Customer Reviews

Major League Baseball 2K6

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

Absolutely the worst baseball game I have ever played. HORRID graphics, choppy animations, poor player animations, player faces that look like zombies. Don't even get me started on the game play. Players not tagging up, people not covering the base, fielders not chasing the ball, pitchers batting cleanup in the lineup. What an absolute mess. There's literally nothing good about this game. If you have a PS2, get MLB 06 The Show (which happens to be excellent), if you don't have a PS2, don't buy a MLB game this year because there are no good ones. Complete and utter disappointement!

I shan't complain about the batting controls as others have because they can be changed to be more suitable. Not the baserunning controls, mind you. Those are beyond horrible.

I shan't complain about the graphics as they are adequate. I won't even bicker about rosters not being updated or commentary being flawed. The gameplay, on the other hand, is atrocious. Since when does Randy Johnson, a fastball pitcher, throw four wild pitches in a row when attempting to throw a fastball straight down the middle?

For those who might ask, the pitchers do in fact get tired but that wasn't the case here. Any pitcher I chose if I tried anything creative the pitch would go wild, and sometimes if I did nothing creative at all. That aside, let me count the ways this game is terrible:

1) Randomly for no apparent reason the catcher will have the opportunity to, and automatically will attempt to, pick off a baserunner at first after a pitch. This does not seem to have any relation to whether or not that runner extended his lead and whether or not the runner gets back to the bag in time seems to be up to the software. It's like a cutscene neither player has control over, but can result in an out for no apparent reason. Bonus point: This can happen after a strike makes the third out. Apparently the game designers forgot how many outs were in an inning.

2) The game freezes, occasionally crashes, and is generally slow to load and sometimes horribly sluggish. I suspect it was written in COBOL.

3) With one pitcher I kept using his slider and literally after every single pitch one of the announcers made the exact same comment. Over and over. This was annoying, but I chalk it right up on the board next to other fun bugs like "HOME RUN DISTANCE: 0 FEET".

4) The music reminds me of Super Nintendo. This is not a slur on SNES, rather a statement that the parts of this game that aren't completely awful would have been considered "pretty good" a decade ago.

5) I like to try little experiments so my friend and I were playing the home run derby both using the same players. We managed 33 and 28 HR respectively at Yankee Stadium and then proceeded to Coors Field, which the game ranks as the best "Hitters Park" and proceeded to be baffled by getting only a third as many HR. We then went back to Yankee Stadium and did even worse. Now, if it was only me I'd say that maybe I just went all funny in the head and forgot how to play, but since this was happening to both of us I suspect the game is the one that went a little funny, especially with all other things considered.

6) All of that aside, I've experienced multitudes of line drives that are caught, but looked like they were ground balls from the initial angle; Clear and obvious fielding errors where a throw is made and the ball isn't caught by the receiving party, but it's ruled as a base hit; pitches that are JUST outside the strike zone are ruled as a ball and then the same exact pitch thrown two seconds later slightly FURTHER outside the strike zone is ruled as a strike; Announcers announcing that the lead-off batter is coming to the plate right after he's been thrown out at first, etc.

In summary, if you like games where players consistantly make errors beyond your control, where some of those errors are not even ruled as errors, where the announcers often sound a little off and occasionally sound as if they're doing some heavy-duty hallucinogens and the umpires seem to be sneaking some of the drugs out of the announcer's booth, this game may be for you.

If you like games that are designed counter-intuitively, have mediocre graphics and still manage to tax the processor, have outdated music and poor game mechanics, this might be the basball game of your dreams.

If you like to see fielders sprinting vigorously into walls every time a ball is hit foul, enjoy your star pitcher having the coordination of a drunken infant, prefer to hit two different buttons at the same time to instruct ONE runner to advance, and repeat the process with different buttons for each additional runner you want to try for extra bases in the middle of a play that takes five seconds, if you want the game to occasionally and automatically have the catcher throw runners out who weren't even supposed to be leading, without you having the slightest bit of control over the situation, BUY THIS GAME NOW. You will love it.

