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In the BIGS, everything's on steroids.
If you’re familiar with traditional baseball simulations, this game may
take a little getting used to. All the same rules still apply. 3 outs.
Ground rule doubles. The whole nine yards. But the BIGS takes
everything else about baseball, and flips it on its ear. It turns our
national pastime into a fast-paced, over the top spectacle, which
barely resembles the grace and majesty of the actual game. But that
doesn’t mean that this interpretation of this time-honored sport is not
a bundle of joy to experience.
The Bigs promotes swift, action packed games, lasting three innings at
its minimalist setting. And action packed they are. Instead of the
standard 25-man rosters that Major League Baseball teams have, this
game features reduced rosters, which reduce the urge to fuss around
with line-ups before games. Just pick a starting pitcher and play ball.
The gameplay in the BIGS is nowhere near as complicated as some of the
current baseball sims have made it. It’s actually quite the opposite.
The batting is simplified to aiming with the analogue stick and
pressing a button for a contact swing or a power swing. The pitching
doesn’t require much skill either. Just pick a pitch, press the button,
hold it down, and let it go. The fielding is much easier as well. Once
you gain control of the fielder, he’s automatically moving towards the
ball. Fielding can be frustrating at times, as the game’s fielder
selection isn’t exemplary. If a ball’s hit to third it will sometimes
jump to the left fielder, for example. The jumps and dives in the game
are pretty amazing, though in certain games, you’ll be on the negative
end of one to many spectacular catches. You’ll be saying, “Enough
already!” or “This is ridiculous!” after the fifth and sixth robberies,
respectively.
What makes this baseball game special is the Big Play meter. At the top
of the screen, both teams are allotted one of these meters. Each team
is awarded when they perform well. Getting a hit or retiring the batter
via the strikeout will earn you points, among other fundamentally sound
plays. These points contribute to the filling of the Big Play meter,
and when that meter is filled, you’ll see what your players can really
do. By pulling both triggers you’ll activate your Big Play. This Big
Play can be activated from either behind the plate or from the mound,
and either way, you can expect visually stunning results. The screen
becomes blurry, and suspenseful sound effects make you feel like
something explosive is about to happen. If you’re the batter, just make
contact with the ball, and it’s gone. The ball will fly through the
sky, resembling a rocket on the way to the moon and no matter where it
lands a massive explosion will ensue, from the stadium scoreboard to
the foul pole. From the other end of the spectrum, if you’re the
pitcher, you’re pitches will shoot out of your hand as if they were
bullets. They’ll be extremely fast, or remarkably slow, depending on
the pitch you choose. Unless you’re pitching to the best hitters in the
game, you’ll set down any player with ease. On the occasion that both
teams fill their Big Play meters, and activate them at the same time, a
duel will begin. These duels are the most tension-filled moments in the
game. Hitting the ball will be much tougher, though if contact is made,
you can put it on the board. If the pitcher, on the other hand, can
manage to strike out the jacked up batter, their team’s Big Play meter
will be automatically refilled. A fitting reward for dealing with a
batter who could’ve hit the ball harder and farther than Barry Bonds,
Mark Maguire and Jose Conseco combined. Speaking of those three
gentlemen, most of the player models in the game resemble their figures.
The players in the Bigs don’t exactly look like their real life
counterparts. Though their faces closely resemble the real life players
they’re impersonating, their body structures are bulky, and huge.
Steroids come to mind when you see certain gargantuan players, who look
as if the could break the bat if they squeeze the handle too hard. When
you get an infield full of these jacked-up players, it almost seems as
if you’re playing on a softball field. Besides the players, all of the
stadiums look beautiful and vibrant, and Big Plays will never get old,
as they are a joy to visually experience. The visuals of the BIGS are
crisp and stunning at times, if you’re lucky enough to be playing on a
high definition screen. 2k did a good job in making the game look like
an arcade spectacle, whilst at the same time, they made sure the BIGS
didn’t look completely unrealistic.
Contrary to the sights in the BIGS, the sounds of the game are nothing
special. All the expected baseball sound effects are present, but sound
to over the top to be taken seriously. Besides balls hitting the foul
poles and the explosions of the scoreboards, the games’ audio isn’t
likely to impress the baseball aficionado passer-by.
Unfortunately, the BIGS doesn’t feature a season or franchise mode, so
playing ball is about all you’ll do in this game. No worrying about
payrolls or how much tickets to your games cost, just pure hardball at
it’s most intense. Besides the basic exhibition games, XBOX Live
matches and a mini-game where you can hit baseballs into objects for
points, there is a unique mode in the BIGS; Rookie Challenge mode,
which becomes the main attraction of the BIGS. In it, you create a
rookie and begin to complete challenges that range from batting
practice to getting multiple RBI’s in a 5-inning game. Rookie Challenge
mode is nothing extraordinary, but it’s an addictive mode that will
keep you coming back to the BIGS until you’re rookie takes his team to
the World Series.
All in all, the BIGS is an enjoyable alternative to the conventional
baseball sim, but in the end it doesn’t have enough to keep you coming
back for more. After you’ve seen what Rookie Challenge mode has to
offer, chances are you’ll want to go back to whatever baseball game you
played before you had a copy of the BIGS in your possession. It’s not a
bad game, but it’s not a great game either. The BIGS include a lot of
exciting arcade action, but not enough to save it from the depths of
mediocrity.
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