. For some reason in today’s games they either make it so realistic that I fall asleep playing it or they go the opposite direction and my 300 mile an hour fastball flies down the pike in a huge fireball and I can get in a fist fight at second base

MLB 2k9 for the XBOX 360

Another problem with today’s games is this idea that we all love it when you put little balls on real players and make them run around capturing their exact movements. I have never liked this and think it is a cheap way to animate players on the field. They can never get every animation and they always look like robots. It works in the pitching dynamic and in the cut scenes but everywhere else it looks ridiculous. After looking at this guy in the picture below I will never be able to lay a bunt down again.

Are you serious???

So now the offense. Hitting the ball is alright, they simplified it enough where it’s all about timing and the direction doesn’t matter. I’m alright with that, the problem on offense is controlling the base runners. Again its like your controlling players that don’t want to be controlled. You tell the player to run to second and 2 seconds later he will start to run. I got caught in a run down and it was like the game didn’t expect this and wasn’t made for such things.

It seems like the animations are more important than actually controlling your runners and fielders. This problem started after the NES and continues to be a problem with today’s baseball games. Turning double plays in RBI and Baseball stars was fun. You could rob home runs and make diving plays in the outfield. Today’s games take all the fun out of baseball and really slow the pace of a game that doesn’t need any more slowing down.

I would love if they brought out a new baseball game that was about gameplay but that didn’t make the game into a joke. For now when friends come over I still break out the old NES and will play any of the classics before I play a current console baseball game. Here are some NES Baseball greats:

• Baseball Stars 1
• Baseball Stars 2
• RBI Baseball 1
• RBI Baseball 2
• RBI Baseball 3
• Little League Baseball
• Bases Loaded 1
• Bases Loaded 2
• Bases Loaded 3
• Bases Loaded 4
• Dusty Diamonds All Star Softball
• Cyber Stadium Base Wars
• Baseball NES Classic Sports
• Baseball Simulator 1.000
• Major Leagur Baseball MLB

You can find all these games and more at www.DKOldies.com