i am not a dedicated game player. the only electronic game i enjoy is baseball. last year i received as a Father's Day gift a Play Station 2 game platform, along with 2K5 ML Baseball game. this replaced a PS1 and a 3DO High Heat ML baseball game.once i began using the PS2 and 2K5 baseball game, i never went back to the old game system. the gameplay on the PS2 was vastly superior. i really enjoyed playing one or two baseball games daily. i edited myself onto the Mets and enjoyed the fantasy of being in the "bigs".the 2K5 game was a lot of fun for me. when i first started using it, my wife walked by and thought i was watching an actual baseball game in progress.this is not to say the 2K5 game was perfect. there were several glaring glitches, such as the constant wild pitches, which were always called strikes even though they bounced at the plate. there were other "typo" type of errors, but for the price of $19.95, i felt that despite the bugs, the 2K5 was really an enjoyable game.in February, i started reading about the next generation of my baseball game called the 2K6. the first thing i noticed was that the price had doubled to $39.95. since there were so many promises of upgrades for the 2K6, the higher price didn't deter me, and i waited impatiently for the 2K6s introduction. i kept calling local stores to check on its availibility. and when Target confirmed it would be on sale the next day, my wife was there to pick it up for me.when i opened the package, loaded the disc to set it up for play, i began to notice that the promised upgrades were promises, not fact. in no particular order, this is what i found:the replay system was terrible. most replays start when the play shown is more then half over. you don't see the ball being hit, only the ball rolling into the outfield, and precious little base running. the final out of the inning cannot be replayed at all. this refers to your choice of replays. if you're waiting for game induced instant replays, there are hardly any of those, unlike the 2K5. when at bat, there is rarely any identification of the batter. sometimes it's mentioned who's at bat, for a split second. most times, you have to guess. the game announcers seem to make up previous at bats, most times as run scoring doubles, no matter what the batter's game histories are. the same is true of the game history on the menu.despite the promises of replay highlights and batters replay highlights, there are none, no matter that these controls are marked on.actual game play is too bad, but not really better the the 2K5. graphics leave a lot to be desired.the players seem to react either like something from the original body snatchers film, or like the Keystone Kops, complete with herkey jerkey movments. some funny aspects are when an outfielder goes back on a homerun, he takes his frustration of not being able to catch it, by "kicking" at the wall. a player running to first base will sometimes continue to run down the baseline almost to the right field foul pole. maybe he's trying to escape. on page 17 of the 2K6 owners manual, reference is made to an ONSCREEN GAME MANUAL in the EXTRA SECTION of the game menu section. this has to be the stealth version of the ONSCREEN GAME MANUAL, because it isn't there, unlike the 2K5 baseball game.i e-mailed 2K Sports, with copies to both Tech Support and Customer Service, with reference to the points covered here and asked for comments and assistance. perhaps i may have a defective game disc. wishful thinking. so far i have received no reply from 2K Sports.i waited for some time for the 2K6 baseball game, and willingly paid the inflated $40 price.. i am very disappointed with the "new improved" version of the 2K5 that i really enjoyed. the improved game does not live up to its hype. the graphics are a step backwards, as well as the gameplay. the replays are not as well done as the 2K5. the stadiums are not represented as well as on the 2K5. i feel as is i wasted my purchase price. i really only needed a roster update, but even in that, the 2K6 fails to live up to the advance hype. i can only hope 2K Sports anwers, and tells me i have defective 2K6 game disc, but after reading the reviews shown on this site, i do not think there is much chance of that. all the reviewers seem to have come to the same conclusion. 2K Sports, you produced a CLUNKER!

I bought this for my grandson for his birthday. He plays it all the time. He likes that he can have his own player with his own name,espically when the announcer says his name! It was a very good buy and he's still playing it almost a month later.

This game has so much going for it that it is amazing just how much it sucks.

Pitching. Set the break point of the ball. By using the Inside Edge statistics and the break point pitch system the game actually allows the AI to swing at pitchs that break off of the plate, something that never happens in MVP.. AWESOME but pitchers fatigue too fast. After 4 innings most starting pitchers are ready to call it a day.

Swing Stick is Ok. Not Great. They included the classic button push batting controls though so this is neither hear nor there.

The MOST comprehensive statistics tracking of any console ball game I have seen TRULY GREAT. Great Game modes, franchise, season, even WBC.

Sounds Great Right?

Graphics suck. Players look like they all have the same barbie doll Ken body with a rediculous looking cod piece. LMAO!!!
More importantly the color scheme used for the text backgrounds blurs out the text in some fields making certain stats very hard to read.

Announcers not only repeat themselves too often but are often irrelevant. Players and teams are always announced as having no runs or home runs and no RBI's every single game regardless of their season record.

Glitches galore, pitchers and batters always stuttering in the cut scenes, the backstop in center field of Coors Field flickers, Fielding is sketchy at best, fielders continuing to run once the ball is out of play etc. Unforgivable is the occasional hang in the middle of a pitch. The game will sometimes freeze for a second or two then continue making it impossible to hit.

Those who say if you don't like the game you didn't play. Wrong. I wanted to like this game and I played it and yes you can learn to make the most of it and work around the glitches, but why would you want to when you can control a MLB franchise and all 3 of it's subordinate MiLB teams in MVP 05? MVP is graphically and mechanically superior.

For statistics I will stick to PC games like Puresim Baseball 2007 and Out of the Park 6.5.

For consol I will stick with MVP 2005 and MVP ncaa 06. I will be very hesitant to buy 2k baseball ever again. I hope the company gets a clue and puts the time in to fixing all of these problems because I don't care if I never have another updated roster again, I will stick to MVP until something at least as good comes along.

