World Series Baseball 2K2 Preview

By Shahed Ahmed, GameSpotPosted Jun 29, 2001 6:28 pm PT

We visited Visual Concepts, and came back with the skinny on the upcoming baseball game.

While Visual Concepts was gladly redefining the sports simulation genre and entrenching itself among the top-tier of North American developers with its NBA and NFL 2K series, Sega's World Series Baseball 2K1, developed in Japan by Wow Entertainment, arrived to virtually universal disappointment. Wisely, for the second installment in the series, Sega placed the game's production in the capable hands of Visual Concepts, which proceeded to create an entirely new game in a little over a year. We recently visited the developer to get a glimpse of a near-complete build of the game and discuss the many tangible changes and improvements that are being made to the series. Aside from its title, World Series Baseball 2K2 shares very little with its much-maligned predecessor. The game is running on an entirely new engine, and new visuals, modes of play, and gameplay options allow it to more faithfully re-create America's favorite pastime. "Moving forward from 2K1, it was really important for us to have a great, really fun game and a deeper features set," explained David Perkinson, project manager at Visual Concepts. "We've also got this up and running, from the ground up, in such a short time--in pretty much a year, perhaps 15 months, of development time. This game is built entirely from the ground up; not one line of code is from last year's game."

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The key concept in the development of World Series Baseball 2K2 is one of realism, as the development team set out to create a realistic baseball simulation in all aspects, including graphics, features, options, and gameplay--a game that the avid baseball fan could enjoy. In the gameplay department in particular, three key areas have been addressed. They are the pitcher interface, the batter interface, and fielding. As mentioned in previous discussions of the game, the fielding system has been completely overhauled. Gone is the unwelcome auto-fielding feature, and in its place are full player controls. Like many other baseball simulations, once the ball is put into play, you can assume control of the player closest to the ball, retrieve it, and chuck it to one of the bases, which are mapped to the four face buttons on the Dreamcast controller. Actual player ratings will come into play on the field, as defensive categories such as range, throwing strength, and throwing accuracy are all rated for each individual player.

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Equally extensive tweaks have been made to the batting interface, as the A button is now used to hit. In the first game, the analog stick was used for hitting, making it virtually impossible to check your swing. Those problems are a thing of the past, as you now have a lot more control over the entire swing and the interface feels much more intuitive in general. Further swing control is conveyed through the ability to either pull the ball or go to the opposite field. Although, it must be noted that, very much like in the first game, it's impossible to move the batter while he's in the box. While the batter remains in his fixed position, you must position a batting cursor--which is controllable even after the pitch is thrown--inside the strike zone and swing accordingly.

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