Ign-Hands on with THE BIGS!!!

Wiitime

the guy below- HES BACK!!
Oct 15, 2006
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Wii Online Code
1405-1695-6567-5492
http://wii.ign.com/articles/790/790849p1.html

Overall, they are Really like what they are seeing. They said its going really well and its fun. Not Perfect but in the right direction. IGN said it hits all plattforms june 25th... but b4 that they said its released later this year.so who knows. They didnt say anything about online play... but remember, they might not talk about it yet. maybe 2k is still working on that or maybe they cant talk about it until nintendo talks about it during the summit...
And the Graphics.. VERY NICE.. for the wii!!


May 22, 2007 - It's baseball season outside as well as in today as we're running through the motions of The Bigs here at the Nintendo gamers event in Seattle, Washington. We've been teased about the game for the last few weeks, but the wait is over, as we strapped on our batting gloves, tightened the Wii remote strap, and are swinging away with The Bigs for the first time. Our consensus? You may want to keep an eye on this one.

For anyone not already familiar with The Bigs, it's a multi-console baseball title coming to you from 2K Sports as a mix between arcade baseball and classic 2K gameplay. The Bigs is all about big plays, big players, and tons of action from top to bottom. It isn't uncommon to walk up to the plate in the bottom of the first inning with bases loaded and the score reading 8-4. The Bigs moves faster than most MLB licensed titles, and it's a perfect fit for Wii because of it.



Yup. That's on Wii.
With the game hitting multiple platforms later this year, and with news of the Wii version being relatively slow thus far, we were a bit concerned with how The Bigs would turn out on Nintendo's motion-controlled system. After all, the potential is there, but we'd want more than an afterthought port as the first full-fledged baseball title on the system. From what we've played of it today, it's a solid start to what baseball should be on Wii, as it blends a mix of motion-controlled pitching, throwing, and batting. It's not quite perfect, but it's certainly showing potential.

Since The Bigs is all about a more arcade-geared game of baseball, the general gameplay moves quicker, encourages multiplayer, and turns every aspect of America's greatest pastime up a few notches. You'll still get the duels between a top-rated pitcher and a heavy hitting machine, but for the most part it's about you as the player out-playing your opponent. To better show this on Wii, the core pitching and batting mechanic is based around motion control. As you step to the plate your player's bat movements will mimics your Wii-mote actions (not exactly one-to-one, but close, with a little stiffness to the movements). Once the pitch is delivered, you'll swing the Wii remote to hit while aiming with the nunchuk's analog stick or holding the A button for a power swing.

Welcome to spring training, rookie.
Batting feels decent for the most part, though there's a definite lag between when a player swings and when the character does, so you'll need to anticipate the throw, immediately tell if it's a fastball or off-speed, and swing accordingly. The time between an action and the payoff is about half a second, so while it was immediately odd to us (being a bit slower than Wii Sports Baseball's action recognition), we got into the swing of things at the top of the next inning. Yes it takes practice, yes it's a bit of a gameplay flaw, but no, it doesn't ruin the experience.



On the pitching side, things are a bit more natural and true to our ideal Wii baseball experience. Players will have a set of pitches on the screen to choose from, each a combination of button and motion. When ready, you'll simply reach back, hold the desired button, and whip the pitch off, adding spin to the ball if necessary for that pitch. Motion detection is pretty responsive in this portion of the game, as the amount of spin you use will help put serious ball movement into the pitch. Twist a little with a slider, you'll get a little movement. Crank your wrist, and you'll burn it by batters with a ton of manipulation on the ball.

Also included in pitching is a timing-based power bar, which begins as soon as you start the pitch; but it has a twist. When whipping the ball during your follow-through the bar will actually speed up based on the amount of force you put into it, making it very difficult to get a sweet-spot throw. It takes practice, but after a few innings of pitching we got our rhythm down enough to throw consistently powerful and accurate pitches. Rhythm, ball manipulation… things are starting to sound like real-world spring training.



The Minnesota Twins. Get to know em!
And that's really where The Bigs showed us some serious potential. When playing we actually felt like we were learning the ins and outs of pitching and batting. When a new player stepped up to the Wii for some one-on-one action, we knew we'd be running the bases and ripping 100 mile fastballs across the plate on demand, since we had the feel of the game down. It's not perfect, but it's definitely a rewarding experience, and that's something we look forward to in the final version. As an added note, the game ran pretty smooth during our hands-on, and looks about on par with Xbox 2K baseball games as well, so we're pretty satisfied with the visual effort as well (at least for a first-year game).

Fielding is a little on the tough side, with players moving a bit too slow for our liking, along with a few odd issues when throwing to bases with Wii motion (holding A and gesturing left, right, up, or down throws the ball to that corresponding position on the diamond), but luckily the D-pad also acts as an instant throw as well (up being 2nd base, down being home), so in clutch situations we switched to using that control, as screwing up a clutch double play because of motion control would have The Great Bambino rolling in his grave.

Welcome to The Bigs.
As for the game's options, there's a Play Now mode that allows for a quick game of baseball (four player support), an Exhibition mode that plays out a full nine innings of ball, a Home Run Derby that pits hitter against hitter in a split-screen (two player multiplayer enabled) race to 10 home runs, and a Rookie Challenge that lets you create a player and take him from spring training into the hall of fame one game at a time in the lineup of your favorite team - which, by the way, should be the Minnesota Twins.

There's a ton to see in The Bigs, some of which we'll need days to play through to really comment on, but our initial impression is definitively a positive one for the most part. The game may not be perfect with Wii control just yet, but what's there is promising, as you can comfortably pitch and bat without too many complaints. We'd like to see the actual swing recognition payoff a lot quicker, as you really need to anticipate the swing to make contact, but things like a true-feeling pitch system, pre-swing bat motion recognition (which acts like an on the fly "create-a-stance" in a way), 16:9 and 480p presentation, and the use of the Wii remote speaker and rumble are signs of a game that has a competent development team that's truly focusing on making a fun and innovative experience on Wii.

The Bigs hits all platforms on June 25. Keep checking back to IGN Wii for the latest media, news, and final review as we near that date.
 
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