I had the same problem as everyone else who said that their pitcher would throw a wild pitch whenever a runner got on. I found the trick. I have a gc so it might not be the same as other consoles. All you have to do is hold the L button for at least 2 or 3 seconds before the pitch and then pitch like normal. If its not the L button then look in the games manuel under controls and see what the "Hold for Pickoff" button is. I swear to god it will work and save your life in this game.

Don't pay $40 for this game.

Let's start with the good. Pitching/batting interface is very good. As long as you stay away from the Inside Edge feature. Attempting to follow my catcher's commands generally leads to hitter's counts where I am forced to throw a fat pitch down the middle. Just turn Inside Edge off and use your own common sense instead. Swing Stick takes time to get used to, but it is doable. The Franchise mode is great. It's interesting to monitor your player development, operating under a budget, negotiate trades, etc.

Then let's move on to the fair. The Graphics are okay. It's not as bad as what you may have read elsewhere, but I think that's the best thing I can say about it. The pitching screen, where you get the standard TV view from behind the pitcher, looks fantastic. Everything else is fair. The sound is pretty good the first time around, but then it just starts sounding tired. Worse, during season or Franchise play, the game previews that play during load time reflects none of your seasonal progress at all. Being a Mariners fan, I played the M's into a 11 game winning-streak, only to have the announcer proclaim that the Mariners have not executed well lately before the game started.

Then there's the bad. Remember when your coaches told you in little league not to wait for the grounder to come to you, but to run up to it instead? Well, your infielders will almost always wait for the ball to bounce to them instead, resulting in unnecessary close plays at first or infield singles (at least it rolls both ways). The computer picks the wrong fielders for you every so often, and before you realized that, you have already moved someone else out of position. Baserunning is alright as long as you don't have more than one person on base. Otherwise, it's difficult. The wall-climbing plays are very cool, but it needs to be cut down. Torii Hunter robbing people homeruns is awesome, Manny Ramirez doing it twice a game is science fiction. There are a lot of little details that just ruin the game on the whole. Sometimes after groundouts, your hitter would just keep on jogging down the first baseline. Outfielders would often keep on running along the wall after watching a homer leave the ballpark. In franchise mode, where you can't control the weather, it would often rain inside Safeco Field. Yes, guys, it rains often in Seattle, and that's why Safeco Field has a retractable roof. All these details add up to show me that the developers forgot to actually play the game before selling it to the general public. Had it been priced at $19.99 like the old 2K series games, I would say it's a good game. But at $40, what you're getting is a half-baked product by a studio that essentially decided not to pay attention to the details in a video game that simulates a sport all about the details.

With EA Sports sadly selling the MLB rights to this 2K crapola, we have seen the downfall of MLB games till whenever the contract with Take 2 ends (please let it be soon). Last year's MVP game was brilliant, so I wexpected this 2K game to be somewhat close, but boy was I wrong. This is a huge, huge step backwards. All the new stuff that they presumably added suck. Lets just ron dowm a list of the cons to the game:

1.) Graphics: Utterly Terrible. The field and stadiums are O.K., but the players faces all look like they are defected. They all look nothing like what they actually do. If you bough MVP 2005 last year, you remember the deatail that were in those faces (remember the beard of Damon), this is the exact opposite.

2.) Gameplay: Once again, Utterly terrible. Baserunning is damnly complex, adn the new "Swing stick" is hard to understand and use. Pitching is just as bad. However you try to pitch the ball will almost certainly not end uo where you intended it to be. Finally fielding is only decent, but really ladies and gentlemen, it sucks.

3.) Commentary: This is the only decent thing onm the game. Jon Miller andm Joe Morgan do a good job. Of course, it gets repetitive, b ut it always will.

And for good measure, a few more things that make the game worse than say Ken Griffey Jr. games for N64:

1.) It rains ion Houston, and Toronto, and Milwaukee, and any other retractable roof stadium. THey never close the roof, it just rains!!

2.) The game quite frequently lags.

3.) The Cardinals play at Busch Stadium, the old one!!

Well that just about sums up this piece of junk. All these 2K games are a joke. The only good one was NFL 2K5, which led to EA buying out the football rights. Well 2K better get baseball right, or they might be forced to sell thbe baseball rights.

the gameplay was fine, but the rosters were wrong. alot of the players that were included in mlb 06:the show were simply not in this game.kenji johjima and kevin millar are both in the show but not in 2k6.and i'm sick of games changing the names of players they can't use in the games.if you're not gonna put their real name and likeness,don't even include them in the game at all.2k6 had players on the rosters that got released or retired last year,or 2 years ago.overall, it was just a ok game.the show is alot better.and that's not saying much, because i only gave the show barely 4.

The graphics seem cluttered, like they tried to put too much in. Gameplay is not all that realistic. Also, the commentary has bugs in it. For example, I was in the 2nd inning and after my pitcher got the final out of the inning, the coomentary said "he's through 7, only 2 more to go". Not a good experience at all.