Xbox 360 Review: The Bigs 2

There’s real life. And, then, there’s fantasy life. Real life is all about abiding to the rules of nature and the laws of physics. Fantasy life, however, provides a much-needed escape from reality, allowing you to live out your dreams and break through the confines of those nasty real-life rules. In the genre of sports, hardly a gamer can forget the legendary smash, NBA Jam. Gamers could fly from one side of the court to the other, while holding a basketball covered in fire. The announcer would boisterously yell, “Wham, bam, a tomahawk jam!” In Football, fans had NFL Blitz, a game that showed off the fun of delivering a bone-breaking concussion-inducing tackle.

2K Sports brought home the vivid world of fantasy baseball gaming in The Bigs. Now, The Bigs 2 has kicked the fantasy up a notch utilizing quicktime events, a Become a Legend Mode and an excellent pitching system. This fast paced game is filled with enough ridiculous excitement to make a hardcore simulation stickler scream “bloody murder.”

Like any sports game, the core gameplay comes down to one-on-one exhibition games. In this mode you will first notice that the pitching nuances quickly trump the batting system. Each pitcher has four different pitches in their toolkit. Each of those pitches has a “health meter.” The more hits you give up with a type of pitch, the more that meter goes down. Eventually, you will lose that pitch entirely. When you’re out of all four pitches, you will be forced to make a substitution. The Bigs 2 also offers a red zone, over the catcher’s mound to show where that batter’s sweet spot is. If you are able to score a strike directly through a batter’s sweet spot, you will gradually build up your pitch stamina to deliver a flaming pitch – that’s practically unhittable. Also, the red zone area will decrease as the batter becomes more susceptible to strikes via that pitch. However, your best bet may be to avoid the batter’s sweet spot all together.

The batting system is relatively rudimentary in comparison to pitching. You only have two types of hits: a power hit and a finesse hit. Most of the time you’ll perform fines hits, while leaving the power hits for players like Alex Rodriguez – who rarely, if ever, misses a homerun.

The game features a reward system that will be both hated and loved by gamers. If you’re a pitcher you can use your bonuses to unleash the Big Heat. This will allow you to throw a round of turbo pitches. But, with the diverse pitching system, you will more often than not find yourself using your bonuses to score homeruns. As a batter, you can use your bonuses towards either the Big Blast, or, if you wait a little longer, the Big Slam. The Big Heat is a guaranteed homerun with your next hit. The Big Blast allows you to quickly fill the bases with runners before knocking the last ball out of the park.

Fielding is broken up with Legendary Catches. Periodically, you will have the opportunity to defy gravity, and perform an unfathomable catch. This is done through quicktime events. A few of the Legendary Catches are easy, especially with hits up the middle, but this still helps to break up the otherwise stagnant fielding system. If you’re running the bases, be warned, you’re runners have little to no AI, and they may earn you a quick out through tomfoolery.

The most notable change in the Bigs 2, from its predecessor, is the Become a Legend mode. This mode blends your typical Create-a-Player functionality with some Role Playing elements. After you create your player, you are placed inside a small story, where your player is recovering from an injury and has been booted back to the minors – in Mexico. Yes, injuries in baseball can lead to national expulsion. Become a Legend mode tends to emphasize the player over the team. Through mini-games, you build your player’s stats up until he eventually becomes a legend. Unlike games like Fight Night Round 4, this mode is more about stats than winning. There is also a homerun pinball game where you rack up points by hitting various objects in the environment.

The graphics and animations in the Bigs 2 are a visual treat. There are some weird quirks with the grass, that become especially prevalent in online play, but it doesn’t take away from the game. The narration however is just about as annoying as they come. Damon Bruce makes a few witty comments that are repeated to exhaustion. There were no standout features in online gaming. Lag wasn’t a major issue and you can always find someone in cyberspace looking to game.

The Bigs 2 is definitely not a game for simulation sticklers. But, if you’re looking for arcade style fun right from the comfort of your couch, then definitely check out The Bigs 2. The graphics and animations are stunning, to say the least. The AI is a definite peeve for people into base running, but the fun factor is enough to make that issue negligible. If you’ve been on the fence about baseball simulation games, but just like to have fun with the sport then The Bigs 2 is for you.