The Bigs 2 First Look

In the real world, Major League Baseball pitchers do their best to avoid directly challenging a batter. They'll keep balls on the outside edges of the strike zone, change up speeds, and basically do anything else they can think of to get a batter to go after a bad pitch. That works pretty well in baseball video games too, unless you're talking about 2K Sports' upcoming The Bigs 2. A sequel to 2007's original arcade baseball game, The Bigs 2 will be hitting store shelves in just a few months. Last week, we had a chance to see the game for the first time and check out a motion capture event event with The Bigs 2 cover star Prince Fielder. While the sequel is very much following up on the successful ideas of the first game, some new ideas have been added to the mix to help change things up.

Among those new ideas is the concept of the wheelhouse. Every batter in the game has a wheelhouse zone, and if he makes contact with a pitch in that zone, the chances of that ball ending up as a hit, or even a home run, are greatly increased. In the game, the wheelhouse zone will show up as a colored circle in each batter's strike zone, and wheelhouse size will differ depending on the batter. Normally, as a pitcher, you'd want to avoid a batter's wheelhouse as if it were covered in oozing sores, but this being The Bigs 2, it pays to be aggressive on the mound. Each time you throw a pitch in a batter's wheelhouse and the batter doesn't make contact with the ball, you'll earn turbo (which you can later apply to an automatic strikeout), and, better yet, that wheelhouse zone will shrink slightly, making it easier to keep going after the hitter.

The risk of pitching in a guy's wheelhouse is obvious--there's a good chance that if he makes contact, he'll take you yard--but the reward of shrinking down a batter's wheelhouse (plus the added turbo) makes being aggressive a legitimate strategic choice. As producers told us, if you feel like you've got the rhythm of the pitching meter down and are nailing perfect pitches in succession, it pays to be aggressive. This year, the developers have also added a chance for a small boost to a perfect pitch. After you throw a perfect pitch, you'll be able to get an additional boost of movement and speed by pressing the same pitch button at precisely the right time. The timing will be tough, but the additional speed and break on your pitch will make it worth it.

While the wheelhouse is probably the biggest change to batting in The Bigs 2, it's not the only one. This time around, you'll be able to use the left analog stick to direct your hits. That's not new in baseball games, but here, it will be more important than ever, thanks to the presence of legendary players in the field. Anyone with a legendary fielding rating will make your life in the batter's box miserable, as they'll be able to scoop up fly balls and grounders normal players won't be able to get to. As a result, aiming your hits to keep them away from legendary fielders will be an important tactic.

In the field, these legendary players will be defensive stalwarts for your club, and their outstanding fielding abilities will give you access to contextual fielding minigames that will help you make plays. For instance, if a ball is heading foul towards in the stands, a legendary fielder might be able to snag the ball from the clutches of the fans. The associated minigame that pops up will be a balance beam of sorts, where you'll try to keep the ball from falling off, emulating the way a fielder might lean over the fence, trying to keep his balance as he tries to catch the ball. Other minigame examples include a pitcher come-backer minigame, for hot shots up the middle; a home run robbing minigame; and multiple minigames for infield and outfield diving plays.

Certain players in The Bigs 2 will also be rated as legendary for pitching and batting. But a "legendary" bat doesn't necessarily mean you'll be bombing every ball out of the yard. For example, cover athlete Prince Fielder is rated as a legendary batter in the game, but his ability gives the other batters on his team a larger wheelhouse. Another player might give only the batter behind him in the lineup a bigger wheelhouse. Pitchers too can be legendary, with certain pitches being that much more effective in the game--such as a legendary knuckleball or Daisuke Matsuzaka's gyroball. All of these different legendary abilities pose a challenge for the developers in terms of balance, but as producers told us, they're looking to strike a balance so that even underpowered teams in the real MLB have at least a chance at victory in the game.

In the original Bigs, saving up turbo points to earn a guaranteed strikeout or guaranteed home run (or entering duel mode when both players engaged their turbo) was an essential part of the strategy. While those features are in The Bigs 2, this time around the developers have added a new wrinkle to the system: the big slam. You can still spend your saved points to use on an automatic home run or save your points until you get to big slam mode. Here, you'll be given a succession of pitches and can load the bases (provided you make contact). Then, on the fourth pitch, you'll hit an automatic grand slam--again providing you actually hit the ball. If you miss with a batter or two, you can still get a two- or three-run homer, as well.

Beyond the new gameplay twists, The Bigs 2 will have a pretty standard set of modes you'd expect from an arcade sports game. First off is Become a Legend mode, a career mode that essentially continues the story of your career player in the original game. In this game, your player has suffered an injury and isn't able to continue in the big leagues. Instead, he takes his career to Mexico where he rehabs his skills and begins the long trek toward getting back into MLB, winning the World Series, and, ultimately, becoming a legendary player.

Like the original game's career mode, the gameplay in Become a Legend mode will be composed of various individual and team-based challenges--everything from stealing a certain number of bases during a certain game, to helping your team come back from a big deficit to win the game. Completing certain challenges will give you boosts to certain attributes, with your goal to get your player to legendary skill status. Game producers are promising more variety in the challenges this time around, and as last time, you'll be able to steal certain players from teams as you complete challenges, on your way to building a powerful team of baseball greats. You'll need that team to be its best, because you'll ultimately face off against a series of Hall of Fame teams made up of all-time greats like Reggie Jackson, Jackie Robinson, and Babe Ruth. Producers estimate that the career mode in The Bigs 2 will run at least 16 hours and will be a bit more open-ended than the rather linear experience in the original game.

The Bigs 2 will also include a season mode for the first time. Here, you'll be able to play a full 162-game season (and playoffs, of course), with statistical tracking and trades. Producers said they've developed a system to prevent exploiting trades in the game; essentially, you'll build up "trade power" as you progress through the season, and you'll be allowed to trade for certain players only once you've built up enough of that trade currency. In addition, season mode will have a few different minigames packed in, such as a game you can play to boost a pitcher's stamina when sending him to start on short rest.

Other modes include the return of Home Run Pinball mode (this time with four locales to destroy with your long balls: Times Square, Times Square retro, Tokyo, and Las Vegas), as well as minigames that are similar to some of the minigames found in Become a Legend mode. We saw one minigame in action, designed to boost your speed. It features a footrace around Wrigley Field, and you have to take on Cubs speedster Alfonso Soriano in an obstacle course race. There will also be power and contact hitting minigames as well as one for fielding. The last mode is called Pick-Up Game, and it lets you play a quick single game against the CPU or an opponent. A random list of players will be available to recruit to your team, and each player picks athletes to appear on his or her team, playground-style.

What set the original The Bigs apart as an arcade baseball game was combining an amped-up play style with an approach that was true to the sport it portrayed. That same philosophy seems to be in effect in The Bigs 2, and we look forward to seeing how the new game mechanics affect the always enjoyable cat and mouse game between the pitcher and batter that is at the heart of America's pastime. The Bigs 2 is due for release on July 7--just a week before the 2009 MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis. Look for much more on the game in the coming weeks.